Research Impact
Our research drives real-world changes across the globe and here in Cornwall. We achieve this through the development of novel solutions, informing policy making, and by working with industry and diverse stakeholders. This all depends on our worldwide network of collaborators, our long-term field study systems, our cutting-edge research facilities, and most importantly our experienced and innovative research teams.
Protecting marine biodiversity
The designation of over 500,000 km2 of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) worldwide was influenced by the spatial ecology research by Prof. Broderick, Dr Metcalfe and Dr Sherley's teams, helping to safeguard critical marine environments in territorial waters. This includes the largest no-take MPA in the Atlantic Ocean around Ascension, the world’s largest MPA network in sub-Saharan Africa that protects a biodiversity hotspot for whales, dolphins, sharks, rays and turtles. Further work has driven legislative change in the Turks and Caicos Islands to protect breeding turtles, while work in South Africa has influenced legislated changes to fishing practice for the protection of penguins and other marine predators.
Helping bees
The critical decline of pollinator populations threatens global food security and biodiversity, and our research has shaped EU regulatory frameworks and global agrochemical practices to mitigate risks to pollinators. Prof. Osborne’s team has created innovative ecological models of managed and wild bee colony dynamics that allow large scale and long-term assessment of multiple stressors on bee populations. This has delivered pollinator-friendly land management plans for stakeholders responsible for >900km2 of the UK. Prof. Bass’ team has established at the molecular level why some pesticides kill bees (such as the neonicotinoid imidacloprid), while others do not. They then developed the BeeSafe toolkit, which has been used agrochemical companies to accelerate their development of new bee-friendly insecticides.
Practical and effective bovine tuberculosis control in wildlife
Ecological and epidemiological research by Prof. McDonald’s team in partnership with Defra’s National Wildlife Management Centre, has generated tools, services and evidence that underpin public policy, statutory guidance and practical means for managing bovine tuberculosis across the UK. In particular, our work has encompassed evaluation of BadgerBCG vaccine efficacy, leading to adoption of badger vaccination as national policies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and development of bovine tuberculosis biosecurity advice and assessment tools, adopted as statutory guidance by governments and farmers’ organisations, and delivered to farmers by the TB Advisory Service.
Renewing biodiversity through a people-in-nature-approach
We are in a biodiversity crisis with over a million species of plants and animals threatened with global extinction. The RENEW project is working to reshape biodiversity renewal, creating knowledge that can influence national institutions, communities and individuals alike. Our focus is on a ‘people-in-nature’ approach, reflecting the two-way, dynamic relations between people and nature and the need to develop a relational approach to renew our life-support systems. Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the programme is a collaboration between the University of Exeter and the National Trust, and involves several researchers from the CEC. It has been co-designed and developed with 33 partners from a diverse range of sectors to develop solutions to one of the major environmental challenges for humankind: the renewal of biodiversity. We are working with landowners, businesses, and communities to restore woodlands, wetlands and farmland across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
