It is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of three co-chairs of the newly established Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Community of Practice. These co-chairs are:

• Dr Marc Dumont, School of Biological Sciences
• Professor Jasmin Godbold, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences
• Professor Julian Leyland, School of Geography and Environmental Sciences

All three co-chairs will work together to deliver the objectives of the Community of Practice:

• To bring together members of the UoS NERC community (board members, advisors, panellists, reviewers and applicants) to share and disseminate their knowledge. This intelligence may relate to NERC strategy, new priorities, changes to policies, or upcoming funding opportunities and investments.
• To broker relationships between individuals with complementary NERC expertise across the university (with a particular focus on inter-disciplinary cross-faculty collaborations).
• To provide applicants with early notice of funding opportunities, facilitating strategic collaborative bidding ventures.
• To support applicants to become successful PIs with NERC funding.
• To nurture and mentor the next generation of NERC applicants to build portfolios of awards and develop their careers.

It is intended that the above objectives will stimulate bidding activity to NERC therefore maximising UoS research income from this funder.

Professor Mark Spearing, Vice President, Research and Enterprise shared: “I am delighted to appoint Marc, Jasmin and Julian as co-chairs of the NERC Community of Practice; their collective experience and enthusiasm will no doubt empower our NERC community to achieve even more success”.

Professor Steve Darby, Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Environmental and life Sciences said: “I am excited about the concept of the NERC Community of Practice and I am confident that Marc, Jasmin and Julian are well positioned to improve the NERC applicant experience.”

Members of the NERC Community of Practice will comprise colleagues who serve on NERC’s governance and advisory boards, as well as NERC Peer Review College members and individuals with successful NERC bidding profiles. A further ten places will be available on a first come, first served basis for each meeting for wider members of the wider UoS/NERC community to attend and contribute. The NERC Community of Practice kick off meeting will take place on Wednesday 31 January.

For more information, please contact funding@soton.ac.uk.