Total of over £339,000 awarded across 24 community projects nationwide.
Community groups across Scotland have received a share of over £339K as part of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People project run by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Williamson Trust.
These awards enable and encourage knowledge exchange and collaborative research practices amongst and between local communities.
The resulting findings and outputs are often scalable, producing valuable insights that can be used by similar groups working in other areas of the country and beyond.
First initiated in 2023, Healthy Planet, Healthy People Awards are now offered under two strands – Catalyst Awards and Change Awards.
Catalyst Awards are designed to enable community-led research across any discipline that promotes the health of individuals by fostering healthy communities, environments, and food quality and supply. These awards offer up to £5,000 to pilot a project. This year a total of £99,250 has been awarded to 20 projects across Scotland.
Change Awards are designed to support standout projects—that previously received Catalyst funding—with major funding to grow and scale their work. This year four projects in the Orkney islands, Isle of Lewis, Cupar and Kirkcaldy have been awarded a total of £240,217 between them.
Professor David Salt FRSE, chair of the Williamson Trust, said: “As this community-led work continues to grow there can be no doubt communities across Scotland can build local solutions to ongoing challenges to our environment, our communities and our food. This round we have projects spanning seed saving, community growing, fermentation and compositing to coppicing, tree identification, accessing green space, transhumance and repair café. An amazing array of projects.
“The Trust hopes that with these new awards we continue to build a movement of committed people to find solutions to the challenges faced by local communities, and that these solutions can have wider impact.”
Royal Society of Edinburgh vice president, research, Professor Anne Anderson OBE FRSE added: “This marks the third successful round of Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Catalyst Awards, which were introduced to expand the type of research the RSE supports.
“We are also very pleased to announce the first recipients of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Change Awards; a new development of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People Programme, which extends the support offered to grassroots groups and demonstrates the Society’s commitment to empowering community-driven research focused on positively impacting sustainability, health, and community resilience.
“I congratulate all those awarded under both schemes, and I look forward to following their progress and achievements over the coming year.”
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