An agenda to ensure that our marine, environment and rural science in Scotland supports the Government's single purpose of "creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth".
In January 2009 the Scottish Government published a consultation that put forward a proposal that each public body supporting science, which was relevant to the Scottish Government's Marine, Environment and Rural Affairs policies, would use the Coordinated Agenda (CAMERAS) to assist in aligning their scientific activities: this would help to avoid duplication and foster efficient and effective collaboration between them.
A CAMERAS Board was established to take forward this work. The Board, which first sat in July 2009, were tasked with scoping current activity and identifying the interventions required to deliver the aspirations of the initiative. A provisional programme of work was agreed by the Board in September 2011 and will be delivered through this programme.
Purpose of CAMERAS
The purpose of CAMERAS is to align and coordinate the scientific activity of the CAMERAS partners to ensure best use of existing resource and enhanced support to Scottish Government policy development and delivery, primarily in the rural, environmental and marine areas.
Objectives
The objectives of CAMERAS are:
· To make better use of the collective resource and capacity within the CAMERAS partner organisations in terms of people and of research budgets
· To maximise the impact of evidence and analysis
· To provide improved support to Ministers and policy makers
· To provide a more coordinated response to relevant wider UK and global issues e.g. climate change, food security
Scope of CAMERAS
This programme encompasses all rural, environmental and marine natural and social science, including economics, undertaken by the following organisations:
· Scottish Government - Marine Scotland (incorporating Marine Scotland Science), Rural and Environment Directorate and Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate, especially Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) and Science Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA).
· Scottish Environment Protection Agency
· Scottish Natural Heritage
· Forestry Commission Scotland
· Food Standards Agency Scotland
· Quality Meat Scotland
· Scottish Water
It addresses all aspects of both strategic and applied natural science, economic and social science research, including monitoring and surveillance, knowledge exchange and the more effective use of existing data and information.
More infromation about CAMERAS can be found in the Essential Guide to CAMERAS.
Further reading
The official CAMERAS website can be found at www.camerasscotland.org