Newcastle University

What is the JRF?

The JRF is a partnership between the Natural History of Northumbria (NHSN), Northumberland Wildlife Trust (NWLT), Newcastle University (NU), and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (TWAM) – and eventually, we hope, many more of the regional membership-based organisations concerned with wildlife and the natural environment. The aim of the JRF is to promote collaboration in research between these organisations and, in particular, to encourage and support ‘citizen science’ – the involvement of lay people with interests in natural history, environmental science, geology and other related disciplines.

What will the JRF do?

It will provide a forum to which anyone – lay or professional – can bring ideas for research that will benefit from collaboration across organisational and disciplinary boundaries. Research involving the collections and archives in the Great North Museum: Hancock, and the nature reserves managed by the NHSN and NWLT will be a major focus, but the JRF will provide expert advice to lay members and professionals who want to develop other regional projects within this broad field of interests. It will generally encourage university staff and students, and staff from TWAM, to be more involved in joint research projects involving the membership-based organisations.

What will the benefits be?

The NHSN, NWLT and similar organisations will benefit from the opportunity for members to become involved in research projects, and develop projects which result in greater understanding, sustainability, and use of our reserves and other resources. The JRF will enable members to draw on expertise and facilities that would otherwise be difficult to access. We expect innovative projects and cross-disciplinary partnerships to develop through the JRF with major opportunities to bid for external funding together. The Northumbrian Naturalist (Transactions of the Natural History Society) provides a journal for publication of research studies and we anticipate that the volume and quality of submissions reporting research by members will increase.

Benefits to University/TWAM will include access to the specialist knowledge, field skills and experience of society members and the possibility of recruiting volunteers for projects that would otherwise not be feasible – for example, where substantial and/or long-term observation and recording, or specialist field skills are required. The JRF will be an important platform for public engagement and impact. There is potential for the formal involvement of schools in projects, with obvious benefits to all the partners since engagement with young people is part of our strategic aims.

How will the JRF be organised and run?

A Steering Group for the JRF will be established and Professor Jimmy Steele CBE has agreed to chair this with the support of all four partner organisations. We look to the launch event to provide ideas and feedback on how the JRF should evolve but early priorities are likely to include: the composition of the Steering Group and frequency of meetings; developing procedures so that research ideas can be submitted and guidance provided, and establishing a panel of experts to help with this; obtaining support for the core operations of the JRF; and, in the longer term, seeking funds which can support pilot studies, and also more substantial proposals for cross- partnership projects.

Who can participate?

The Forum will be open and informal. It will encourage the involvement of those with expertise and research skills but, equally, we want to encourage volunteers without experience who would like to be involved in research projects in areas of interest to them. Information about the JRF will appear on the web-sites of the partnership organisations but anyone who would like to receive details of activities and progress can register their interest with the Natural History Society at nhsn@ncl.ac.uk