Environment, natural resources and agriculture research - draft strategy: consultation

7. Governance and Reporting

Governance

The governance of the research programme has evolved over time, and work is ongoing to refresh the governance structure for the next funding cycle. An independent external review (March 2020 ^[8]) recommended that additional value could be gained by avoiding barriers between the different funding mechanisms used. This is also consistent with the Strategic Advisory Board report (May 2019 ^[9]). The new governance for the programme will have scientific, operational and institutional strands. The scientific strand will, for example, contribute to reviewing this strategy, with input from researchers and from horizon scanning. A "Research Portfolio Board" is proposed to lead the governance. Its members will represent the users of research in Scottish Government and external stakeholders, the research providers through an updated SEFARI, and independent advice from the Scientific Advisory Board. The Portfolio Board will oversee the three strands of governance, considering the whole portfolio of research funded by the programme including the Centres of Expertise.

The Research Portfolio Board would be co-chaired by Scottish Government (SG) and the Chief Scientific Advisor for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (CSA). The three governance strands would bring Government and research providers together to address different aspects of the research. Two existing bodies are noted, the Operational Group and Directors Executive Committee.

As part of our initiative to drive a culture of openness in the next research portfolio, we will develop and embed open research and FAIR data sharing approaches across the portfolio, where possible aligning with other relevant funders. We will also establish reporting mechanisms which are, as far as possible, comparable to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), making available maximum visibility on the work carried out and capturing the benefits that have accrued.

How we will monitor progress

We already monitor and evaluate our investment in research, requiring deliverables from every project. We will develop this further by taking the following measures:

• For the work within the Strategic Research Programme we will collect, and make public, measures of science excellence, benchmarked against other research funders on the basis of scientific quality measures that are appropriate to the range of research that we fund.
• Immediate delivery measures will continue to be reviewed in the operational strand of governance on an ongoing basis with timing appropriate to the research timescales, and with summary reports to the Scientific Advisory Board and proposed Research Portfolio Board.
• We will continue to undertake an independent mid-term review of the portfolio of research activity, engaging fully with stakeholders of the research as part of this.
• For all research we fund, we will collect and make public information based upon case studies, user testimonies and, where possible, economic valuations, to demonstrate the impact and value of research on an economic and societal basis.
• The six objectives in Section 3 will be reviewed in turn, along with science quality and impact, by the science or institutional strands of governance (summarised to Scientific Advisory Board and Research Portfolio Board) to inform the summative mid-term review.
• Throughout 2022 - 2027 we will continue to develop and refine the indicators we collect, recognising that detecting and understanding the impact of strategic research may take place over longer timescales than the more immediate and policy-focused research.

30 September 2020