Annual Report and Accounts 2007-08

30 July 2008

The Natural Environment Research Council publishes its Annual Report and Accounts 2007-08 today. The report was laid before Parliament on 17 July 2008.

Annual Report 2007-08 The Annual Report confirms the government's citation analysis that the UK is second only to the USA in terms of total citations of published environmental research: the research community supported by NERC is world-class.

Highlights include:

• Top 25 challenges to UK biodiversity. Environmental scientists and policy-makers have drawn up a top 25 of the new and most pressing issues likely to affect biodiversity in the UK before 2050 (see page 9 - the "Biodiversity" section).

• The discovery of water in the atmosphere of a planet in a solar system 63 light years from our own by scientists from University College London and colleagues at NASA and the European Space Agency (see page 16 - the "Earth System Science" section).

• Scotland's largest academic spin-out company, based on NERC-funded geophysical research, was sold in 2007 for $275 million (see page 20, or the "Knowledge Exchange" section).

This report is the first to follow NERC's new strategy Next Generation Science for Planet Earth 2007-12 and its seven science themes:

Climate system
Biodiversity
Sustainable use of natural resources
Earth system science
Natural hazards
Environment, pollution and human health
Technologies

The report is available as a PDF or to order online.

NERC has also produced an Annual Review. This is almost identical to the Annual Report but without detailed accounts.

Further information

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. For a copy of the report please contact the NERC press office on 01793 411727, or order online from the Annual Report page.

Press release: 39/08

Annual Report and Accounts 2007-08

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