The UK Biodiversity Research
Advisory Group
The UK’s National Biodiversity
Research Platform
Terms of Reference
A review of UK BRAG took place in 2006, leading to a
refocusing of the Group’s aims and objectives. You can also
download these revised
Terms of Reference.
Terms of Reference for UK BRAG
Overall aims
- To identify, promote and facilitate biodiversity research to
support UK and individual country biodiversity action plan
commitments1, with reference to the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), the EU Biodiversity Strategy and
associated initiatives;
- To coordinate effective and efficient UK engagement with
European biodiversity research issues and hence fulfil the role of
a national biodiversity research platform;
- To contribute to effective biodiversity research networking in
the UK, integrating natural sciences, economics and social
sciences, and increasing interdisciplinary capacity;
- To support knowledge transfer activities in relation to
biodiversity research, ensuring that these are an integral part of
all aspects of UK BRAG work.
UK BRAG will not act as a funding body for biodiversity research
in the UK;
Operating methods
In order to undertake these activities in an effective manner, UK
BRAG will:
- Be restructured, such that a smaller subset of the main group
will address administrative co-ordination issues. This subset would
consist of representatives of each of the principal funding
agencies and of the BAP Country Groups. This would help to ensure a
more formalised engagement with the Country Groups and a clearer
alignment with the UK BAP. It would also free the main BRAG
meetings for discussion of more strategic and prioritisation
issues.
- Specialist sub-groups would be established, whenever needed, to
address issues which require a particular level of experience.
These would provide an overview of the state of the science,
identifying significant knowledge gaps and the research needed to
address these. Such sub-groups would have a responsibility for
producing technical reports for consideration by the main
Group.
- Use a variety of mechanisms to take forward its agenda, which
might involve organisation of workshops, seminars and conferences,
including an annual report and research symposium; providing an
opportunity for engagement with a broader constituency, and dealing
with specific and cross-cutting issues.
- All members of UK BRAG are encouraged to be pro-active in
promoting the work of UK BRAG, particularly its research
recommendations.
- Ensure that research priorities are promoted more effectively,
so that they are more likely to be incorporated within the
strategies and programmes of research funders, or taken forward in
other ways;
- Exchange information with the Global Biodiversity Sub-Committee
of the Global Environment Change Committee (GECC-GBSC) and
undertake joint activities where appropriate.
Performance measures
The success of UK BRAG should not be tied to formalised performance
measures. The Group’s influence is more subtle. Therefore, it is
proposed that success should be determined through periodic
consultative reviews which should consider:
- Improved networking within and between researcher, policymaker
and practitioner communities
- Increased capacity for biodiversity research in the UK,
particularly interdisciplinary approaches; and
- More effective knowledge transfer, including science-to-policy,
facilitated by the Group’s activities.
1. UK BRAG will not address research needs associated
with individual HAPs and SAPs, instead focusing on cross-cutting,
generic issues.