Research Working Group

The Global Peatlands Initiative Research Working Group, co-led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), was established in 2019 (see: Why training peatlands researchers is fundamental to good decision-making for the climate and nature). It aims at building capacity among the peatland research community and identifying international research funding opportunities for peatlands. The goal is to develop a programme of research that can be funded by multiple national funders alongside funding from the international community aligned with the goals of the UN system (leveraging complementary funding where possible), and that is integrated and coordinated at the global scale, enabling the research community to contribute to the global goals of the GPI and draw conclusions from their research of wider international significance.

If you are interested in joining this GPI Research Working Group, please contact:

Mark Reed (Mark.Reed@sruc.ac.uk) and Patrick Scheel (Patrick.Scheel@un.org) to access the sign-up form.

The RWG is open to anyone who is involved in generating new knowledge about peatlands, from any career stage or sector. This can include researchers without PhDs and from non-academic institutions from any career stage and discipline.

The RWG is collecting an extensive list of peatland research projects that have been recently funded, or that are under review or in preparation. While the list is not exhaustive, the initiative is an important opportunity for researchers to collaborate with each other around areas of common interest, where relevant, joining forces to integrate work across projects. More than 50 peatland research projects have been identified by members of the Working Group and from online databases. The list of the projects is available here.

The Research Working Group is running online training for peatland researchers to help build their capacity, enable interdisciplinary research and help to advance peatlands research, whilst building a network of impactful collaboration across the global peatlands research community. The series kicked off in December 2020 with sessions on research skills and impact.

Recordings of all previous training sessions can be found in a dedicated playlist on the GPI YouTube channel here.

The Evidence Synthesis and Policy Engagement for Peatlands Programme is currently ongoing. This training is delivered by the Institute for Methods Innovation, SRUCand St Andrews University, with funding from the UNEP Global Peatlands Initiative and the British Academy.  This is a virtual training programme for peatlands researchers from any academic discipline on (1) developing an evidence synthesis in the form of a rapid evidence review, (2) engaging with public policy based on that review, (3) producing a policy brief and (4) publishing the evidence synthesis in a peer-reviewed academic journal. This fully funded, virtual training program requires a commitment of 90 hours from March to December 2025, offering researchers worldwide the opportunity to develop expertise in evidence synthesis, policy engagement, and academic publishing. Designed to foster hands-on learning, participants will apply these skills to a real-world policy challenge, contributing to the effective shaping of global peatland management policies. Applications are closed.