The Scottish Parliament has launched its first Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) as part of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – funded programme of work aimed at enhancing its engagement with the research community to support scrutiny of climate change. This blog outlines why the Scottish Parliament is keen to pilot ARIs, how researchers can engage with them and how they will be used to support parliamentary scrutiny.
Members of the Scottish Parliament, their staff and parliament staff need access to relevant and timely evidence and an awareness of key policy issues. They draw on many sources, including academic expertise, using a variety of mechanisms. Strengthening our ability to reach those with relevant expertise and insights, increase the diversity of those we engage with and make it easier for the research community to contribute are important components of the parliament’s academic engagement programme. Drawing on the experience of the Senedd and the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, who have used ARIs successfully to enhance their ability to access research expertise and diversify contributors, we plan to use this pilot to evaluate the application of ARIs in supporting scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament.
These ARIs focus on supporting access to research expertise linked to forthcoming parliamentary scrutiny of Scotland’s Draft Climate Change Plan – a statutory delivery plan setting out how the Scottish Government proposes to cut emissions over the period 2026 to 2040. We anticipate that multiple committees in the Scottish Parliament will be considering the Draft Plan later in 2025.
We’re initially piloting two ARIs. One ARI focuses on building our understanding of research expertise and insights on waste management, resource use and circular economy including:
- reducing emissions through avoiding, reducing and/or reusing materials
- decarbonising waste treatment/disposal
- opportunities for interventions in other sector areas to support circular economy goals alongside emissions reductions
- waste and resource use processing capacity and infrastructure.
Another ARI focuses on identifying research expertise and insights on regional and sectoral employment implications of a Just Transition in Scotland, including expertise on the:
- potential timescales for these changes
- economic implications of these changes
- implications for skills and training.
Edward Mountain MSP, Convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee said:
“Accessing relevant, credible, and timely evidence to support committee scrutiny is crucial. We hope this new initiative will strengthen and diversify our engagement with the research community and add depth to our understanding of key issues at play.”
Members of the research community to are invited to register their expertise and research insights relating to any of these areas.
The Scottish Parliament plans to use the responses received to identify research, expertise and contacts to:
- inform questions or issues that a Scottish Parliament committee considers as part of its work
- inform research briefings prepared by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) and used to support parliamentary scrutiny
- identify potential expert witnesses.
Further information
Scottish Parliament Areas of Research Interest
Dr Dan Barlow, Knowledge Exchange Manager – Climate Change Scrutiny, SPICe
This blog was first published by the Universities Policy Engagement Network on the 12th March 2025