Scotland
November 8, 2010
The new “super research institute” to be formed from SCRI, the crop research centre in Invergowrie, and Aberdeen’s Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, is to be named in honour of the Scottish Enlightenment science pioneer, James Hutton.
The James Hutton Institute will bring together existing Scottish expertise in crop research, soils and land-use, and will make a major contribution to the study of key global issues, such as food and energy security, biodiversity, and how climate change will affect the way we use land and grow crops. The new organisation will begin operations in April next year.
James Hutton (1726 – 1797) was a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, an eighteenth century golden age of intellectual and scientific achievements centred on Edinburgh. His counterparts included Adam Smith the economist and David Hume, the philosopher and historian. Hutton is internationally regarded as the father of modern geology and one of the first scientists to describe the Earth as a living system; his thinking on natural selection influenced Charles Darwin in developing his theory of evolution.
The James Hutton Institute will operate from the two existing sites and will employ more than six hundred scientists and support staff, making it one of the biggest research centres in the UK and the first of its type in Europe. It is expected to set up an international office to reinforce its global presence.
The institute will be one of the Scottish Government’s main research providers in land, crop and food science. The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, said:
“By bringing together the talent and expertise of two such internationally respected bodies, it is entirely fitting that James Hutton is the inspiration behind the new name. As a geologist, physician, naturalist, chemist and experimental farmer, his life encapsulates the ambitious and wide remit that I am sure will be a hallmark of the James Hutton Institute.
"I'm confident that it will rapidly establish itself on the global stage, enhancing even further the reputation of Scottish science and providing exciting new opportunities for all its staff.”
The Chief Executive of the new organisation, Professor Iain Gordon, was appointed in July this year. He said: “As a distinguished and influential Scottish polymath with an international reputation, it is wholly appropriate that an interdisciplinary scientific research institute based in Scotland and seeking to operate and have impact internationally should bear James Hutton’s name.
“I believe this decision will have strong political resonance in Scotland today where the ambition is to once again have Scotland punching well above its weight.”
The James Hutton Institute’s Chairman is Ray Perman. Appointed in March this year, Mr Perman is a former chair of WWF Scotland and a trustee of WWF UK. He was a board member of Scottish Enterprise until December 2009 and chair of Social Investment Scotland.
He said: “We have taken some considerable time over this decision. We involved the staff of SCRI and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute from the outset. The suggestion that we look to James Hutton came from one of our staff. It matches very well the ambitions we have for this new organisation.”
The proposal to bring together the two, world-renowned research institutes was set out by the First Minister, Alex Salmond, in January 2008.
Mr Salmond said the intention was to strengthen Scotland's environmental research capacity, and enhance its international competitiveness.
The two existing centres are currently at the end of a five year programme of environmental research on behalf of the Scottish Government and are currently tendering for a new, five year programme that will be carried forward by The James Hutton Institute and other Scottish research organisations.
SCRI and the Macaulay already have extensive global connections: SCRI has international development links to Africa and trade links to China and the Macaulay is active in more than 40 countries worldwide. The two organisations also earn income from European Union funded research and from the private sector.
Both have international reputations for the quality of their scientific research:
- SCRI’s genetics team was described recently as “the world leader in barley and soft fruit genetics” by independent experts. SCRI potato and soft fruit varieties are household names. It is estimated that fifty percent of the blackcurrants grown around the world are SCRI-bred.
- An independent survey carried out on behalf of Times Higher Education earlier this year ranked the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute as one of most influential organisations in the fields of environmental and ecological sciences, both within the UK as well as internationally. The Institute was ranked in the top 20 of all UK academic institutions which includes all research organisations and universities.
James Hutton was a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. A distinguished 18th century Scottish scientist, James Hutton is widely recognised as the father of modern geology. Less well known is the fact that his work spanned chemistry, meteorology, geology, botany, zoology and he also experimented in plant and animal breeding.
James Hutton’s thinking on natural selection influenced Darwin and he is credited with being amongst the first to envision the Earth as a living eco-system. His idea of a ‘living Earth’ was forgotten for a time...but resurfaced in the Gaia hypothesis, proposed in the 1960s by the renowned scientist James Lovelock. This explores the idea that life on Earth functions as a single organism which defines and maintains environmental conditions necessary for the planet’s survival.
As a distinguished and influential Scottish polymath with an international reputation, it is wholly appropriate that an interdisciplinary scientific research institute based in Scotland and seeking to operate and have impact internationally should bear James Hutton’s name.
Famously, Hutton lectured on his theories about the formation of the earth and its geological structures saying: “We find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.”
James Hutton’s name was put forward during a joint competition for staff at the Macaulay Institute and SCRI.
The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and SCRI
The Scottish Government provides £23 million to both SCRI (£13 million) and the Macaulay (£10 million) for bespoke research - about three-quarters of their income. The organisations also have contracts from the European Union and other research sponsors.
The Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), based at Invergowrie, Dundee employs around 300 staff and has an income of nearly £17 million. Its scientists work on potato and soft fruit breeding, pests and disease control, food quality, plant-land interactions and genetics. Its Chairman, Peter Berry CMG, is a former Chairman of the Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations.
Scotland’s unique biomathematical and statistical organisation (BioSS) is part of the SCRI group and has offices in Edinburgh, Dundee and at the Macaulay. It will be part of the new institute.
The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, based in Aberdeen, also employs around 300 staff and has an income of over £16 million. It has expertise in land use and sustainable development. In addition to its core research programmes, the institute provides research and consultancy services to a wide range of organisations, including industrial sectors as diverse as oil and gas, and food.