Natural Environment Research Council


The Natural Environment Research Council is a council of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, responsible for supporting research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences.

History

NERC began in 1965 when several environmental research organisations were brought under the one umbrella organisation. When most research councils were re-organised in 1994, it had new responsibilities – Earth observation and science-developed archaeology. Collaboration between research councils increased in 2002 when Research Councils UK was formed.

Chief executives

The council's head office is at Polaris House in Swindon, alongside the other six Research Councils. NERC's research centres provide leadership to the UK environmental science community and play significant and influential roles in international science collaborations.
InsigniaOrganisation
British Antarctic Survey
British Geological Survey
National Centre for Atmospheric Science
National Centre for Earth Observation
National Oceanography Centre
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

It also supports a number of collaborative centres of excellence and subject-based designated Environmental Data Centres for the storage and distribution of environmental data.

Mission

The Natural Environment Research Council delivers independent research, survey, training and knowledge transfer in the environmental sciences, to advance knowledge of planet Earth as a complex, interacting system. The council's work covers the full range of atmospheric, Earth, biological, terrestrial and aquatic sciences, from the deep oceans to the upper atmosphere, and from the geographical poles to the equator.
NERC's mission is to gather and apply knowledge, create understanding and predict the behaviour of the natural environment and its resources, and communicate all aspects of the council's work. The British Meteorological Office is not part of NERC.

NERC Airborne Research Facility

The NERC Airborne Research Facility collects and processes remotely sensed data for use by the scientific community. Data are collected from one of four Twin Otter research aircraft operated by British Antarctic Survey, processed by a data analysis team at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and archived at the National Earth Observation Data Centre. Currently the NERC ARF provides radiometrically corrected hyperspectral data from the AISA Fenix and Owl instruments; ground height information from the Leica ALS50-II; and digital photography.