Supporting researchers to articulate sustainability impact
Scotland Beyond Net Zero (SBNZ) has launched a new sustainability toolkit designed to support researchers in articulating how your work contributes to a more sustainable future. The resource aims to help academics clearly demonstrate the added value and impact of their research in ways that align with the priorities of major funders.
As the toolkit’s lead developer, Dr Rosalind Cavaghan, explains, the team worked hard to ensure the resource would be genuinely useful across the research community:
“We tried really hard to make the toolkit useful for all researchers! But we identified three specific uses. We want to help researchers new to sustainability, to identify how their work can contribute to sustainability. For more experienced sustainability researchers, we want to help them identify new angles, and to more deeply engage with the multiple dimensions and trade-offs inherent in this kind of research. Finally, we hope all researchers will find the toolkit helps explain their contributions in ways that are relevant to funders’ priorities.”
Complementing the Environmental Sustainability Concordat
The toolkit has been developed to complement the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice. While the Concordat focuses on improving the environmental footprint of research practices, such as resource use, laboratory operations, and travel, the SBNZ toolkit addresses a different but equally important dimension: the sustainability impact embedded within research content, methods, and outcomes.
Enhancing research design and funding competitiveness
By using the toolkit, researchers can identify how their expertise connects to sustainability challenges, explore new applications or framings for their work, and communicate these contributions more effectively in funding proposals.
This is particularly timely as funders increasingly prioritise interdisciplinary approaches to climate and environmental issues.
The toolkit is designed to support both those new to sustainability focused research and experienced researchers seeking to deepen their engagement with the multiple dimensions, tensions, and trade offs inherent in sustainability work.
Reflecting on the development process, Dr Cavaghan notes the complexity of distilling such a broad field into a practical resource:
“Sustainability encompasses a very wide area of environmental, social and economic development… The main goal throughout was to encourage users to think about the implications of these debates for research design and spark new thinking. We don’t aim to provide a prescriptive checklist.”
Availability for Edinburgh Napier researchers
As Edinburgh Napier University is a member of the Scotland Beyond Net Zero network, all ENU researchers are able to access and use the toolkit. This provides an opportunity for colleagues across disciplines to strengthen the sustainability dimension of their research design, impact planning, and funding applications.
Toolkit launch event, 25 March 2026
To learn more about the Toolkit, SBNZ member institutions, including Edinburgh Napier University staff and students, are invited to attend an online launch and information session on 25 March 2026.
Registration details are available here >
Further information and access
Additional background on the toolkit’s development and purpose can be found on the SBNZ website, where Dr Kate Symons, Senior Research Partnership Manager for Scotland Beyond Net Zero, and toolkit developer Dr Rosalind Cavaghan share their insights in a detailed Q&A interview.
The toolkit itself can be accessed directly at: https://scotland-beyond-net-zero.ac.uk/toolkit/