Governments across the world have become increasingly aware of the social and economic problems caused by inequality. It's not just income inequality that is cause for concern but how different aspects of inequality-in health, education, employment and crime-combine to impoverish particular groups, and deepen divisions in society. For certain types of inequality, Scotland fares worse than comparable countries, particularly with respect to suicide, homicide, overcrowding and children living in poverty. As a result, the Scottish Government has launched a national strategy to create a 'Fairer Scotland'. For this initiative to be successful, however, it needs to have solid evidence which is based on a well-informed understanding of how the different dimensions of inequality interact and change over time. Our goal in this project is to achieve a step change in the quality and usefulness of the evidence base in Scotland by developing world-leading advances in how the multi-dimensional nature of inequality is understood. Working closely with policy makers at local and national level, we aim to support, guide and inform government policies with a view to achieving a genuine reduction in social inequalities. Our project is called AMMISS: Analysing Multi-Dimensional and Multi-Scale Inequalities in Scottish Society. It represents an ambitious and innovative research programme that will explore the causes and consequences of social inequalities in Scottish society in a much deeper and more joined-up way than has been achieved before. It is 'multi-dimensional' because we will explore multiple forms of inequality (e.g. poor health, low educational achievement, exposure to crime, failure to access the labour market, poor social mobility). Developing cutting-edge analysis we shall help policy makers understand how these different dimensions interact to affect life chances. It is 'multi-scale' because looking at inequality for a single level of geography or social unit can lead to a distorted understanding of inequality. So it is particularly important that we understand how inequalities impact at different levels both spatially (e.g. communities and cities) and socially (e.g. individuals and families). Our novel approach will allow us to analyse the causes and effects of multi-dimensional and multi-scale inequalities in a truly joined-up way, taking full advantage of Scotland's world-class administrative and survey data. AMMISS has two main themes. First, we will explore the way in which the neighbourhoods impact on how people experience inequalities and how changing patterns of poverty in Scottish cities impact on those experiences; for example, by affecting access to the labour market and exposure to crime. We will also examine how changing ethnic mix affects educational achievement and experiences of victimisation. Second, we will investigate how inequality impacts individuals over the course of their lives; for example, how experiences in early childhood affect social inequalities experienced later in life. We will also explore why some 'high risk' people and neighbourhoods remain 'resilient' to social inequalities, achieving positive outcomes against the odds. To make sense of such a broad range of issues we have brought together an impressive group of internationally recognised experts from various different areas of research. This will allow us to develop the innovative and insightful research needed to tackle inequality. Working closely with a range of organisations across Scotland, including central and local government and charities, will provide many opportunities for innovation and ensure that our work is relevant and useful for achieving a fairer society. Our ambition is to help those in positions of influence achieve real change. By making Scotland an exemplar for inequalities research, our work has the potential to influence and inspire policies to reduce social inequality around the world.

Focus of the project Eastern Europeans who have arrived in the UK in the last decade are the fastest growing ethnic groups in the UK. This study will be the first to focus specifically on Eastern European migrant children who have lived in the UK for at least three years, and to compare their everyday lives and sense of cultural and national identity and belonging in Scotland and England. The primary aim of the research is to inform public debate, policy makers and service providers on the issue of children of Eastern European migrants settled in Britain. The study will promote social inclusion, by exploring the experiences of settled migrant children in relation to the distinct discourses around migration, identity and citizenship in the UK and by ensuring that voices of children from the 'new' minority groups are taken into account in current debates on national identity. Settled migrant children's perspectives help us understand whether or not they are being socialised into their local communities' culture and can highlight the spatial and temporal dimensions of their social lives and opportunities for future. Concepts of ethnic and diasporic identity, belonging, transnationalism, culture and nation are taking new meanings across Europe and need reassessment and questioning when discussing national identity and social inclusion. Evidence to be produced By bringing together discourses on migration and integration of migrant groups with knowledge on how children experience these discourses in their everyday interactions, the study will generate new knowledge on the UK's new ethnic minority children and their long-term experiences of integration. Focussing on children aged 12-18 of Eastern European migrants living in the UK for 3+ years, the study will provide a unique understanding on migrant children's long term experiences of settlement, exploring family, peer and community social networks. Another key area of investigation will be children's expressed needs in terms of the array of services they use, issues in access and the extent to which services are meeting their needs. Third, we will explore the factors that enable children of Eastern European migrants to adapt to the new social, economic and political context of the regions in which they live, as they negotiate national, social, cultural and political identities in the context of a changing Europe. Data will be generated through a review of existing evidence, a survey of between 500-600 children across six urban, semi-urban/rural areas in the UK and focus groups with between 70-100 children. In depth case studies 16-20 families will also be conducted. A young people's advisory group will have a central role in the project development and dissemination. Originality, contribution to knowledge and anticipated impact The originality of the project stems from the consideration given to the ways in which Eastern European children living in diverse geographical spaces are engaged in on-going, dynamic processes of making sense of the world, and their place within it, at local, national and global levels. The study will fill a gap in information on newly settled migrant communities, with a view of informing policy and practice. Information on settled migrant children's social practices, educational achievement and aspirations, sense of cultural and national identity and belonging will provide insights into the extent of European migrant communities' integration in the UK, in the context of various representations of 'nation' that circulate in policy, political and public discourses. The study will address the relative absence of migrant children's voices in public debates and provide policy makers and the public with an improved understanding of the lives of children who were originally migrants, but have settled long-term in the UK. This information will be disseminated widely, to benefit children, service providers, policy makers and the general public.

The overarching objective of Connecting Nature is to position Europe as a global leader in the innovation and implementation of nature-based solutions. The project partners will form a community of cities fostering peer-to-peer, transdisciplinary capacity-building between front-runner, fast-follower and multiplier cities. Connecting Nature will co-develop the policy and practices necessary to scale up urban resilience, innovation and governance via nature-based solutions. An open innovation ecosystem approach bringing together city governments, SMEs, academia and civic society will be used to co-produce usable and actionable knowledge in all cities. Connecting Nature will provide the reference framework for a new generation of urban nature-based solution processes and empower transitioning ambassadors who will globalise this approach through a strategy targeting multiplier cities. This novel approach, coupled with the high capacity of the consortium, makes Connecting Nature an exciting prospect. In addition, linking all open-sourced data to the Oppla platform will ensure perpetuation beyond the end of the project.

European cities face complex challenges that demand smart solutions. This project puts urban intermediaries, those people who can bring people and resources together in innovative ways, at the heart of smart urban development and sets out to understand how they create social innovation. We will carry out fieldwork in four European cities (Birmingham, Copenhagen, Glasgow and Amsterdam) where we will develop collaborative working groups, or 'living labs', which will be sources of data as well as sites for learning across projects, fields of practice, cities and countries. In sum, we will advance knowledge of how intermediaries innovate and generate smart urban development, by creating opportunities for collaborative research, dialogue and learning across Europe.

RECLAIM is an innovative network to address complex problems and create sustainable, healthy, and liveable urban systems, resilient to climate-related hazards. RECLAIM will become an inclusive platform for continual exchange, and knowledge translation. Our network will connect and transform the 'forgotten cities' to be at the vanguard for environmental and economic advancement using participatory methods and green-blue-grey infrastructure (GBGI) to address societal and environmental challenges. Our vision for RECLAIM is to create a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral network, which brings together multiple areas of scientific expertise (engineering, ecology, social science), artists, designers, business, city authorities, policymakers and community groups. RECLAIM will act as a hub to rapidly disseminate best practice on GBGI design which takes account of the social and economic context, and the needs of local residents as well as the latest scientific evidence on designing multi-functional GBGI solutions. The network will develop common language, goals and methodology to ease the communication, spreading, and replicability of GBGI. It will focus on the forgotten cities, especially the smaller and/or economically disadvantaged urban areas and communities which have mostly been ignored in the implementation and assessment of GBGI, and making them part of the solution using a participatory approach. The geographical scope is pan-UK, covering some larger cities where good practice is already established (e.g. Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle) with smaller cities and less well-off areas in the northeast of England, north Wales, the Midlands and south-east England to test, co-design, engage and learn with their most disadvantaged communities. Disciplinary scope aims to bridge engineering, modelling, atmospheric chemistry, hydrology including marine, green infrastructure, urban art, urban design, and social sciences including science and technology studies. The network has a central aim of addressing the levelling up agenda by incorporating both social justice issues and ecological quality into the design of multi-functional grey, green and blue space in cities, proposed as the means to ensure liveable cities which are sustainable and resilient to the future challenges. It will tackle this through six key objectives, which are delivered through a series of network actions: 1) Build a new multi-disciplinary network to share best practice and act as research leaders; 2) Undertake horizon scanning and knowledge synthesis to identify key gaps in knowledge and make recommendations to address them; 3) Conduct feasibility studies to comprehensively assess new and existing GBGI, and to address knowledge gaps; 4) Design, engage and learn with the public, fostering improved understanding of the wider benefits of green-blue-grey space, and educating the next generation on making our cities more sustainable and healthier places to live; 5) Train a new cohort of decision-makers and academics to embed multi-disciplinary thinking into future GBGI design, incorporating a mix of place-based approaches and scale-appropriate functional interventions; 6) Accelerate uptake of best practices by dissemination through activities designed to share best practice on urban planning and green and blue space design. Underlying this are four cross-cutting themes which thread through all the network activities: Multifunctionality and systems thinking, Embedding aesthetics and people's needs into GBGI design, Upscaling and outscaling, and Capitalising on existing initiatives.