Despite the potential benefits of a location on the coast, many port and coastal towns and cities are run-down and unattractive, and underperform in economic and social wellbeing terms. This is often a result of a poor built environment, derelict industrial and other legacy sites, and a lack of meaningful connectivity between the urban realm, green spaces and the waterfront. Rising sea levels and coastal erosion pose further, existential, threats. These issues are common to port and coastal cities and towns all around the UK, hence transcend simplistic north/south or east/west categorisation or division. Addressing them through effective, sustainable and resilient regeneration is essential to the UK Government's Net Zero and Levelling Up agenda. Our Network+ will use concepts developed by UKCRIC on Flourishing Systems. We will take a systems-based, people-focussed view of infrastructure; keeping people at the centre of the vision, considering infrastructure as a way of connecting together interdependent systems, which must be designed to be sustainable, inclusive, secure and resilient. The complexity of the component systems, and the heterogeneity of drivers and foci, makes it difficult to optimise the infrastructure system of systems, even generally, towards a better future. We will adopt the Line of Sight approach, which involves actively facilitating different communities (people, experts, authorities, government, investors) to understand their current and potential priorities and roles; then to explore and develop synergies focused on new, common objectives along aligned lines of sight. The activities of the Network+ will be organised through five interdependent strands: 1. Celebrating the major asset: connecting the town/city with the waterfront, balancing the needs of a functional waterfront with ambience, public accessibility, leisure and heritage 2. Inclusive infrastructure: engaging with communities, policymakers, the public sector and business to ensure effective infrastructure development and use 3. Maintaining and enhancing resilience: making port and coastal city and town regeneration resilient to climate change, sea-level rise, coastal erosion and flooding 4. Coastal region transport: addressing issues associated with the particular challenges of transport to/from and within port and coastal cities and towns arising from linear development along the coast or estuary, a current or former working waterfront, and the absence of up to half the hinterland 5. Nature inspired, human scale engineering: including greening the grey infrastructure, to provide/enhance social value for the surrounding communities Extensive use will be made of testbed sites, with three having been selected as typifying a range of UK port and coastal city and town regeneration needs and issues. These are the port city of Southampton, Lancaster and Morecambe, and North Norfolk seaside towns including Cromer and Sheringham.

The proposal targets the country of Colombia, at a very important time in history following the peace agreement between the government and the FARC. Colombia is one of the 17 countries considered as "megadiverse" by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Colombia's biodiversity is not only important for the country's natural heritage and the preservation of unique species in the world, it is also essential for the improvement of human welfare, social equality and economic development. The proposal has been built on a foundation of existing research activities, with the involvement of additional stakeholders, business, government, and third sector organisations, promoting cross-disciplinary expertise to tackle three developmental challenges, and ensuring that impact extents beyond the length of the project. Our short-term goals are to build research capacity, partnerships and knowledge, with the longer-term goals of stimulating economic and social growth around biodiversity. We have established an alliance of institutions in the UK and Colombia in order to (1) gather information on changes in distribution, diversity, and conservation status of the natural diversity of Colombia, (2) characterise and manage agricultural genetic biodiversity to make breeding and farming more efficient, and (3) assess the challenges and impacts associated with the biodiversity challenges outlined in the other two work programmes to develop key relevant policies and programmes. In addition we will build research capability by developing researchers' skills, as well their access to research information and resources through group meetings, workshops, networking events and training courses, that will be delivered in collaboration with Colombian partners and in alignment with the activities of the proposal. We will also improve the technological self-sufficiency of the Colombian research community by facilitating the adoption of innovative technologies. Furthermore, we will ensure we raise awareness of the challenges among the public and inform them of how our outcomes are likely to benefit them. Our proposal on Colombian Biodiversity is timely and will allow the targeted country to reach higher scientific level in the proposed activities as well as applying science to inform decision-making and business investments in sustainable agriculture. Ultimately its outcomes will contribute to a long lasting impact by promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (UN SDG 16).

The proposal targets the country of Colombia, at a very important time in history following the peace agreement between the government and the FARC. Colombia is one of the 17 countries considered as "megadiverse" by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Colombia's biodiversity is not only important for the country's natural heritage and the preservation of unique species in the world, it is also essential for the improvement of human welfare, social equality and economic development. The proposal has been built on a foundation of existing research activities, with the involvement of additional stakeholders, business, government, and third sector organisations, promoting cross-disciplinary expertise to tackle three developmental challenges, and ensuring that impact extents beyond the length of the project. Our short-term goals are to build research capacity, partnerships and knowledge, with the longer-term goals of stimulating economic and social growth around biodiversity. We have established an alliance of institutions in the UK and Colombia in order to (1) gather information on changes in distribution, diversity, and conservation status of the natural diversity of Colombia, (2) characterise and manage agricultural genetic biodiversity to make breeding and farming more efficient, and (3) assess the challenges and impacts associated with the biodiversity challenges outlined in the other two work programmes to develop key relevant policies and programmes. In addition we will build research capability by developing researchers' skills, as well their access to research information and resources through group meetings, workshops, networking events and training courses, that will be delivered in collaboration with Colombian partners and in alignment with the activities of the proposal. We will also improve the technological self-sufficiency of the Colombian research community by facilitating the adoption of innovative technologies. Furthermore, we will ensure we raise awareness of the challenges among the public and inform them of how our outcomes are likely to benefit them. Our proposal on Colombian Biodiversity is timely and will allow the targeted country to reach higher scientific level in the proposed activities as well as applying science to inform decision-making and business investments in sustainable agriculture. Ultimately its outcomes will contribute to a long lasting impact by promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (UN SDG 16).