Members of the Scottish Parliament, their staff, and parliament staff need access to relevant, credible and timely evidence to support good scrutiny and informed debate. Accessing academic evidence and expertise is an important component of this. The Parliament is also committed to increasing the reach, and diversity, of those engaging with it.
The Scottish Parliament is piloting the application of Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) to explore their effectiveness in accessing, and diversifying, academic evidence and expertise available to inform parliamentary scrutiny. The pilot focuses on expertise linked to climate scrutiny.
ARIs are lists of issues or questions relating to a policy area. They are a way for an organisation like the Scottish Parliament to express interest in seeing more research evidence in a specific area and/or understanding what research expertise exists that is of relevance to this policy issue.
Scottish Parliament ARIs that are open are listed below. Using the form you can share details of your research or insights on a specific ARI alongside your contact details.
Academics at all career stages and from all research institutions are encouraged to respond.
The Scottish Parliament plans to use the responses received to identify research, expertise and contacts relevant to a particular scrutiny topic in the Parliament. The information could be used to:
Submitting a response does not necessarily mean we will get back in touch with you. However, the response form will ask for your permission for us to do this should we wish to follow up on your research expertise.
ARIs do not replace other mechanisms that the Scottish Parliament uses to engage with the academic community or calls for evidence that a Scottish Parliament committee may issue ahead of an inquiry.
If you have any questions about this process or how your information will be used, please refer to the privacy notice, or contact Dan Barlow, Knowledge Exchange Manager – Climate Change Scrutiny (dan.barlow@parliament.scot).
The Scottish Parliament is piloting Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) to support the Parliament to access expertise to inform its scrutiny of the next Draft Climate Change Plan. The Plan is expected to be laid in the Scottish Parliament later in 2025 for scrutiny.
As well as detailing a set of measures to cut emissions in a range of sectors (for example, energy, transport, agriculture), the Plan is also required to provide information on the costs and benefits of policies and implications for supporting a just transition. The contents of the Plan will straddle the remit of multiple Committees in the Scottish Parliament, and a diverse range of research expertise will be highly relevant.
The Scottish Parliament plans to use the responses received to identify research, expertise and contacts relevant to a particular scrutiny topic in the Parliament. The information could be used to:
We are currently inviting members of the research community to register their expertise and research insights on the following ARIs:
Area of Research Interest: Climate Emissions from Waste Management and Resource Use
We plan to review responses at the end of May 2025 and then we will decide whether to close the ARIs or keep them open beyond this point.