Launching ExCASES: a rapid solutions generator for biodiversity renewal challenges

ExCASES are a team of interdisciplinary researchers based at the National Trust and University of Exeter, who are actively seeking ideas for ‘missions.’ These are short bursts of focused, collaborative activity (lasting 3-6 months), bringing together multidisciplinary teams of researchers and practitioners to co-create outputs or solutions to a specific problem relating to biodiversity renewal (such as best practice, guidance tools, stakeholder engagement, technical solutions, policy recommendations, conceptual frameworks, etc.).

The aim is to run 3-4 missions a year, with topics selected from a central pool of ideas, and teams assembled from across the National Trust, University of Exeter, RENEW partners, and wider stakeholders.

A photo of a small lego boat with 'Good ship ExCASES' written on a paper sail
Above: The good-ship-ExCASE sets sail with a confident start to collaborative problem-solving at an X3 Collaboration in Practice workshop in February 2023.

The team have now launched an ideas submission form, so if you are grappling with knotty problems related to biodiversity renewal and are keen to get involved, please submit your ideas or get in touch with David Bavin (david.bavin@nationaltrust.org.uk), Michelle Twena (michelle.twena@nationaltrust.org.uk), or Clare Bissell (clare.bissell@nationaltrust.org.uk) for more information.

A picture of hand point at a map
Above: Understanding personal connections to nature and biodiversity through mapping exercises.

Find out more about ExCASES missions here.