An Oxford University fast-passed research programme has been awarded £10m to provide environmental solutions.

The Agile Initiative has won official backing after a rigorous selection process by UKRI, a research and innovation body.

Its research aims to deliver rapid answers to the most pressing environmental policy questions.

Guided by an independent advisory group and an executive board under Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Patrick Grant and directed by Professor Nathalie Seddon, it will bring together leading researchers from across the university working in close partners in government, policy, NGOs and business.

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Professor Grant said: “The Agile Initiative was inspired in part by the speed with which the University's vaccine team achieved success.

“We are now setting ourselves the challenge to bring similarly fast-paced science and solutions to pressing environmental problems, drawing on our deep and broad research capacity.

“Working with a range of partners and across disciplines, our new Agile programme will aim to provide timely insights and influential advice on pressing environmental issues to a range of audiences and policy-makers.”

Fast-paced research ‘Sprints’ will respond to specific questions - identified in partnership with policy makers and key stakeholders across the UK - within 12 months, so evidence can feed into the policy cycle in real time.

Sprints have been chosen for their socioeconomic and environmental importance to policy, potential impact, and time-scale deliverability, and inclusiveness and diversity.

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