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Application of AI, seeds from conservation to use, citizen science, and the challenges facing the heritage sector were just some of the research priorities highlighted at a recent away day for our partners at Wakehurst.

Professor Seb Oliver, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research, and Kate Thorpe, Head of Business Partnerships, welcomed research leads and other staff members from the Kew outpost in West Sussex, which is home to the Millennium Seed Bank and over 500 acres of diverse landscapes and plants from across the globe, on Friday, 11 October.

A 'netwalk' led by Dr Chris Sandom took in the rewilded areas of campus including the Love your Scrub site at lunchtime, before a facilitated speed networking session.

Dr Karis Jade Petty and Maisie Farnham from Global Studies and MAH's Professor Margaretta Jolly also presented case studies of their own collaborations with impact.

“We were thrilled to bring such a diverse interdisciplinary group of people from both organisations together for some great conversations and are looking forward to supporting the many resulting ideas for collaboration,” says Kate Thorpe.

“The Kew Wakehurst team all commented on how great it was to speak to other experts, especially in growing areas such as participation, rewilding and nature connectedness research at Wakehurst,” added Rebecca Roberts, Partnerships and Policy Senior Officer, Nature Unlocked at Wakehurst, Kew.

“The room included academic researchers, knowledge exchange experts, teachers and participation gurus, and this diversity enabled science research themes to be contextualised in real-world applications and connect with people’s values towards nature. The main success was the concrete actions taken from the day, and a real sense of putting egos at the door and coming together to forge networks and share knowledge – I have already had several follow-ups to connect PhD students and projects!”

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