"It is CEC's combination of deep knowledge and interdisciplinary experience now giving dividends," says Yann Clough who is responsible for CEC's research development.

Yann has received an ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council for a project on the concerning decline of pollinating insects. All signs indicate that populations of wild insects, including wild bees and butterflies, have decreased significantly in recent decades.

“Showing the ecological significance of insects, both for the environment and for people, is extremely important”, says Yann Clough.

Several new research projects related to CEC have also received funding from Formas, among others Henrik Smith's two projects Landscape perspectives for efficient conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in farmland and Constraints on the expansion of organic farming in Sweden, Natascha Kljun's project Climate costs of boreal forest clear-cutting – a multiscale experiment (CORE) and another project with Yann Clough as research leader called Production potential of agricultural biomass and policy instruments to promote a fossil-free society while meeting food production and environmental objectives.

"This means that we can continue to strengthen and develop the CEC, recruiting both researchers and administrative staff during next year," says CEC's director Henrik Smith.

Lunch lecture 

Due to the recently approved ERC Consolidator Grants, Yann Clough gives a lunch lecture about planned studies of pollinating insects. December 18th at 12.15 in the Astronomy building.