BU Research Blog

The BU Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) offered funding of up to £500 to support members to organise an event to facilitate collaboration, community engagement, networking or knowledge exchange.

In this blog post, Lecturer in Sustainability Fern Baker shares how the funding supported their event to investigate the farming community’s perceptions of voluntary carbon markets (VCMs).

“After conducting a PhD during the pandemic, which limited possible involvement with those with lived experience in my research area, namely farmers, I wanted to co-produce more research with farmers, to gain insight into the areas of importance in a real-life setting. Unfortunately, rural areas and farmers are often not included in the research development process and this workshop was an opportunity to bridge the gap and aid inclusivity. It is important to co-produce research to facilitate knowledge exchange from those at the forefront of the sector to ensure the output will have real-world impact to those involved.

Attendees at the workshop

The BU Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) Research Networking Funding provided with the opportunity to organise, lead and facilitate my own workshop. The aim of the workshop was to investigate the farming community’s perceptions of voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). Currently, engagement with VCMs from the farming community is quite low. However, carbon offsetting is imperative for the agriculture industry to reach the National Farmers Union 2040 Net Zero objective. The aim of the workshop was to discuss and identify the main challenges, barriers and research priorities of VCMs to enhance accessibility and engagement.

Eleven farmers in Dorset attended the event and contributed their perception and experience of voluntary carbon markets. Most of the farmers had not entered the system but had negative perceptions and those with experience with VCMs felt discouraged. Huge trust issues were prevalent, as well as those involving land use conflicts and succession.

We aim to further our research into feasible VCMs for the farming community by applying for the “UKRI cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme: round 2” for up to £1.2 million in project funding to begin July 2025. Dr Rounaq Nayak and I will be working with Associate Professor Pippa Gillingham and Professor Rick Stafford on this project as biodiversity specialists, to also investigate biodiversity net gain and whether both carbon and biodiversity credits can be improved and supported for the farming community. We are also applying the information obtained from the discussions to inform a prospective PhD studentship funding application to the Perry Foundation to improve viable access to the voluntary carbon market system for the farming community. We will continue to work with farmers as a steering group during our application and research. If you would like to be involved, then please get in touch with Fern Baker at bakerf@bournemouth.ac.uk.

I would like to thank all attendees for attending and contributing to the workshop and pivotal research area. Dr Rounaq Nayak (Senior Lecturer, LES) for helping to plan and run the workshop and the activities, as well as Dr Kate Jupp as part of the BU Public Involvement in Education and Research (PIER) partnership for offering guidance on how to design and host an effective workshop. Additionally, Ellie Jones for their assistance with advertising and running of the workshop and the BU ECRN fund for making the workshop possible.”