Understanding our impact

Pictured: Monitoring leaky dams at Backstone Beck. Regional impact from the science of the environment (RISE) End of programme evaluation

iCASP was originally part of the seven year Regional Impact from the Science of the Environment (RISE) programme, funded by UKRI. It set out to explore the benefits of developing and applying environmental science in four regions which have distinct climates, geographies and natural resources: Yorkshire, London, the West Midlands and the South West. The studies in each region have focussed on particular specialist topics – in Yorkshire this was catchment science.

RISE was a £17.1 million Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) investment that aimed to connect research organisations with businesses, policy bodies and communities to translate environmental science into practical innovation for regional benefit. The programme was evaluated by an independent panel of NERC’s RISE programme in September 2025 and produce this report summarising its achievements.

RISE attracted an estimated additional £132 million from private and public sources, nearly eight times the original £17.1 million UKRI investment, and generated an estimated £69 million gross value added.
Beyond financial returns, it:

• strengthened partnerships
• raised public awareness
• supported training
• engaged over 259 non-academic organisations

iCASP delivered benefits for Yorkshire by applying environmental science to real-world catchment management challenges. We achieved our ambition to turn the £5m of initial funding that we received from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) into £50m+ of benefits for Yorkshire.

These benefits include economic benefits such as influencing investments, identifying cost savings, generating funding; creating new products and jobs and improving the environment and resilience to climate change. Our other achievements include:-

Expert network
We have built a robust network of catchment management experts to support collaborative knowledge exchange
and capacity building and a community of practice which will continue beyond funding.

Practical accessible tools and materials
We produced monitoring and evaluation tools to help practicitioners apply environmental science effectively in
managing catchments.

Policy and strategy support
We have informed policies and strategies at local and regional levels, ensuring that environmental science underpins
decision-making.

We have surpassed our original goal – and our plan is to continue to work with partners to address a wide range of catchment management issues.

Beyond the financial data, RISE generated policy, operational and social value, evidenced by stakeholder
feedback such as:

“We can’t not have iCASP: we need iCASP in the region.”
Head of Major Projects, Kirklees Council

RISE fostered a new generation of applied environmental scientists and strengthened community awareness, with
several non-academic partners stepping up to sustain RISE initiatives independently.

The below infographic captures some of the impacts iCASP has achieved (April 2024).

In April 2024 a full impact report was produced to mark the end of the NERC funded element of iCASP. This report provides an outline on iCASPs aims, structure and outputs along with a sample of project case studies and the impact they delivered. A copy of this report is available below.