MEDIA INVITATION AND PHOTOCALL Time: 1400 to 1900 Date: Thursday 27 October Venue: Committee Room 2, The Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh

PLEASE NOTE: All media are welcome to attend the event.

Any media without parliamentary accreditation who wish to attend will need to be signed into the building by a parliament passholder – contact Miles Briggs, tel: 0131 348 5884. Media interviews with Professor Miller are possible by prior arrangement with Karen Sage, Tricker PR, tel: 07795 522012, 01224 646491.

‘Planning for the Future’ The Macaulay Institute takes its Virtual Landscape Theatre to the Scottish Parliament

The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen, is inviting MSPs and government agency representatives to a demonstration of its mobile Virtual Landscape Theatre on Thursday 27th October 2005, between 1400 and 1900, at the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh. This event is being sponsored by North East MSP Nanette Milne.

The aims of the demonstration are to show how this mobile theatre can help develop ‘best practice’ over how the public can participate in planning and proposed changes for the countryside; raise public awareness of the reasons behind landscape change; and support research into what people prefer about landscapes and the values they place on the countryside.

This facility has been funded by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD). The demonstrations will use research outputs from projects funded by both SEERAD and the European Commission, into the development of tools for supporting public participation in landscape change. Examples include the landscape effects of planting native woodlands in upland Scotland and how wind turbines change our view of the landscape.

Rhona Brankin, Deputy Environment Minister, commented: “The Scottish Executive fully recognises the importance of science to Scotland’s future- it is a great asset and it is important that we invest in it. This new mobile facility will assist us in achieving some of the objectives in our strategic research programmes.

“The distinctive character of our landscapes is a valuable asset. We need to continue to develop and implement land management policies and practices that preserve Scotland’s landscapes in a way that is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. This facility, now on show at the Scottish Parliament, will help us do that.”

Professor David Miller, who leads this area of research at the Macaulay, said: “The facility will play a key role in developing the innovative elements of the Macaulay Institute’s scientific programme of research on landscape change, increasing the effectiveness of knowledge-transfer and improving end user relevance in the understanding and awareness of issues in the management of future landscape changes.”

Professor Maggie Gill, Macaulay Chief Executive, added: “I am delighted that we have the opportunity to bring this exciting new technology to Holyrood to show how integration of different scientific disciplines can help policy-makers in their work. At the Macaulay we believe we have a role to facilitate the exchange of views between different stakeholders such as the public and politicians and this Virtual Landscape Theatre is an important tool to help us fulfil that role.”

1. The Macaulay Institute is the premier land use research institute in the UK. Two hundred and seventy staff are based at the Macaulay Institute at Craigiebuckler in Aberdeen. The Macaulay Institute aims to be an international leader in research on the use of rural land resources for the benefit of people and the environment and is involved in research across the globe; from Scotland to Chile and China. More about the Macaulay Institute can be found at www.macaulay.ac.uk.

2. The Institute receives the majority of its annual income from SEERAD who has provided funding of approximately £167k for this new facility. SEERAD has funded this project as part of its programme of Environmental, Biological and Agricultural Research. More information on the SEERAD research programme can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/srg .

For further information contact: Karen Sage Tricker PR Office 01224 646491 Mobile 07795 522 012 Email ksage@trickerpr.com