Professor Carly Stevens and the Limestone Pavement Partnership have been named this year’s recipient of the Robinson Sustainability Grant from Friends of Lancaster University in America (FLUA). The grant will support the Limestone Pavement Partnership’s efforts to better understand how to protect and preserve limestone pavements, internationally important and ecologically rich habitats about which we know surprisingly little.

Professor Stevens’s project, “Using International Knowledge Exchange to Protect Limestone Habitats”, was first reviewed by an internal University panel before being turned over to the Board of FLUA, where it was selected as one of the winners of this year’s Small Grants Scheme. “While this may be a small grants scheme, it will make a huge difference to the work of our Limestone Pavement Partnership,” said Professor Carly Stevens. “We couldn’t be more delighted or grateful for FLUA’s support, and Mr Robinson’s generosity in establishing this grant.”

Friends of Lancaster University in America allows US-based Lancaster alumni a tax-efficient way to support the University community in a whole range of ways. The Robinson Sustainability grant is named for FLUA Board Director and University Patron Edward Robinson, who has been a generous donor and standard-bearer for the University for over 25 years.

The grant will support Professor Stevens’s and the partnership's efforts to build international bridges among researchers and conservation practitioners whose work focuses on limestone pavements, while also supporting on-the-ground experiments here in the Northwest. Limestone pavements are a rare and ecologically important habitat, home to a rich range of plant and invertebrate species. Historically threatened by quarrying to remove their distinctive rock formations—created over the course of millennia—some estimates posit that only 3% of limestone pavements remain intact in the UK. More worryingly still, research by Professor Stevens has revealed that the pavements that still exist have deteriorated significantly in the last 50 years, losing characteristic species due to a lack of management guidance. Funding from Friends of Lancaster University in America will provide crucial support for research knowledge sharing to protect these imperilled habitats, in the UK and beyond.

To find out more about the Limestone Pavement Partnership, visit the Limestone Pavement Partnership website or follow them on LinkedIn.