Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture research strategy 2027-2032: consultation analysis
Findings from a public consultation on a draft version of the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA) research strategy 2027 to 2032. The consultation was open from August to October 2025.
Appendix A: Responses and analysis
A total of 70 responses were received to the consultation, including four responses received after the closing date (in agreement with RESAS). These responses were put through a data review and cleaning process to check for any duplicate responses or campaign responses.
The data review and cleaning process identified no instances of duplication. As a result, no responses were removed.
This means that a total of 70 validated responses have been included in the final analysis.
No campaign responses were identified. There were a very small number of responses with partial similar wording. This likely reflects organisations promoting the consultation within their community and through their networks, sharing their suggested responses and key messages, and/or posing questions to help others consider and respond to the consultation.
All responses to the public consultation were moderated by RESAS to ensure they were genuine responses to the consultation and specific information was redacted to ensure responses could not identify any individuals. This process included screening for offensive or discriminatory language which might require redaction prior to publication, or if there was a response which was completely irrelevant to the consultation. No responses have been excluded from the consultation analysis for either of these reasons.
EKOS then exported consultation responses from Citizen Space into Microsoft Excel for data management and cleaning. Where responses were submitted in another format, Scottish Government officials moderated these prior to uploading the documents to Citizen Space.
In Excel, EKOS conducted an initial readthrough and review of responses to each question – this gave a nuanced understanding of the different perspectives presented in the responses. Following this initial readthrough and review, EKOS formulated various themes and coded each response into one or more themes.
The analysis gave equal weight to all responses, regardless of whether they were submitted by individuals or organisations. The analysis has sought to identify the most common themes and issues. It does not report on every single or specific point raised.
The consultation paper structure allowed respondents to answer questions independently, in recognition that respondents may answer some questions without expressing views on others. There was some repetition of views expressed across the question set. Judgement was applied to determine the most appropriate placement for each theme within the report.