SUERC’s mission is to perform, stimulate and support high quality basic, applied and strategic research, within the Scottish University community and beyond, in the Earth, Environmental and Biomedical Sciences through development and maintenance of high-end analytical facilities, inter-disciplinary exchange and collaborative interaction . SUERC provides a focus in Scotland for high quality research through its own research programme and by assisting partner universities successfully to bid for research grants and deliver research outputs. Through teaching and training, SUERC contributes to the future supply of highly able scientists. Commercial research and testing is a valuable source of additional income and frequently contributes to national welfare and security. SUERC is operated jointly and funded equally by the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and, through a Memorandum of Understanding, Aberdeen University is an Associate Member. Links to several other Scottish institutions are illustrated by SUERC’s lead role in the Research Pooling Initiatives, SAGES, the Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society, and ECOSSE, the Edinburgh Collaborative of Sub-surface Science and Engineering.