Natural Environment Research Council
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a council of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, responsible for supporting research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. == History == NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geographic) research organisations (including Nature Conservancy which became the Nature Conservancy Council in 1973 and was divided up in 1991) were brought under the one umbrella organisation.
Source: Wikipedia — Natural Environment Research Council (CC BY-SA 4.0)