Global change and sustainability
Project aim
To establish dedicated Chairs in Global Change and Sustainability. Alternatively, to appoint several Fellowships.
Target
£5 million.
Recognising significant support
- Naming Chairs
- Naming Fellowships
Our research has the potential to impact far beyond Bristol. Funding support will enable us to research the many interdisciplinary challenges at the interface between the physical, social and policy dimensions of climate change. It will also help us to train and support the next generation of young scientists in this challenging and exciting area. The research will help better understand the impact of climate change and what we can do to minimise its effects.
Paul Valdes
Professor of Physical Geography
Bristol is taking a lead on the urgent issue of Global Change and Sustainability. The world needs solutions - technological and political - to damaging environmental change. Increased research capacity will strengthen our understanding of how to tackle the biggest challenge of the 21st century.
Importance
There is a growing consensus about the reality of climate change.
Anticipated further rising temperatures and sea levels, coupled with expected increases in extreme weather could be disastrous to our environment, our livelihoods and the very existence of some communities. From flooding in the South West of England to decreasing grain yields in Africa, this is a global problem that only global solutions can remedy.
Action is urgently needed to develop a globally sustainable environmental and economic future. Sustainable solutions can, however, only be reached if they are economically feasible, socially desirable and politically viable.
Finding these solutions requires an integrated and multidisciplinary approach, with a strong foundation in the science of environmental change supporting an improved understanding of the engineering, economic, legal, and policy consequences.
Impact
Bristol University is a world leader in the ‘whole systems’ approach, integrating as many world systems, such as the oceans, atmosphere, ice sheets and biosphere, as possible into analyses and modelling of the changes the world will experience.
We are in a position to improve knowledge of the likely consequences of human-induced environmental change and inform the debate on the best course of action, and the technical solutions for the impacts of climate change.
Nowhere else in the UK are engineers, and scientific and social researchers working so closely together to look at how we address the impact of climate change on a global scale, with potential focal points of water security, viable sources of renewable energy and more. Funding will also assist the delivery of engineering and technical solutions to challenges such as flooding and water contamination .
Goal
To appoint dedicated Chairs in Global Change and Sustainability to drive research and engineering solutions forward. An alternative model would be to appoint several Fellowships.