Last Updated: 2016
Our vision
Growing populations, declining resources and anthropogenic environmental change are putting increasing pressure on our planet and the global population. Finding effective solutions to these challenges must be built on an understanding of physical and ecosystem processes, how these give rise to benefits for people, and how we can sustain and enhance healthy environments and societal well-being through improved local to global governance.
The Environment Department brings together physical, natural and social scientists, working with decision-makers at international, national and local level, to develop innovative solutions to these important challenges.
Our research contributes to achieving key global goals such as reducing poverty and protecting livelihoods, enhancing food and energy security, promoting clean water and air, improving land use management, developing sustainable cities, encouraging responsible consumption and production, taking effective action on climate change, and protecting our marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
Context
Formed in 1992, the Environment Department now has 31 academic staff members, more than 20 Early Career Researchers, more than 80 PhD students of over 20 different nationalities, and more than 400 undergraduate students. Since January 2016, the Environment Department has been located in the new £12.5 million purpose-built Environment Building, along with BioArCh - a joint venture between Biology, Archaeology and Chemistry.
The Environment Department is a leading centre for teaching and research around sustainable solutions to the world's environmental challenges. In the 2014 REF, 96% of our research was internationally recognised. In 2015, we ranked as a QS World Top 100 Department. The impact of our research in ecology and environmental science is ranked 2nd in the UK and 17th in the world (THES).
Since 2011, our strength has been augmented by embedding the Stockholm Environment Institute at York (SEI York) into the Department. SEI York is the second largest of the seven SEI Centres, comprising 34 research and support staff. SEI is an internationally-renowned research institute focussed on environment and sustainable development with a mission to translate science into policy; SEI has been ranked the 2nd most influential global think-tank on environment for the past two years. The work of SEI is based around four themes: Managing Environmental Systems; Reducing Climate Risk; Transforming Governance; and Re-thinking Development.
Both the Environment Department and SEI York contribute strongly to the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI) that connects environmental research across the University. YESI brings together researchers working on environmental questions across a broad range of disciplines and is open to all York researchers and their collaborators. Research in YESI is clustered within three themes: Sustainable Food; Resilient Ecosystems; and Urban Living.
Members of the Environment Department are active across a number of University Centres. They have established the YorK Institute for Tropical Ecosystems (KITE; investigating ecosystem dynamics in Eastern and Southern Africa) and the Centre for Integrated Research, Conservation and Learning (CIRCLE; a collaboration with Flamingo Land with the aim of carrying out ground-breaking research on the conservation of wild animals and places, including tropical forest conservation). Members of the Department also play an active role in PALAEO (Centre for Human Palaeoecology & Evolutionary Origins).
Research themes
The core Department’s research base covers the spectrum from underlying physical geography and environmental science through ecology and human geography to environmental policy. Our three research themes (Figure 1) reflect the need for holistic understanding across this spectrum to build knowledge of how physical, chemical and biological systems function, the benefits they bring to humans, and how these benefits can be sustained to enhance societal wellbeing:
Understanding the causes and consequences of environmental change
Developing innovative solutions to environmental challenges
Engaging people with environmental challenges and solutions
Figure 1. The three Environment Department research themes (in bold) and their relationship with SEI York themes (in red) and YESI research themes (in blue).
Understanding the causes and consequences of environmental change
Natural processes and human activities are important drivers of environmental change. We use a combination of physical, biological, chemical, social and economic science approaches to understand the causes of change and implications for the sustainability of human society and the planet as a whole. We work in terrestrial, aquatic, atmospheric and human environments using the latest data analysis, monitoring and modelling techniques to assess environmental and land use change.
Developing innovative solutions to environmental challenges
Modern society faces a myriad of environmental challenges including how to feed a growing global population, how to generate sufficient energy, the impact of new chemicals and materials and dealing with the consequences of climate change. We develop cutting-edge tools, techniques and management strategies to inform policy. Our goal is to facilitate a move towards sustainable living in the 21st century and beyond.
Engaging people with environmental challenges and solutions
Engaging people with environmental challenges and solutions is a vital component of developing meaningful mitigation, adaptation and remediation strategies. Some of the key challenges are around nature-society relations, development processes, sustainability and consumption and environmental policy and governance. We engage in interdisciplinary research combining methods and insights from across the social sciences and beyond to understand the social, spatial, political, economic and cultural dimensions of key contemporary environmental challenges.
Research groups
Research activity to address the three research themes is coordinated through four research groups which meet every 1-3 weeks. The research groups provide a forum for discussion of research papers and the generation and refinement of ideas for proposals. Staff and PhD students may be a member of more than one group. The research groups themselves span different research themes, reflecting the interdisciplinary and holistic nature of much of the Department’s research.
● Physical and environmental geography
We focus on understanding how physical and biological systems change on a variety of time-scales, and applying this knowledge to forecast change into the future. This fits predominantly within the first departmental research theme: understanding the causes and consequences of environmental change. Our research focuses particularly on marine, terrestrial and glacial environments and addresses global concerns such as land-use change, the causes and consequences of climate change, and sea level rise. Research within this group provides a framework for society to develop effective adaptation and mitigation strategies to environmental change.
● Environmental science
We conduct novel research to understand fundamental physical, chemical and biological processes within the atmosphere and ecosystems and how these respond to human-driven environmental change. This information can be used to identify potential threats to the environment and to develop new technologies and strategies for protecting ecosystems from environmental change. We apply state-of-the-art biological and chemical methodologies to study fundamental biogeochemical processes, and develop new methodologies for environmental monitoring and modelling and to measure the biological impacts of pollutants. Research within this group contributes primarily to the first and second research themes: understanding the causes and consequences of environmental change; and developing innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
● Ecology and conservation
We study the natural world from individuals to populations, communities to ecosystems. This allows us to understand how biodiversity contributes to the functioning of ecosystems and responds to environmental change. Our main research strengths include behavioural ecology, marine ecosystems, tropical forests, carbon and nutrient cycling, conservation biology, wildlife disease, fisheries management and ecosystem services. Research within this group contributes primarily to the first and third research themes: understanding the causes and consequences of environmental change; and engaging people with environmental challenges and solutions.
● Environment and society
We are committed to developing a holistic understanding of the challenges around environment and society. Our research within this theme takes into account the complexity of the interrelationships between economic, geographical, political, and social dimensions. Our substantive research foci include enhanced transport systems, environmental policy, health and wellbeing, international development, low carbon transitions, natural resource and conservation management, and sustainable food systems. We also use novel participatory research method approaches to understand the relationship between people and the environment. Research within this group is aligned primarily with the second and third research themes: developing innovative solutions to environmental challenges; and engaging people with environmental challenges and solutions.
Research goals and impact
Our research activities have major impacts on national and international environmental policy, helping to shape the debate in a diversity of policy arenas. Our staff advise global policy-makers internationally including UNEP, FAO and WHO, national Government Departments such as Defra, DfID and DH, support international NGOs such as WWF and Oxfam, and sit on national and international expert committees.
In addition to our fundamental aim of producing excellent, world-class research with impact, our specific goals over the next five years are to:
1.Improve our ranking in the next Research Excellence Framework (REF).
2.Invigorate the research culture within the Department, sustaining an environment where internationally-recognised and interdisciplinary research flourishes.
3.Nurture the development of each member of staff and research student within the department, and encourage and support research career development, ensuring equality of recognition and opportunity for all, for example through the Athena Swan charter.
4.Be proactive in developing interdisciplinary collaborative relationships - within the University of York, with UK-based and internationally academic institutions, with industry, Third Sector organisations and beyond.
5.Capitalize on the opportunities that will be afforded by emerging research opportunities such as the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), building on our strong links with Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipient countries, and seeking ways to support staff in responding to the rapidly changing funding environment.
6.Further strengthen the impact of our research in all areas, including: socio-economic benefits; impacts on government policy; public engagement and understanding; impacts on cultural life; impacts in other fields of academic endeavour; and impacts on teaching.
Actions that will be taken by the Department to achieve these goals are set out in the Appendix.
Piran White, Chair of Departmental Research Committee
16 November 2016
APPENDIX - Actions to deliver the Environment Department Research Strategy
● Broad ownership of research direction and initiatives
- Ownership of research direction and activity. We will continue to seek to broaden the ownership and responsibility for research direction and activity in the Department by including the Research Group leaders in the development of strategic research documents, and providing them with the responsibility for allocation of funding to support research-related activities, such as travel for staff to build collaborations and networks with other institutions.
- Research strategy initiatives. The Chair of the Departmental Research Committee will work with the Head of Department, the Centre Director of SEI York, the Research Group leaders, the Impact Champion, the Research Facilitator and the rest of the Departmental Research Committee, to develop specific initiatives to achieve the goals set out in this Research Strategy and to monitor their effectiveness on an ongoing basis through DRC meetings.
● Staff
- Recruitment. We will continue to seek to recruit staff who are leaders or potential leaders in their fields, in areas complementary to the core research themes of the Department.
- Research priming and a funded sabbatical system. We will maintain the Environment Research Priming Fund to provide start-up support to staff for research ideas, and seek to increase the level of this fund from its current £5K to £20K. We will also seek to provide staff with the time to develop research ideas and collaborations through a funded sabbatical system in which teaching cover is bought in rather than adding to the teaching load of other staff. SEI York will maintain their Core Research support of £20k/yr to enable staff to undertake a range of research activities from conference attendance to pump priming for new research ideas.
- Training and support. We will continue to ensure that all our staff have access to the highest quality training and support. We will encourage them to engage with opportunities offered by the Research Excellence Training Team, and will offer informal one-to-one support via our research buddy system, which encourages staff to pair up with more experienced staff to improve the quality of grant submissions. Formal support is provided through the Performance and Development Review (PDR) process, during which staff reflect on their objectives over the last year and receive support in developing new objectives for the coming year, bearing in mind their training needs and career development goals. Our aim is to provide staff with the platform to achieve their potential within a supportive environment, sustaining a research income stream and maximising the quality of their research outputs to benefit themselves and the Department.
● Income/funding
- A diverse funding portfolio. We will seek to increase and diversify our portfolio of research funding, to ensure a sustainable and increasing funding base. We will continue to seek to maximise the quality of our applications to responsive mode calls from RCUK. We will also be proactive in seeking research opportunities within emerging initiatives such as the GCRF, building on the development-related expertise available in both the core Department and SEI York and our established experience in interdisciplinary research. We will seek to increase our links with industry as a means of broadening our income base. We will actively pursue larger, collaborative research grants to bring substantial increases in external funding, and enhance the reputation of the Department nationally and internationally. Recognising that many staff will not be in a position to lead very large proposals, we will provide support mechanisms to assist all staff in developing competitive proposals at an appropriate level with the goal of achieving a more even distribution of research income across staff.
- Focus on research performance. We will monitor grant applications and income against targets at each Departmental Management Team meeting and SEI York Management Team meeting, as well as at Departmental Research Committee, complemented by a focus on research performance and expectations through the performance review process.
● Research Culture
- A vibrant research culture. We will seek to improve the research culture within the Department through greater engagement of all staff with our research groups and to other University Departments through YESI and the wider SEI through SEI York.
- Supportive research environment. We will also enhance the Department’s research culture through regular Drop-In sessions for staff with the Research Facilitator and the DRC Chair, as well as a google+ community, and our research buddy system. This support will enhance the quality of proposals with the goal of improving success rates across the Department and broadening the externally-funded research base across more staff.
● Early Career Researchers (including postdoctoral and postgraduate (non-student) researchers)
- Growth in the Early Career Researcher community. We will seek to expand the Early Career Researcher community across the core Department and SEI-Y, with the aim of increasing numbers by 50% over the next six years. This will be achieved through a combination of an increase in independent research fellows and an increase in the level of research funding providing direct support for researchers.
- Fellowships. We will seek to increase the number of independent researchers holding Fellowships within the Department, through a fund to support short-term visits of potential Fellows to the Department in order to spend time developing their proposals in conjunction with core Department and SEI York staff.
- Investing in Early Career Researchers. We value the contribution of our Early Career Researchers in enhancing the research environment and producing excellent research outputs. The Department will continue and strengthen its investment in the training and development of our Early Career Researchers. As part of this, we will hold regular meetings with our Early Career Researchers, encourage their participation in the research groups, ensure their representation at departmental research meetings (e.g. Departmental Research Committee), improve the induction process, improve their integration in research-related processes (e.g. through their involvement in peer review of proposals), allow them access to internal research priming funds and SEI York Core Research support, provide career development and training activities including their development as future grant leaders, and provide support through Drop-In sessions, buddies and mentors when they join the Department.
● Research Students
- Recruitment. We will continue to recruit high-quality postgraduate research students from around the world and maintain active membership in RCUK-funded Doctoral Training Centres. A broad aim of expanding our PhD student community by 25% over the next 6 years will be combined with a diversification of the supervision base, so that we achieve a more even distribution of PhD students across staff. We will seek to attract more applications from both home and overseas students by exploring initiatives such as themed PhD programmes, increasing our involvement in multidisciplinary Doctoral Training programmes such as those funded by NERC, ESRC and the White Rose initiatives, and capitalising on our excellent and growing industrial links to provide CASE and other collaboratively funded studentships.
- Integration of research students in the research culture. We will continue to improve our integration of research students in research matters throughout the Department, for example through involvement in the research groups, the Google+ community, and at Drop-In sessions.
- Facilitating research student development. We will encourage PhD student participation in conferences and workshops through the provision of a competitive PhD student travel fund. We will also prioritise the creation of a fund to support the research activities of each PhD student who does not have ring-fenced support, as through RCUK grants, when funding allows.
● Collaborations and Partnerships
- Leadership in interdisciplinary research and collaborations. We will take a leading role in initiating research collaborations with other Departments, which we see as playing a core role in our involvement in the GCRF and other large grant opportunities. Existing collaborations which we will maintain and strengthen are with the wider SEI, Archaeology (including BioArCh), Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Electronics, Mathematics, Management and Health Sciences. We will seek to develop new collaborations with the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities via shared away-days and workshops. We will continue working with YESI with our research on sustainable food (e.g. the N8 Agri-food initiative), resilient ecosystems and urban living, and will build greater awareness among our staff of YESI activities through engaging YESI in Departmental Research Committee activities.
- Research Priming Fund. We will manage the Environment Department Research Priming Fund to encourage the development of new research ideas and collaborations, especially encouraging the participation of less experienced staff.
- External collaborations. We will continue to develop external collaborations with business and industry, building on our successful relationships with Syngenta, Fera Science Limited, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Unilever and EDF Energy, nature conservation agencies and organisations including Natural England, SEPA, SNH and NRW, and Councils including York, Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and Edinburgh.
● Impact
- Maximising impact. We will place a high priority on achieving impact from our research. Our Impact Champion will encourage staff to maximise the impact potential from their research, leading impact-focused research group meetings, facilitating individuals towards impact, and producing an occasional series of impact blogs based on internal and external experience. We will also liaise with the SEI Communications team (located in Stockholm) who specialise in communication for research impact.
- Focus on the Sustainable Development Goals. In the coming years, the Department will strengthen its impact activities around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including food security (zero hunger), good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water and life on land. In developing the impact of our research, we will maintain and grow existing links with industry, public sector organisations, third sector organisation and academic collaborators. We will also utilise the expertise of SEI York in the area of policy and governance, by expanding sharing of best practice via seminar series.
● Estates, Infrastructure and Facilities
- Stronger internal links. Our new building, which we moved into in January 2016, has enabled us to start to build stronger links among the core Department, SEI York, YESI, and BioArCh. This includes 3-weekly meetings between research leaders across the different departments/groups, and a coordinated approach to identifying research opportunities.
- Opportunities from new Laboratories. The new laboratories provide us with excellent facilities that can support a wider range of research activities in-house, including controlled temperature facilities and an aquarium. The availability of these facilities will open up more opportunities for us in terms of grant applications and income.
- Equipment to support social research. We will expand our support for social research through the provision of fundamental social research items such as high-quality audio recorders, video cameras, sound boards, and transcription foot pedals, combined with software for audio and video editing.
Piran White, Chair of Departmental Research Committee
16 November 2016