As part of its ongoing partnership with the , the SRI hosted PhD students and researchers from University of Manchester, University of East Anglia, and University of Southampton, highlighting the importance of collaboration and interdisciplinarity in research to tackle a range of climate change challenges.

Organised by Jess Boxall (Research Fellow in Primary Care, Popular Science and Medical Education), and (PhD student in Geography), this year’s summer school contributes to the Tyndall Centre’s efforts to bring together researchers from the social, natural, and engineering sciences to develop sustainable responses to climate change.

The event placed a strong focus on building communication skills and employability, as two seminars led by University of Southampton press officers and policy professional Emily Cole provided guidance on engaging with public audiences and policy makers.

Attending researchers were also encouraged to practice their learned skills by communicating their PhD projects to a panel of judges in a three-minute thesis competition. Wasun Doradeniya from the University of Manchester, who won this year’s competition for her presentation on urban decarbonisation and net-zero solutions in the Greater Manchester area, reflected on her experience:

“This experience taught me that three minutes can change everything; how you see your research, how others understand it, and how science connects to real-life action. It showed me that being a researcher means being a translator between complex ideas and urgent human needs.”

Closing the event, a future careers session led by Dr Laurence Cannings, Dr Ailish Craig, and Emily Cole offered a unique insight into starting a career in academia or government and tailoring an effective CV for either route.

To learn more about how the University of Southampton is contributing to tackling challenges across climate change and resilience, decarbonisation, food security and more, visit the .

A team from the University of Southampton will be on the stand at Cowes Yacht Haven, where they’ll host an interactive exhibit and invite visitors to explore the breadth of our marine and maritime research and education — from beaches to boats, masts to molluscs.

A highlight will be a new augmented reality experience developed by Maritime Archaeology researchers Felix Pedrotti and Stephanie Blankshein. Visitors will get to explore a digital reconstruction of HMS Holland 1 – Britain’s first commissioned submarine – brought to life through 3D scans. This immersive exhibit is part of the AHRC-funded Unpath’d Waters project, Lead Researcher, Professor Fraser Sturt, delivered in collaboration with the Coastal and Inland Waters Heritage Science Facility, the Nautical Archaeology Society, and the SMMI.

Digital reconstruction of HMS Holland 1

Colleagues will be on hand to talk about opportunities to collaborate or study with us — including through consultancy units like the and across fields such as ocean sciences and maritime engineering.

If you’re planning a visit to Cowes Week or know someone who is, the team would love to see you there.

Location: , PO31 7BD (balcony)

Opening times: 09:00–18:00, Tuesday 5 – Wednesday 6 August

Goal Champions and Leads:��Prof. AbuBakr Bahaj, Kevin Argent, Sally Crabb, Prof. Simon Kemp, Prof. Phillip Wright, Prof. Mark Smith, Prof. Jane Falkingham, Prof. Mark Spearing, Prof. Deborah Gill, Hayden Matthews, Eychelle Heywood.

The hybrid event featured an opening from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mark Smith, followed by presentations from Professor Phillip Wright (Senior Vice President) and Professor AbuBakr Bahaj (SIG Chair). The presentations were followed by a Q&A session, and a workshop about the current status of the targets of the Sustainability Strategy, contained in its six Goals.

Q&A session

The recording of the event and related slides can be found . You are also encouraged to look at the University’s Sustainability Strategic Plan’s for more details including SIG reports, news and how to get involved.

During the event, there was a workshop led by the Goal Champions and Leads, aimed at reviewing the Strategy Goals, their status and to discuss ways forward. During the session, contributions were received from staff and students, with the Goal Champions reporting back on the outcomes of the discussions in a plenary session. These outcomes will feed into the planned sustainability strategic plan refresh.

Professor AbuBakr Bahaj (SIG Chair) presenting

The meeting had strong engagement from our University community, with individuals contributing their insights and enthusiasm towards driving meaningful sustainability actions. Such contributions are highly appreciated, and the SIG team look forward to welcoming more contributions at future sustainability events. Further contributions can be sent at any time to the SIG at sig24@soton.ac.uk

Air quality is an issue both locally and nationally, known to cause increased risk and exacerbations of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, as well as increased risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and dementia.

In partnership with����and the University of Southampton Civic Office, SRI co-hosts the Clean Air South Network which brings together experts, from across Wessex, to collaborate and share their knowledge and expertise. The key aim being to work towards developing a better collective understanding of the local air quality issues, the local population health need, and the key research questions to address these.

A recent example of this is the Clean Air South Air Quality Data Hub project, led by Professor Christina Vanderwel, which collects air quality data in the region to address the need for a central resource hub to enable ongoing and future research. Bringing together data from four local authorities, DEFRA and the MET Office, the team have built an online platform which collates air quality data in the region and maps it for use by local stakeholders to correlate air quality with other social and health factors.

Christina and colleagues in the School of Engineering are further building on the Data Hub project, by using AI to predict and fill gaps in the mapping for areas where sensor data is not available.

Future events for those interested in the clean air area of research include on Tuesday 24��June.��This event will celebrate the significant progress made through four��air quality initiatives��led by Southampton City Council and the Environment Centre (tEC), supported by the University of Southampton.

Clean Air South is hosting an event in September to showcase innovative approaches, share lessons learned, and inspire further action across the region at Portsmouth International Port, please contact SRI for more information.

If you haven’t yet read the , produced by the SRI at the start of 2025, it’s an evidence-based exploration of air quality the Central South and how we might improve it.

The rankings assess over two thousand universities around the world against the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The University scored particularly strongly in Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17), ranking 42^nd in the world, and is in the top 101-200 universities overall.

It also secured top 100 rankings for Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12) and Life on Land (SDG 15).

Professor Phillip Wright, Senior Vice-President at the University of Southampton, said: “Universities play a crucial role in driving sustainability through our education, research and engagement activities.

“It is wonderful to see the progress we are making at Southampton in driving sustainable development recognised in these rankings. It reflects the dedication of everyone at the University who is working towards creating a more just, inclusive and sustainable world.”

THE evaluated 2,318 universities to produce the overall Impact Rankings for 2025. The rankings demonstrate universities’ commitment to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges, including environmental sustainability, social inclusion, economic growth and partnerships.��Making progress in THE Impact Rankings is one of the targets in our Sustainability Strategic Plan.

The University’s Sustainability and Resilience Institute (SRI) brings together academics and students from different disciplines to address the sustainability challenges facing our society and environment. It has played a key role in Southampton’s rise through the rankings from its top 201-300 overall position in 2024, and its 301-400 ranking in 2023.

Professor Simon Kemp, Deputy Director of the SRI and university lead for sustainability education, said: “This is a truly collaborative effort and indicative of how we are tackling sustainability across our university.

“Our colleagues work across local civic projects such as the Nature and Biodiversity Community Hub, and the Clean Air South network, along with high-impact global work exploring the impact of climate change on food security and health in rural Ghana, and health inequalities of displaced women and girls in Central and South America.

“These are just some examples of how our university makes a tremendous contribution to the development of a sustainable world, and our 2025 THE Impact ranking is a recognition of this fantastic work.”

Dr Alice Brock, Sustainable Development Goals Project Officer at the University said: “The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are a vital framework for global progress towards a sustainable future.

“Our score of 94.9 in SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals reflects the University’s extensive collaboration both locally and internationally which is critical to achieving the targets of the Goals.”

Last week the university was ranked 17th in the UK in the Complete University Guide.

A�� longer version of this story with interviews with colleagues whose work contributed to the Impact results will be in the July edition of Staff Matters.

For further information:

Sustainability at the University of Southampton

The University’s Sustainability and Resilience Institute

The event will be led by the Future Towns Innovation Hub, the and the Civic Directorate, in partnership with the

It’s hoped researchers and academics with an interest in tackling issues in clean water research will join and participate in collaborative discussions and build tangible outcomes in response to growing challenges and opportunities within a variety of industry, policy and community areas.

Non-governmental organisations, policy makers and regulators, including the and the , will join the event to help shape the future direction of the Clean Water South network through engaging roundtable discussions and activities.

The event builds on continued efforts to facilitate effective communication and information gathering between key authorities across policy and industry to preserve and maintain the health of rivers in the south of England.

Book your place on .

The SRI has four research funding opportunities open to applications. Projects must align with one or more of the SRI’s , while addressing sustainability and resilience in the context of the environment and social, economic, or cultural factors.

Previously funded projects have involved developing new machine learning models to , , and .

If you’re interested in applying, the SRI is hosting an and an in-person . Visit the to find out how to join.

Funding available:

SRI Proposal Development Seed Fund

This fund offers researchers up to £15,000 to fund research projects, network building, writing of bids, workshops, data collection, policy assessment and dissemination of research, with the aim for this work to lead to bids for more substantial research projects.

SRI Early Career Colleague Fellowship

This opportunity is designed to support outstanding and enthusiastic colleagues with a capacity-building offering (value equivalent to £3,000) for developing independent research careers, such as enhancing academic skills, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. encouraging mentoring and securing a permanent academic position or major external funding.

Responsive and Travel Fund

This fund will support a broad range of activities, up to £2,000, to underpin and develop research, with funding expected to cover areas such as networking activities, bid writing, workshops, data collection, and policy assessment.

SRI Policy Placement Fund

Aiming to provide Early Career Colleagues with opportunities to build industry experience, this fund supports three or four recipients to undertake up to three-months placement in a sustainability-focused policy-making organisation.

Applications for funding close on 20 July 2025.

You can access more information for each of the funding calls for 2025/26 on the .

Researchers from medical, physiological, and climate risk modelling backgrounds will be joined by external stakeholders to explore current gaps in research. The event, held on Highfield campus, will begin with a round table of introductions and specific research interests, followed by presentations led by Dr Davide Filingeri (ThermosenseLab, University of Southampton) and Dr Katie Jenkins (, University of East Anglia).

A Q&A and discussion on current approaches will give attendees the opportunity to identify key or cross-cutting themes, funding opportunities, and potential for data sharing across teams to ensure effective use of resources.

Leveraging the University’s close partnership with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research, a mapping exercise will bring together research across University of Southampton and its Tyndall Partners to generate and prioritise a set of questions and approaches to pressing issues and topics in heat and health research.

Date: Thursday 26 June

Time: 09:30-14:30

Location: Highfield Campus, Building 85, Room 2207

Full details of the workshop can be found on the SRI SharePoint site:

To register for this workshop please submit this form by 19 June:

This annual event is an opportunity to learn more about how the University is embedding sustainability across its operations, teaching, research, and investment. Whether you’re new to our Sustainability Strategy or familiar with it, you’ll gain insights into the ongoing actions being taken to meet our targets set under the six core goals. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions directly to those championing and leading the work and be asked to respond to the planned Sustainability Strategic Plan Refresh.

In addition, a vegan lunch and refreshments will be provided while networking with Goal Champions, Leads, SIG members and like-minded peers.

Agenda��

12:00: Opening address by the Vice-Chancellor,

12:05: Presentations from Goal Champions on Goal progress/activity

12:30: Q&A panel

13:00: Plan Refresh (feedback session)

13:15: Lunch/refreshments and networking (optional)

14:00: End

Spaces are limited, so please register on to reserve your place.

Rooftop solar PV system in Building 37, Highfield Campus

The Strategy will also require us to look at opportunities to develop local power sources, including deploying solar photovoltaic (PV) systems into our infrastructure, such as building roofs and car parks. To address this, the Sustainability Implementation Group () has undertaken a detailed assessment of the potential of such deployment, evaluating both the technical power potential and financial feasibility (return on investment) of deploying rooftop solar PV systems across University buildings.

Using high-resolution data of buildings heights and hourly dynamic solar simulations, the optimal locations for PV installation on our campuses have been identified. These can be accessed through a developed , giving indication of building and campus potentials.

Geospatial data processing combined with hourly solar radiation modelling were used to assess rooftop characteristics (chimneys, equipment on roofs etc), shading from other buildings and/or trees, to arrive at optimum deployment areas, and overall solar PV power generation. Figure 1 shows an example for PV power for all building on the Highfield campus, and how this relates to current electrical consumption.

Figure 1: Solar Dashboard showing building-level potential solar generation in relation to electricity consumption.��Click on image for clearer view

The financial return on investment (ROI), is summarised in Table 1. A fully realised rooftop PV deployment could offset around 16.5GWh of electricity annually providing an annual saving of ~£5.5million and a payback period of ~3 years. Funding will be needed to procure the PV systems, conduct building surveys to inform and refine modelling so that the necessary evidence can be provided to support funding applications. Opportunities for large-scale solar installation sites were also reviewed. For example, the University’s Wide Lane Sports Complex was found to have an estimated capacity of up to 0.75MWp, potentially generating over 0.7GWh/year.

Estates and Facilities have access to the outputs from the tool and are planning to develop win-win projects to support solar deployments on university buildings.

¹Based on an electricity grid price of 33p/kWh.

²Based on an installation cost of £860-£1,000/kWp.

³RoI currently excludes the potential need for building/rooftop modification

It must be noted that any deployment on buildings will also need to consider their structural integrity and availability of appropriate power connections. The modelling and interactive dashboard are being developed to incorporate these requirements, supporting strategic decision-making on building refurbishment and long-term energy planning.