Research group

Environmental Change and Sustainability

Forest hillside with logging

We carry out geospatial analysis and experimentation to understand environmental change and its impact on climate around the world. Our work has socio-economic impact and informs environmental policy and decision making.

About

We focus on the sustainable use of natural resources from coastal zones and island states to drylands and deltas. The tools we use include satellite remote sensing, novel sensors and modelling for environmental monitoring and prediction.

Our research priorities focus on:

  • the role of human-environment interactions within social-ecological systems
  • the implications of environmental change and management for development

We use whole systems approaches to understand sustainable futures and trade-offs, and potential transitions and tipping points.

Our expertise includes:

  • environmental modelling and assessment
  • geographical information systems (GIS)
  • climate change impact assessment, adaptation and risk mitigation
  • monitoring, assessment and management of aquatic environmental systems
  • modelling, analysis and prediction of hazards
  • satellite remote sensing of land resources, agriculture and ecosystems
  • reconstructing past environmental change from sediments
  • environmental impact assessment, conservation and management

Research highlights

Expanding the use of satellite data to provide real-world benefits

The University is leading research into remote sensing to improve food security, population mapping and disaster response.

Putting children at the heart of climate policy

The University of Southampton has led research into the first comprehensive worldwide analysis of climate risk to children.

People, projects and publications

People

Miss Josie Baker BSc MSc

Research interests

  • Women's lived experience of extreme heat in the UK
  • The depiction of extreme heat in literature and media
  • Building resilience to extreme heat through lived experience and shared memories
Connect with Josie

Professor Justin Sheffield

Head of School

Research interests

  • Large-scale hydrology and its interactions with climate variability and change.
  • Hydrological extremes, climate change, and hydrological processes from catchment to global scale.
  • The application of fundamental research to natural hazards impacts reduction, including monitoring and prediction systems.

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Justin

Dr Kate Parks

Principal Teaching Fellow
Connect with Kate

Mrs Maduo Makwati-Manyepedza BSc MSc FGS

Research interests

  • Groundwater - Surface water interactions
  • Hydrochemistry (including Phosphorus)
  • Coupled hydrological modelling
Connect with Maduo

Mr Michael Lomotey FRSA, MSc

Research interests

  • The Black Radical Tradition and Antiblackness
  • The intersection of Black Ecologies and Critical Climate/Environmental Justice
  • Adaptation and Mitigation
Connect with Michael

Ms Qianwen Duan

Research interests

  • Human-environment interactions
  • Sustainable urban development
  • Spatial analysis
Connect with Qianwen

Dr Rebecca Collins

Lecturer in Environmental Science

Research interests

  • The effect of nature on health and wellbeing 
  • Access to greenspaces and other green infrastructure
  • Sustainable urban planning/development

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Rebecca

Ms Rikhaparamita Siregar

Research interests

  • Climate change adaptation and resilience in coastal communitiesEnvironment governance and multi-level policy analysisSocial capital and community-based approaches to adaptationSustainability and population-environment dynamics in Indonesia
Connect with Rikhaparamita

Dr Robert Holland

Lecturer in Natural Sciences

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Robert
Craig Hutton
Director Sustainability&Resilience Inst.
Sustainability is a great deal more than just a changing climate, we need to consider the broader socio-environment and how that intersects with equity, social justice, poverty and a sustainable future.