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

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

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

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Dr Kate Parks

Principal Teaching Fellow
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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
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Ms Qianwen Duan

Research interests

  • Human-environment interactions
  • Sustainable urban development
  • Spatial analysis
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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

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Dr Robert Holland

Lecturer in Natural Sciences

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Professor Simon Kemp

Professorial Fellow-Education

Research interests

  • Education for Sustainable Development
  • Waste Management
  • Carbon Footprinting
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Dr Somnath Paramanik

Research Fellow

Research interests

  • Crop disease/stress detection; Hyperspectral, LiDAR Remote Sensing
  • Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) and Carbon Credits
  • Climate smart precision agriculture and imapct of extream weather event on vegetation phenology

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Vicky Dominguez Almela

Lecturer

Research interests

  • My work includes the use of individual-based models (IBMs), geographical information systems (GIS) and stable isotopes to increase understandings of invasion patterns and evaluate invasive species eradication programmes. I also use citizen science tools to co-produce knowledge with the general public and increase adaptation pathways to biological invasions.
  • I have mainly work with fish in the past, but recently I have been fascinated by the invasion of the brown pelagic seaweed called sargassum.

Accepting applications from PhD students

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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.