Formation | 1991 |
---|---|
Purpose | to organise and promote interdisciplinary research on the nature, causes and impact of environmental change and to contribute to the development of management strategies for coping with future environmental change |
Headquarters | Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom |
Location |
|
Membership | 60 researchers, 60 graduate students, 350 partners |
Director | Professor Michael Obersteiner |
Website | www |
Formerly called | Environmental Change Unit |
The Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford in England was founded in 1991 "to organize and promote interdisciplinary research on the nature, causes and impact of environmental change and to contribute to the development of management strategies for coping with future environmental change". [1]
In 2013/14 it had a research income of £4.7million, 50 active projects, 350 partners and 60 researchers working across 40 countries.
The ECI's research is interdisciplinary in both outlook and approach. The Institute has worked on aspects of climate, energy and ecosystems and is developing expertise with food and water.
ECI is involved in several long-term research projects, including the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) which develops new tools to link climate science with business and government for innovations that can adaptat to the impacts of climate change and Climateprediction.net, the world's largest citizen science climate project with 350,000 individuals running climate simulations in order to better understand regional climate patterns. Staff of the institute have led EU consortium programmes including Impressions, studying the impacts and risks of extreme climate change; [2] and co-ordinated GEM, a global ecological monitoring programme across remote forest locations in South America, Africa and Asia. [3]
The ECI also runs an MSc in Environmental Change and Management (ECM). [4]
The Institute was established in 1991, following a £1M fundraising effort by the Campaign for Oxford . [5] It was originally called the Environmental Change Unit, and the first director was Martin Parry, who was in post from 1991 to 1994. [6] The next director was Richard Macrory, from 1994 to 1995, followed by Jim Briden, from 1996 to 2003. In 1999, the unit was renamed the Environmental Change Institute. [7]
The Institute was led by Professor Jim Hall from 2011 until September 2018. [8] He was replaced by Professor Michael Obersteiner. [9]
The ECI's research is organised around five main themes in climate, ecosystems, energy, food and water.
There are expert teams in:
The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), a federal research laboratory, is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), located in Miami in the United States. AOML's research spans tropical cyclone and hurricanes, coastal ecosystems, oceans and human health, climate studies, global carbon systems, and ocean observations. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs).
Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir is a professor of environment and natural resources at the University of Iceland, the academic director of the Environment and Natural Resources graduate programme as well as the director of University of Iceland Arctic Initiative.
The Earth Institute is a research institute at Columbia University created in 1995 for addressing complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with a focus on sustainable development. With an interdisciplinary approach, this includes research in climate change, geology, global health, economics, management, agriculture, ecosystems, urbanization, energy, hazards, and water. The Earth Institute's activities are guided by the idea that science and technological tools that already exist could be applied to greatly improve conditions for the world's poor, while preserving the natural systems that support life on Earth.
The Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) is one of the ten research institutes of the Faculty of Science of the Universiteit van Amsterdam. IBED employs more than 100 researchers, with PhD students and Postdocs forming a majority, and 30 supporting staff. The total annual budget is around 10 m€, of which more than 40 per cent comes from external grants and contracts. The main output consist of publications in peer reviewed journals and books. Each year around 15 PhD students defend their thesis and obtain their degree from the Universiteit van Amsterdam. The institute is managed by a general director appointed by the Dean of the Faculty for a period of five years, assisted by a business manager.
The Marine Institute is a state agency in Ireland that provides government, public agencies and the maritime industry with scientific, advisory and economic development services, aiming to inform policy-making, regulation and the sustainable management and growth of the country's marine resources. Founded in 1991 on foot of a 1974 report, the institute undertakes and promotes marine research and development. The agency's staff and operations are governed by a ministerially-appointed board. Based at its headquarters near Galway, it has an office in Dublin and two research vessels.
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a German government-funded research institute addressing crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impacts, and sustainable development. Ranked among the top environmental think tanks worldwide, it is one of the leading research institutions and part of a global network of scientific and academic institutions working on questions of global environmental change. It is a member of the Leibniz Association, whose institutions perform research on subjects of high relevance to society.
Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER) is a network of seven European environmental research centres, created in 2001.
The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment is an interdisciplinary research centre of the University of Oxford that focuses on teaching research, and engagement with businesses and enterprises for long term environmental sustainability. The Oxford Smith School was established with the vision of a net-zero emissions future alongside achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, supported by a sustainable global economic and financial system. The school has a broad profile of research, teaching, enterprise engagement, and partnerships to support this vision.
The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) is a Research and Training Institute of the United Nations University (UNU). Based in Bruges, Belgium since 2001, UNU-CRIS fosters a better understanding of the processes of regional integration and cooperation and their implications in a changing world order. UNU-CRIS specialises in the comparative study of regional integration, monitoring and assessing regional integration worldwide and in the study of interactions between regional organisations and global institutions.
The Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT) in Bremen is a German institute for research and developments for tropical and subtropical coastal areas and ecosystems.
The Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment is one of five global institutes at Imperial College London and one of three Grantham-sponsored centres in the UK. The institute was founded in 2007 with a £12m donation from the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, an organisation set up by Hannelore and Jeremy Grantham.
The Oeschger Centre for Climate and Climate Change Research (OCCR) is the interdisciplinary centre of excellence for climate research of the University of Bern.
Lindsay C. Stringer is a Professor in Environment and Development at the University of York.
Cameron Hepburn is the former Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, the Battcock Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Oxford, and formerly a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also the Director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School.
The contributions of women in climate change have received increasing attention in the early 21st century. Feedback from women and the issues faced by women have been described as "imperative" by the United Nations and "critical" by the Population Reference Bureau. A report by the World Health Organization concluded that incorporating gender-based analysis would "provide more effective climate change mitigation and adaptation."
Sir James Ferguson "Jim" Skea CBE FRSE is a British academic. He is currently Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for its seventh assessment cycle, and a Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London. Before being elected as chair, Skea was co-chair of Working Group III of the IPCC. He was a founding member of the UK Government's Committee on Climate Change and currently chairs Scotland's Just Transition Commission. He was a co-author of the IPCC 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C. In July 2023, Skea was elected as Chair of the IPCC.
Doris Abele was an Antarctic marine biologist based at the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Germany. She led the research group working on stress physiology and aging in marine invertebrates and also the Ecology Polar regions And Coasts in the changing Earth System (PACES) programme.
James Hall, is Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks in the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford., where he leads the Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Engineering Science and Fellow of Linacre College. Hall is a member of the UK Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology, commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission, and is President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the year November 2024 to October 2025. He was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010. He was a member of the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the UK Climate Change Committee from 2009 to 2019, and was chair of the Science and Advisory Committee of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis from 2020 to 2022.
High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey is an interdisciplinary center for environmental research that studies effects of and solutions to climate change and other environmental threats. The International Center for Climate Governance named the Princeton Environmental Institute the second-highest climate change think tank in the global category for 2012, following the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.