The future is green

Issued: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:01:00 BST

We are living in a world faced with environmental change, and research into the key issues affecting the protection of our surroundings is a top priority at Glasgow. At least 10% of academic staff across all Colleges at the University are involved in sustainability-related research.

Since January 2008, Professor Alan Ervine (Water Engineering) and Professor Marian Scott (Environmental Statistics) have been instrumental in developing the Glasgow Sustainable Development Network to take this kind of research forward. The network links the four Colleges in a more coherent way to tackle some of the major global sustainability challenges. It includes researchers from engineering, geography and earth sciences, life sciences, education and economics – all with an interest in sustainability as an area of teaching and research.

Five main areas of sustainability research have been established:

• energy
• social science and sustainable behaviours
• environmental and technological risk
• water and urban regeneration
• biodiversity.

Known as ‘research clusters’, each one is made up of a committed team of 10 to15 active research specialists and led by a research champion. 

Professor Ervine explains: ‘There are three real purposes of the clusters. The first is to bring people together and to talk to specialists from other disciplines. The second is to answer calls from research councils and other funders and to put in joint proposals together. The third aspect is to interact with society, both with key stakeholders, such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage, and also with people out there in communities. The future really lies in taking an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability.

‘It is a relatively new network, but that’s not to say we’re behind the game. We’ve got plenty of fresh ideas and people committed to make them a reality.’ 

And the achievements so far have been impressive. The energy cluster, led by Professor Andy Knox, is currently proposing to set up a research site at Cochno Farm, one of the University’s estates, to act as a test bed for all types of renewable energy. 

The biodiversity cluster, headed up by Dr David Bailey, School of Life Sciences, is working with industry and government agencies to develop new ways of assessing and protecting biodiversity, both in Scotland and worldwide.

Professor Denis Smith, leader of the environmental and technological risk cluster, recently formed the Centre for Health, Environment & Risk Research (CHERR) to further investigate the mechanisms by which society can live within its environmental means and the hazards that emerge from that process.

Most importantly, the social science cluster, led by Professor Gwilym Price (Urban Studies), seeks to integrate social and economic impacts with the environmental side, providing a more rounded sustainability approach.

As well as the work being carried out by the network, purpose-built satellite centres are also engaged in sustainability research. The three main centres are the Scottish Environment Research Centre based in East Kilbride, the Crichton Carbon Centre in Dumfries and the Scottish Centre for Ecology & the Natural Environment at Rowardennan, Loch Lomond. Here staff and students are carrying out vital sustainability research. Professor Ervine says: ‘Each centre has its own specialist area, making them all centres of excellence, which is very attractive to postgraduate research students.’

Student research is something Professor Ervine is keen to see thrive at Glasgow: ‘Sustainability is an area that really motivates potential students. I’ve found that many feel that if they can get into this field now they have the opportunity to do something meaningful. What’s more, they can use the kind of knowledge they gain at the University to go out to parts of the world that are under environmental threat and really make a difference to the future of our planet.’

• Find out more: Sustainable Development Network

The University of Glasgow was saddened by the death of Professor Ervine on the 3rd September 2010. To read more about Alan, his life and his research, please see Alan Erivine: obituary.