Environmental Change

Our research aims to advance understanding and application in:

Mechanisms and dynamics of Earth surface and atmospheric processes operating in fluvial, hillslope, lacustrine, estuarine, coastal, and glacial environments and systems

  • encompasses interactions of physical, chemical and biotic processes at and near the Earth surface at varying spatial scales
  • includes measuring and modelling the dynamics, controls and effects of fluxes of air, water, soil, sediment, carbon, nutrients, and pollutants
  • in environments ranging from upland to coast, wetland to dryland, and rural to urban

Analysis and modelling of environmental and ecological change on timescales from Quaternary to event and spatial scales from microscopic to global

  • encompassing chronologies, causes, interactions of conditions, and effects
  • uses field-based, laboratory and computational techniques, and evidence, including physical, chemical and biotic characteristics of deposits, dating techniques, repeated spatial data acquisition, remote sensing, and historical records
  • aims to understand how physical and biological systems function, interact and change within natural and managed ecosystems, and in response to local and global environmental drivers and human impacts

Development of sustainable management, adaptation and conservation strategies, and methods for mitigation of climate change, extreme events and hazards impacts to provide societal benefits

  • working in close conjunction with end-users and decision-makers, undertake and apply research that contributes to design and implementation of sustainable solutions to societal problems,  using  nature-based approaches
  • provide policy and practice advice on management of climate change and human action impacts,  and natural hazards
  • develop techniques for prediction, forecasting and modelling of future changes to inform environmental management