The Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES) is one of five inter- and multi-disciplinary research institutes within the School of the Environment and Society at Swansea, which is headed by Professor Marcus Doel. It brings together a diverse team of scientists, including biologists, geographers and development studies specialists, of high international standing, working across a broad range of environmental research issues.

Among other units, the Institute incorporates the NERC-funded (£2.5m) Centre of Excellence in Earth Observation, known as CLASSIC (the Climate and Land-Surface Systems Interaction Centre), the Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture Research (CSAR, focusing on aquatic food production; see below), the EU Millennium project (12.6MEuros) and the WISE (Welsh Institute for Sustainable Environments; £2.5m) project.  

A major focus of activity within the IES is understanding the causes and consequences of climate change, locally, regionally and globally. The work of CLASSIC, for instance, is concerned with reducing uncertainty in the assessment of the effects of climate change, using data from Earth observation satellites. This work is being conducted in collaboration with the Hadley Centre for Climate Change Prediction and Research, the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and the University of Durham. The EU Millennium project, led by Prof. Danny McCarroll is a major new EU-funded research consortium, which is trying to establish the causes and magnitude of climate change over the past 1000 years, and is among the last groupings of its kind in the world.

Professor Rory Wilson and his colleagues have been working on advancing the ‘animal diary’ smart tag that won Professor Wilson the 2006 Rolex Award for Enterprise. The Smart Tag group are devising an electronic tagging device, known as the ‘animal diary’ which is able to track, log, and analyse animals’ behaviour twenty-four hours a day, providing insight into a hitherto secret world, including the impact of climate change on animal behaviour and migration routes. The hydrophobicity team, led by Dr Stefan Doerr, investigates the dramatic changes in soil wettability that can be triggered by droughts and wildfires, and contribute to flooding or water losses during irrigation. 

The above work exemplifies some of the activities within the IES, which are vital if we are to put observations of recent climate change into context, to distinguish the effects of natural and anthropogenic climate forcing, and to propose effective strategies for mitigating the effect of climate change in the future. 

The University and the School continue to invest substantially in this important area of research, including the recent creation of a suite of new analytical research laboratories for the IES. These are used for, among other things, detailed reconstructions of past climates from tree rings, stable isotopes, ice cores and radiocarbon dating. The recent WISE project has extended these activities, to provide advice and analytical services to government, industry and the public in Wales and beyond.

Useful Links

Environmental Modelling and Earth Observation

Hydrophobicity Research

Smart Tag Group

Swansea Glaciology Group

The Environmental Dynamics Research Group

The Millennium Climate Change Project

The Climate and Land-Surface Systems Interaction Centre (CLASSIC)