About ECI
The ECI was founded 20 years ago with a mission "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", a statement that still embodies the ECI’s ethos of purposeful environmental research and knowledge exchange.
The ECI is distinctive in its intellectual continuum which stretches from scientific enquiry into the processes of environmental change (e.g. in climate science and forest ecology) to the analysis of sustainable solutions (e.g. in reducing energy demand and adapting infrastructure systems) and the promotion of change for the better through Masters level education and knowledge exchange with partners in government, industry and civil society.
"Focussed on interdisciplinary issues of major concern"
The ECI’s scientific objectives originate from the challenges confronted by decision-makers, be they individuals, organisations or institutions and whether in the public or private spheres. Our research is focussed upon issues of major concern within society and which have an impact upon society in its broadest sense. The interdisciplinary nature of the ECI’s work is an inevitable consequence of the complex problems the Institute is seeking to address.
"International track record"
The ECI has developed an international track record for research in forests and ecosystems, energy demand and climate impacts and adaptation. Yet we recognise and strive to understand better the interactions between these research domains and other sub-systems in the Earth system, notably in relation to water and food security, so we are promoting research initiatives and fostering collaborations in these fields.
Our understanding of these challenges of energy, water and food security, alongside ecosystem degradation and climate change, reveals the complex ways in which they interact at a range of scales. Single issue responses are no longer tenable in intellectual or practical terms. Sustainable management relies on the capacity to access synergies and co-benefits, whilst mitigating risks and unintended consequences.
Thus, cutting across the Earth sub-systems to which we devote our attention are generic themes of governance, culture, resilience, risk and natural resources. The ECI’s role is to traverse this complex landscape providing methodological innovation in response to challenges that have not succumbed to conventional discipline-bound academic endeavour.
"Collaborative approach to research"
Our approaches to research, teaching and knowledge exchange embed a multi-layered tapestry of collaborations at the heart of ECI’s mission, whether internal to Oxford University or external with other universities and public and private sector organisations. We can do nothing alone, but our mission, structure and location in the heart of the University’s Science Area provides an ideal basis to act as an integrator of disciplines, issues, people, sectors and approaches, all of which enhances the vibrant and forward looking nature of ECI.