Climate Research
ECI is involved in a wide range of research projects that address the impacts of climate change, the possibilities for adaptation, the evolution of climate policy and the communication of climate change data and issues to society.
These webpages highlight the ECI’s contribution to global climate change research through many funded projects, programmes, fellowships, international collaborations and postgraduate research.
Research is organised around five key themes: Science, Impacts, Adaptation, Mitigation , Communication and takes place within the funding initiatives outlined below.
Key research initiatives:
- Weather at Home and climateprediction.net
Climateprediction.net is a distributed computing project to produce predictions of the Earth's climate up to 2100 and to test the accuracy of climate models. The Weather at Home experiment allows us to simulate models at a regional scale to tell us more abut regional and local weather.
- UKCIP
ECI continues to host UKCIP who have now shifted emphasis towards the impacts of climate change on sectors and regions of the UK to address the challenges of helping local government, businesses and resource managers to adapt to warmer temperatures and extreme events.
- Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS)
This 10 year research initiative launched by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) has an Oxford component led by NERC Food Security Leader, John Ingram.
- Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate (ARCC)
The ARCC Coordination Network (ACN) exists to enhance the cooperative development and dissemination of research between and beyond a portfolio of 14 EPSRC-funded research projects exploring the impacts and adaptation in a changing climate within the built environment, including transport and water resource systems. UKCIP is a partner organisation in this network
- Oxford node of the Tyndall Centre
Under the new leadership of Prof Jim Hall, Oxford will now be taking a significant role in the Cities and Coasts theme of research, which is co-led by Jim Hall
- Biodiversity and Climate Adaptation
Our research aims to increase the understanding of complex human-climate-ecosystem interactions. The ECI's Biodiversity and Climate Adaptation research group is at the forefront of integrating and improving techniques for the observation and projection of the effects of environmental change on species, ecosystems and the services they provide at the international and national level.
- Forests and Climate Change
Our Ecosystems Dynamics team conduct research into the ecological functioning of forests and examines how they may be affected by direct human pressures and global atmospheric change. We also seek to understand how state and non-state institutions and actors shape decisions about the conservation and use of forest resources around the world through policies such as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). With funding from the Oxford Martin School we host the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests.
- Climate Science across Oxford University
Oxford University is developing a portal to pull together research on climate science from across the University.