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 School of Geography and the Environment

ECI Research: Full active projects list

Climate

  • Climateprediction.net
    ongoing

    A distributed computing project to produce predictions of the Earth's climate up to 2100 and to test the accuracy of climate models. By running the model thousands of times (a 'large ensemble') we hope to find out how the model responds to slight tweaks to these approximations - slight enough to not make the approximations any less realistic.

  • Climateeducation.net

    Climateeducation.net is a global programme which aims to encourage the sharing of high quality information about climate science, modelling and the interpretation of climate change modelling experiments. It will do this by offering two short online courses and supporting an online community of knowledge sharing in regional climate prediction.

  • UKCIP
    1997 onwards

    UKCIP provides the public, private and voluntary sectors as well as the scientific community with a range of tools and datasets which support climate impact assessment and adaptation planning.

  • Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate (ARCC)
    2009-2013

    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

  • ARCADIA: Adaptation and Resilience in Cities: Analysis and Decision making using Integrated Assessment [EPSRC (EP/G061254/1)]

    ARCADIA aims to provide system-scale understanding of the inter-relationships between climate impacts, the urban economy, land use, transport and the built environment and to use this understanding to design cities that are more resilient and adaptable.

  • How do global cities mitigate climate change?
  • Dynamics of Circumpolar Land Use and Ethnicity (CLUE): Social Impacts of Policy and Climate Change
    2008-2012

    This project examines how the impacts of rapid climatic change among the peoples of the circumpolar rim affect land use and ethnicity

  • Climate Governance
    2010-2011

    The research project focuses on ways of addressing institutional interactions in global environmental governance.

  • Visioning and Backcasting for Transport Futures in Chinese Cities
    2010 - 2011

    This research project will analyse policy pathways and business models to support sustainable transport in China.

  • Governing Climate Change at Global Cities: A Case Study of Beijing
    2008 - 2009

    Understanding the roles of non-nation state actors including the municipal government, businesses, and NGOs in Beijing’s climate change governance and draw implications for national climate policy and the post-Kyoto climate regime

  • Governing Climate Change beyond the International Regime: City Actions in China

    Identifying the key factors that determine the current carbon actions taken by non-nation state actors in China, and examining the implications of these activities for developing a post-2012 climate regime that can effectively engage China.

  • How would football save the planet?
    2010 - 2011

    Oxford Utd is exploring the potential for sport to enthuse new audiences in the environmental challenge.

  • Climate-X-Change
    Sep 2006 - 2010

    A campaign to engage with Oxfordshires 620,000 citizens taking climate change into the community.

  • World Newspaper Coverage of Climate Change or Global Warming
    2009 onwards

    This figure, updated monthly, tracks newspaper coverage of climate change or global warming in 50 newspapers across 20 countries and 6 continents.

  • Local Climate Impacts Profile
  • How do global cities mitigate climate change?
    2007-2009

    An examination of cities which are demonstrating leadership on the issue of climate change and their role in responding to post-2012 international dynamics.

Ecosystems

  • Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests (OCTF)
    Launched 2008

    The OCTF has been launched to bring together the vast amount of intellectual capital and practical issues relating to tropical forests within the locality. The OCTF aims to foster greater links and intensify synergies between all those interested in the past, present and future of tropical forests.

  • Climate change in the Andes
    2006 onwards

    Using a transect of study sites ranging from the lowland Amazon forest to the high Andes this group of projects seek to understand what determines the carbon dynamics of Andean montane forests, and how this may be altered by climate change.

  • The dynamics and carbon implications of fires in the Andes
    2009 - 2012

    This project will conduct the first detailed evaluation of spatial and temporal dynamics of fire at the Andean cloud forest-grassland treeline, and will attempt to quantify their implications for carbon emissions

  • Understanding the carbon balance of Amazon forests
    2008 -2011

    The purpose of this four-year project is to determine and communicate the current carbon balance of Amazon forests

  • RAINFOR – Amazon Forest Inventory Network
    Ongoing since 2000

    An international network established to monitor the biomass and dynamics of Amazonian forests.

  • LBA Project: Amazonia's large scale atmosphere-biosphere experiment
    Ongoing since 1998

    This network aims to create the knowledge necessary for understanding the climatological, ecological, biochemical, and hydrological interactions and functioning of Amazonia; and the impacts of landuse change on these functions.

  • Real-time deforestation detection project - INPE
    Ongoing

    This project uses remote sensing to locate land cover changes in lowland rainforests through the detection of new deforestation bigger than 0.25km2

  • Quantifying carbon cycling research at Wytham Woods
    2008 - 2012

    Quantifying the carbon stocks and flows in current climatic conditions and examines the impact of extreme events, possible signatures of climate change.

  • LandCor Matlab routines
    2007 - 2012

    LandCor is a set of Matlab routines that facilitate the use of the 6S radiative transfer code in the correction of a satellite scene that accounts for varying atmospheric conditions.

  • Operationalizing REDD+: Actors, Interests and Ideas
    2009 - 2012

    The aim of this project is to gain a better understanding of the wide range of actors, interests and ideas that are shaping REDD+.

  • Ecosystem Governance Theme 1: Multi-level Governance and Agency
    2009 - 2012

    An examination of the evolution and interaction of state and non-state governance within the forest sector, from local to global levels.

  • Understanding the implications of Climate Change for woodland biodiversity and community functioning
    2011

    This project is evaluating the evidence for the effects of climate change on biodiversity and community function; rare and threatened species and the arrival and increase of new species in UK woodland Priority Habitats, through a combination of literature review and bioclimate envelope modelling. It is also making practical suggestions for further research, including methods for filling knowledge gaps.

  • Burning for Biodiversity
    2008 -

    Burning for Biodiversity in Africa is a project that brings together biodiversity research with capacity building and external communication to promote effective fire and conservation management in South African savannas.

  • The Resilience of ECosystems to environmental ChangeE: RECCE
    2010

    An assessment of the scientific, management and policy literature on the resilience of Ecosystems to changing environmental pressures, and the robustness of the current evidence base that could be used to frame policy and management responses.

  • Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation
    2010 - 2020

    Development of a conceptual framework that analyses the links between ecosystem services and sustainable poverty reduction

  • CLIMSAVE: CLimate change Integrated assessment Methodology for cross-Sectoral Adaptation and Vulnerability in Europe
    2010-2013

    A project to develop and apply an integrated methodology for stakeholder-led, climate change impact and vulnerability assessment

  • UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA)
    2011

    The UK National Ecosystem Assessment will provide the first analysis of the UK’s natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and continuing economic prosperity.

  • Embedding Biodiversity Adaptation Principles (EMBEDS)
    2010 - 2011

    This project will review of the success of embedding climate change adaptation principles in activities supporting Defra's internal Biodiversity Programme; and in the England Biodiversity Strategy

  • Human Adaptation to Biodiversity Change
    2010-2011

    An initiation of conceptual frameworks, methods and integrated models for understanding human adaptation to change in biodiversity and related ecosystem services that can eventually be used to predict outcomes for biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being in highly biodiversity dependent societies, and provide evidence for the utility of these outputs to a new network of researchers and policy makers.

Energy

  • Moving to a Low-carbon Economy under Different Economic Circumstances
  • UKERC Meeting Place
    2004 onwards

    The UKERC networking hub for international specialists to tackle the challenge of sustainable energy.

  • Integrating sustainable energy systems into homes (cRRescendo)
    Aug 05 - jul 10

    Making use of renewable energy technologies in public buildings and more than 6,000 new and existing homes in communities across europe

  • Long term dynamics of interdependent infrastructure systems
    2011 - 2015

  • UNderstanding LOcal and Community Governance of Energy (UNLOC)
    2010 - 2012

    The UNLOC project aims to develop a robust understanding of evolving patterns of energy governance at local and community levels. It will demonstrate how grassroots organisations, local government initiatives and national-scale activities interact to create new political opportunities for active citizen engagement in both energy demand reduction and deployment of local energy generation.

  • Sustainable Behaviour
    2009 - 2011

    There has been a shortage of methodical research, assessment and metrics for social innovation, as well as a lack of political and financial support. In this project, case studies of domestic heat pumps, car clubs and the UK Camp for Climate Action have been used to build a classification which could help assess the sustainability potential of niche developments, and indicate which policies would best support them.

  • iConnect - On your bike!
    2008 - 2013

    A multi-institutional study to evaluate the impacts of a £150 million project designed to revitalise walking and cycling across the UK.

  • Energy management tools: Degree Day Data
    2007 - ongoing

    Free downloads of weekly degree day data for 77 weather stations in the UK at a range of building base temperatures from 10.5 degrees to 20 degrees from before the beginning of the 2007 heating season.

  • Supergen Project: How will the electricity network function if there are millions of small scale distributed electricity generators?
    2005 - 2013

    The Supergen project investigates how to coordinate the effective operation of small distributed energy resources across the national grid.

  • ADEPT: Advanced Dynamic Energy Pricing and Tariffs
    2010 - 2013

    A collaboration to address a question raised by the development of variable electricity tariffs to match demand with supply more closely: "How complicated should a dynamic electricity tariff be, in order to be accepted by the public while offering clear incentives for reduction in energy demand, especially at times of supply constraint?

  • SMEasure: energy monitoring tool
    2009 onwards

    A new easy-to-use building energy energy management system for small and medium businesses to measure, benchmark and target the energy use of your buildings simply by entering regular gas and electricity meter readings

  • imeasure: energy monitoring tool
    2009 onwards

    an easy-to-use online tool for accurately measuring and monitoring home energy use and carbon emissions over time.

  • Supergen Project: How will the electricity network function if there are millions of small scale distributed electricity generators?
    2005 - 2013

    The Supergen project investigates how to coordinate the effective operation of small distributed energy resources across the national grid.

  • Building Expertise
    2010 - 2013

    This project adopts a modified ‘system of professions’ approach to energy use in buildings, to address questions as to who can best deliver lower-carbon improvements in the coming decades, how they might best be educated, and whether new professions such as system integrators will be required to coordinate the necessary work. The research involves reviews of professional practices, skills, training, technical issues, markets & policy context, along with interviews and a survey of pioneers and mainstream practitioners.

  • Climate Solidarity
    2009 - 2011

    ECI is working collaboration to undertake monitoring and evaluation of Defra's Climate Solidarity project under the Greener Living Fund.

Food

  • Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS)
    2010 - 2020

    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.

Water

Other