ECI Research: Proposing sustainable solutions

The ECI’s work is focussed upon proposing and understanding the potential responses to environmental change. This process of exploring sustainable solutions takes a number of forms, including testing policy options, critically appraising governance arrangements and designing adaptation pathways. The aim is to provide decision makers, including policy-makes, businesses and communities, with the evidence needed to identify, implement and manage sustainable systems.

Proposing sustainable solutions projects

Flood Risk Management Consortium - Phase 2 [EPSRC (EP/F020511/1)]
2008 - 2011
The Flood Risk Management Consortium is an interdisciplinary research Consortium focuses on some of the more recently identified strategic research investigating the prediction and management of flood risk and is the primary UK academic response to this challenge.
UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium: Long term dynamics of interdependent infrastructure systems
2011 - 2015
The UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium will inform the analysis, planning and design of national infrastructure, through the development and demonstration of new decision support tools, and working with partners in government and industry.
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
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.
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.
FUTURE OF CITIES
How do global cities mitigate climate change?
Climate Governance
2010-2011
The research project focuses on ways of addressing institutional interactions in global environmental governance.
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
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.
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+.
Indigenous-State Relations in Alaska and Beyond: Sustainable Livelihoods, Biocultural Diversity and Health since the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
2008-2011
An alaysis of how the creation of Alaska Native business corporations transformed institutional arrangements between Alaska Natives, state governments, ecosystems, and regional-global economies, and outcomes in indigenous groups' biocultural health.
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
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.
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
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?
Energy management tools: Degree Day Data
2007 onwards
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.
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.
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.
EVALOC – evaluating effectiveness of DECC-funded low carbon communities
2011-2014
A project to assess, explain and communicate the changes in energy use due to community activities within six selected low-carbon communities funded under the DECC's Low Carbon Communities Challenge (LCCC.
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.