ENV – as the School is commonly known to all of its students, alumni, staff, friends and around the world – is regarded as one of the very best research and teaching institutions in the world for interdisciplinary environmental sciences.
When we were established in 1967 we were embarking on what Lord Zuckerman, the first UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser, described as “something absolutely new and fresh in science”. We were the first institution to bring together natural and social scientists in the same building, to work together to understand the way in which environmental and human systems interact with each other. Since those early days, we have deepened and broadened our interdisciplinarity. For example we now have engineers and psychologists on our permanent staff. We have made major contributions to, and are at the forefront of, the development of Earth System Science, which is striving to understand the co-functioning of environmental and human societies – the only way we can rise to the immense environmental challenges which face us. We also host world leading centres such as LGMAC, Tyndall and CSERGE.
ENV has the highest 5** grade in the 2001 Research Assessment exercise, denoting international excellence, and the highest government grading for our teaching (Excellent). Our teaching is research-led, and our contact with ENV students informs our research.
We are a large School, which means that we can teach and research over the broad range of disciplines. This is crucial to understanding the interactions and feedbacks between the natural and human components of the earth system. It also means that our research facilities and equipment are excellent. We did particularly well in the recent “Joint Infrastructure Fund” scheme, attracting a large amount of the government investment in world-class research. Many members of ENV belong to research centres which are part of, and located within, the School. Several of these are housed in the new Zuckerman Institute for Connective Environmental Research (ZICER) building, designed to strengthen integration and interaction between faculty, researchers and post-graduates.
We offer a wide range of courses at Bachelor, Masters and PhD level. We also engage in in a very wide variety of Knowledge Transfer activities.
