The School led the economics team for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, the basis of the UK Natural Environment White Paper 2011.

Social science aspects such as environmental economics, policy and governance cut across all of our themes. 

Environmental problems often manifest themselves in the natural environment, but their underlying causes arise from changes set in train by combinations of technological, economic, cultural and political processes. The social sciences are therefore fundamental both to ensuring a comprehensive understanding of environmental change and developing more sustainable development pathways in the future.

As environmental social scientists, we teach and research on the social causes, consequences and policy implications of environmental problems. We do so from a wide range of social science disciplines including geography, sociology, organisational science, economics, political science and psychology. We operate at the cutting edge of methodological development in areas such as GIS, appraisal, landscape visualisation, participatory-deliberative processes, economic valuation and risk analysis. Much of our work is undertaken in internationally recognised research centres such as CSERGE, Tyndall and 3S.