Environment, Climate & Sustainability

Environment, Climate & Sustainability

The Environment, Climate & Sustainability Training Pathway, consisting of Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Teesside, and Queen’s University Belfast, brings together interdisciplinary expertise with a distinctive social science focus.

The pathway, made up of 13 different department/schools across the five universities, approaches this subject in a unique way focusing on climate change and sustainability. We welcome ambitious and highly interdisciplinary proposals that are underpinned by a theoretically and methodologically robust social sciences approach. The pathway provides an opportunity for cutting edge research that addresses pressing global challenges related to the climate crisis, water scarcity, environmental pollution and degradation, nature-based solutions, climate adaptation, and resilience, in diverse contexts across the global South and North. We encourage proposals that draw on the full range of qualitative and quantitative social science methodologies, and that take advantage of the breadth of expertise in institutions across the pathway, including through cross-institutional supervision teams.

At Durham University, five departments contribute to the pathway: Anthropology, Geography, Modern Languages & Cultures, the Durham University Business School, and the Durham Law School. In addition to specialisations in environment and sustainability in each of these academic units, the university hosts a number of relevant cross-cutting institutes and centres, including the Durham Energy Institute and the Institute of Hazard, Risk, and Resilience.

At Newcastle University, the pathway is hosted within Newcastle Law School, a hub for interdisciplinary research that addresses critical global challenges. The Law School fosters inclusive research communities, such as the Non/Human Law group, which explores human and nonhuman inequalities, and the Lawyering, Rights, and Justice group, which promotes social justice and societal change. These communities provide a strong foundation for PhD candidates to engage with cutting-edge socio-legal and interdisciplinary research. Other schools at Newcastle that contribute to the pathway (and which can host PhD students) are the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, the Centre for Rural Economy, the School of Geography, Politics & Sociology, and the School of Modern Languages. Additionally, Newcastle’s Centre for Climate and Environmental Resilience (CCER) leads transdisciplinary research to tackle the pressing issues of climate change and environmental degradation. The CCER focuses on building resilience in human and natural systems, addressing risks, and developing solutions to global challenges. Research spans diverse fields, including engineering, business, natural sciences, and social sciences, ensuring a holistic approach to climate and environmental resilience. 

The Environment, Climate and Sustainability pathway at Northumbria University is located within the School of Geography and Natural Sciences, offering a rich research environment for ambitious, cross-disciplinary and imaginative PhD proposals. The School includes the subject areas of Human Geography, Environmental Sciences, and Physical Geography, bringing together scholars working on a wide range of subjects related to global development; the climate crisis and climate adaptation; energy futures; ecology; biodiversity; nature-based solutions and responses to environmental degradation; volunteering, activism, and civil society. Our research expertise spans diverse geographical regions and ecosystems (air, land and water), including across Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the Polar regions. The School is home to the Centre for Global Development and the Ecology, Conservation and Society research group, providing world-leading research expertise within this area.

At Queen’s University Belfast, the pathway is situated within the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics and aligned with the Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action (SECA). SECA is an interdisciplinary research centre that encourages collaborative links across Schools, Faculties and Directorates in Queen’s University Belfast to investigate the interconnections between socio-economic (in)equality and the interlinked climate and ecological crisis, as determined by natural and social sciences. We welcome interdisciplinary proposals aligned with SECA’s orientation, especially critical multi-level assessments of socio-ecological challenges and solutions, which may draw on disciplines such as green political economy, environmental sociology, transformative education, and interdisciplinary sustainable development. 

Teesside University’s participation in the pathway is facilitated through the School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law and connects with a university-wide effort to support decarbonisation in the Tees Valley and beyond.