Our ethos is to undertake research to understand better the physical and human processes shaping our environment and communities, the cognition and utilisation of these processes to support decision-making and to predict the trajectories and causes of future change.

We are well-known for our work in fields such as Geohazards & Tectonics, Future Energy, Deep Earth, Oceans & Climate, Ecosystem Dynamics, Power Space and Cultural Change, Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment, Geographic Data Science, Environmental Change, and Sustainable Cities Coasts and Oceans. Research in the School of Environmental Sciences sits within the two Departments and seven mature, inclusive, vibrant, and cognate Research Groups that drive our research excellence.

Our ambition is reflected in contributions to Strategy 2031 and the Research Frontier of AI for Life. We are key contributors to the University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Sustainability Research (ICSR) tackling collectively United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the first instance Goal 13 Climate Action. We are also driving the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s cross-disciplinary network on Energy and Climate. We drive activity in the Centre for Health, Arts, Society & Environment fostering research across themes of Critical Medical Humanities; Environmental Humanities; and Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Earth Sciences

Earth Science research aims to understand the Earth from the core to surface. We employ field, laboratory and numerical techniques to provide an integrated approach to some of the most fundamental questions in our sciences.

Oceans and Climate

The Ocean Sciences group at Liverpool has an international reputation for its work on climate change, including how the ocean is warming and sea level is rising, and how ocean physics and biogeochemistry interact together, including the cycling of nutrients, trace metals and carbon, and their effects on the ocean ecosystem.

Ecology and Marine Biology

We are a small but diverse research-group, carrying out internationally-renowned research on land and in the sea. We aim to understand how terrestrial and marine ecosystems are structured, how they function and how to manage them.

Environmental Change

Our research aims to advance understanding and application in Mechanisms and dynamics of Earth surface and atmospheric processes operating in fluvial, hillslope, lacustrine, estuarine, coastal and glacial environments and systems.

Planning, Environmental Assessment and Management

Planning, Environmental Assessment and Management is an international research group addressing key planning challenges, from how oceans are managed through to the role of evidence in understanding development impacts.

Geographic Data Science Lab

As a focused group, we are interested in making sense of how our world works, turning new forms of spatial data into information that we can use to make intelligent decisions. Collectively, we span the disciplines of econometrics, spatial analysis, spatial statistics, demography, population geography and computer science.