Climate change research

The SPAIS Climate Change Research Group is committed to tackling the biggest problem in the world through collaborative research and teaching.

The group promotes cutting-edge environmental research across the school and includes both staff and research students. Find out more about how the group functions. 

Research case study – Inclusivity in the environment sector

'Together with Dr Alice Venn (Law) I am working with the Bristol environment sector to make their organisations more inclusive. The environmental sector is notoriously one of the least diverse, with only 3.5 per cent working in environmental jobs identifying as an ethnic minority. In the environmental charity sector, it is 6%.

This compares quite starkly with an average across the UK workforce of 15% of employees who identify as people of racially or ethnically minoritized groups.

I have been working with Beeston Media and Diversity Trust to put on a series of workshops and produce videos covering key concepts of inclusive decision making, open workplace culture and hiring practices to recruit and retain diverse staff.'

– Dr Alix Dietzel, Senior Lecturer in Climate Justice and Associate Director for Impact and Innovation at the Cabot Institute for the Environment

Research case study – Cryosphere change in the Himalayas

'I am currently working with colleagues from Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan on issues relating to cryosphere change in the Himalayas. We are researching how communities in these areas are dealing with the challenges posed by climate change and glacier retreat.

We are focusing specifically on issues like: water security; food security; threats to critical infrastructure; community governance; community resilience; and the mapping of potential future threats.

We are an interdisciplinary - and international - team made up of social scientists, climate scientists, public health researchers, engineers, and disasters experts.'

– Dr Adrian Flint, Associate Professor in Development Politics and Associate Director for Research and Communities at the Cabot Institute for the Environment