Birkbeck Centre for Environment and Sustainability

Birkbeck Research Centre

Environment and Sustainability

Interdisciplinary approaches to climate change, ecological breakdown and sustainable use of the world’s resources.

Birkbeck Research Centre for Environment and Sustainability was formed in December 2023. We take an interdisciplinary approach to tackling the entwined challenges of environmental and climate breakdown and the need to transition to a more sustainable way of life.

All areas of life are affected by these challenges, thus academic colleagues from the whole university are working together, including arts and humanities and social science approaches alongside more scientific research.

PARTNERS

About us

Learn more about the work that the Birkbeck Research Centre for Environment and Sustainability does and who is involved.

Engage

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Publications

Read more of our published research in environment and sustainability.

RESEARCH

Environment and sustainability research at Birkbeck is truly interdisciplinary, with staff in all three faculties, from geography and earth sciences to history and linguistics, via business and law and more.

We apply our expertise to a range of key public discourses, including business and consumer sustainability, the politics of food production and distribution, risk and resilience and the interaction between the human and non-human.

We work across the globe, from our home in London to Europe, Africa and Asia and approach the challenges of the twin climate and environmental crises from critical and cultural perspectives as well as generating data for policy interventions.

The diversity of our research is a strength and a number of research projects are highlighted below.

The Ethical Household

Understanding household decision making about single-use plastics.

Building the low carbon transition

Working with industrial partners to reduce geological risks when building low-carbon infrastructure.

A long-term view on Insect Armageddon

Using lake sediment records to provide a historical perspective to recent human-induced loss of insect biodiversity.

Animals and the Environment in Greek and Roman Philosophy

New perspectives on animal-human relations and the environment in the history of Western thought.

Language and Sustainable Development

Making the case for inclusion of all language communities for the successful implementation of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Coexisting with dangerous wildlife

How to foster coexistence with dangerous wildlife in a world in which humans and wildlife increasingly share landscapes and natural resources.

Connecting scientific and Indigenous communities of knowledge in Amazonia

The extraordinary collections and observations made by British naturalist Richard Spruce in Brazil are finding their way back to their country and communities of origin.

Circular practices and financial performance of SMEs

Exploring the financial performance implications for small and medium-sized companies that promoted circularity on their websites.

Calculating uncertainty for wind energy generation

Working with Wind Farm Analytics Ltd. to conduct forward error propagation analysis to ascertain likely uncertainty on the wind velocity obtained from converging beam Doppler LIDAR technology.

Our events

Learn about upcoming events relating to environment and sustainability at Birkbeck, including those organised by BRCES.

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