Research
GW4 is home to globally recognised research strengths and world-leading facilities and assets relating to climate. GW4 researchers have already been instrumental in identifying climate change tipping points and the GW4 region offers a world class concentration of expertise. Our researchers and partners play a huge role in helping to tackle this global challenge.
Bath
- Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies
Brings together academic expertise with international, industrial, academic and stakeholder partners to carry out research, training, and outreach in sustainable and circular technologies. - Research Unit for Water, Environment, and Infrastructure Resilience (WEIR)
Conducts leading research and consultancy into geotechnical and water engineering, and how they impact on the design of physical infrastructure. Research themes include natural hazards; coastal and ocean engineering; infrastructure resilience. - Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment
Provides a forum for academic, industry and policy experts to review and discuss topics of popular interest in the energy sector. - Institute for Mathematical Innovation
Provides mathematical modelling and data science capability that is deployed in collaboration with academic staff across the university, with partners including the Met Office, Lloyds Register Foundation, National Grid, Space Weather, Willis Towers Watson, the Environment Agency and the Office for National Statistics.
Bristol
- Cabot Institute for the Environment
Established in 2010, the institute comprises of over 600 researchers working across six research themes: water, environmental change, low carbon energy, food security, city futures, natural hazards and disaster risk. It builds multidisciplinary research communities and has attracted over £50M in research income over the last 5 years. - Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research
The Institute supports approaches ranging from the basic sciences that underpin our understanding of health and disease, to the clinical, social and population sciences. It also support new developments in health research, including in electrical engineering, photonics, robotics, composite materials, nanoscience, and synthetic chemistry. Its particular focus is translation of knowledge into better health outcomes. - There are also synergies with the Bristol Digital Futures Institute, Bristol Composites Institute, Jean Golding Institute for data science and data intense research, and the Brigstow Institute.
CArdiff
- Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST)
Cardiff is a core partner of this ESRC funded global hub which aims to understand the systemic and society-wide transformations that are required to address climate change. CAST focusses on material consumption, food and diet, transport and mobility and thermal comfort from individual to international perspectives. - Tyndall Centre at Cardiff
Focuses on the psychological and social dimensions of climate change mitigation and adaptation and comprises over 30 researchers, drawing on expertise in the School of Psychology, and Sustainable Places Research Institute and the Climate Change Consortium of Wales (C3W). - Sustainable Places Research Institute
The Research Institute has six interlinked research programmes: sustainable rural-urban communities; co-evolving, interactive systems; health, infrastructure and well-being; food, land and security; risk, place, identity and sustainability; cities and sustainable places. - Water Research Institute
Climate Change and Water is a main research themes of the Water Research Institute which also hosts the GW4 Water Security Alliance (GW4 WSA) – one of the largest water research consortiums worldwide.
Exeter
- Global Systems Institute (GSI)
Comprising of over 120 researchers the GSI aims to better predict global changes through understanding the interactions between: the climate, natural ecosystems, human social and economic systems, and the built environment. The GSI also have close synergies with other centres in Exeter, including the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), Sustainability and Circular Economy, Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health (CCEH), the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) and the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. - Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW)
CREWW has been established to undertake research into how we can manage our precious natural resources in ways which are sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change and population growth. - The Exeter Centre for Circular Economy (ECCE)
ECCE was established to develop thought leadership within both theory and practice for a Circular Economy and achieves this through four key areas: Education, Research, Industrial Engagement and Internationalisation. - Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP)
LEEP aims to develop knowledge and understanding to inform governments, businesses and communities about how land and the environment are managed and used; the policies that affect this; the impact upon people, and how policy should be better designed, appraised and evaluated.
The Met Office
The University of Bristol and the University of Exeter are two of six official Met Office Academic Partners. Over 200 collaborative projects are currently being undertaken (worth over £40M), focussed on weather prediction and modelling of weather, earth systems and climate processes.
