Brighton's environmental research seeks to generate new knowledge of earth systems and of human actions that affect the environment.
It has been highly successful in producing applied and translational research with high uptake from industry, government departments and civil society and has generated over £1m per year in the last five years. The School of Environment and Technology (SET), has already won £1m to support its research programmes, in the first three months of 2008-09.
The research is grouped broadly around the following key themes: greener technologies, earth system science and environmental management.
Many research projects involve working with industry to develop new ways of tackling international environmental problems, such as cutting fuel consumption through creating more environmentally friendly cars and finding ways of using up waste carbon dioxide produced by power stations.
SET's research projects also look at clearing up pollution problems of the past, for instance, by developing ways of decontaminating land used for industrial production and using nanotechnology to clean up contaminated water supplies in developing countries. In addition to industry, researchers have also been working at a local level with local authorities, for instance, to change people's behaviour around recycling
Much interest is focused on how design can be used to encourage people to be greener and self-sufficient for example, by growing fruit and vegetables in our towns and cities and university campuses. Research has also looked at designing products in a way that encourages people to hold on to them for longer as well as improving the environmental performance of buildings.
Finally, researchers have been working with government agencies and water suppliers on ways of tackling global landscape issues such as the threat of flooding in European areas underlain by chalk. Other projects have focused on methods for discovering mineral and oil deposits more easily.
