Environmental Change Institute
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| Established | 1987 |
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| Mission | to organise and promote interdisciplinary research on the nature, causes and impact of environmental change and to contribute to the development of management strategies for coping with future environmental change |
| Members | 60 researchers, 60 graduate students, 350 partners |
| Formerly called | Environmental Change Unit |
| Location | Oxford, United Kingdom |
| Address | Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom |
| Website | www.eci.ox.ac.uk |
The Environmental Change Institute was founded in 1987 in Oxford University in England "to organize and promote interdisciplinary research on the nature, causes and impact of environmental change and to contribute to the development of management strategies for coping with future environmental change." This statement still embodies the ECI’s ethos of purposeful environmental research and knowledge exchange.[1]
With an annual research income of £4.7million in 2013/14, a portfolio of 50 active projects, 350 partners and 60 researchers working across 40 countries, the ECI is an active and influential player in environmental change science.
The ECI’s research is interdisciplinary, both in outlook and approach. ECI has a well- established track record in relation to climate, energy and ecosystems and a growing expertise in relation to food and water.
ECI is a leading player in number of large research activities, including: the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) which develops new tools to link climate science with stakeholders in business and government in order to create innovative adaptations to the impacts of climate change; Climateprediction.net the world’s largest citizen science climate ensemble with 350,000 individuals running climate simulations in order to better understand regional climate patterns; leaders of major EU consortium programmes including one on the impacts and risks of extreme climate change (Impressions); and coordinators of GEM, a global ecological monitoring programme across remote forest locations in South America, Africa and Asia.
The ECI’s full portfolio of projects has led to academic papers and citations totaling over 45,000 since 2000.
The ECI is also home to the MSc in Environmental Change and Management (ECM), the School’s first taught postgraduate masters’ programme, and Oxford's most popular graduate science course.
The Institute is led by Professor Jim Hall.
Research
The ECI's research is organised around five main themes in climate, ecosystems, energy, food and water.
There are expert teams in:
- Biodiversity and climate adaptation
- Climate impacts and adaptation
- Ecosystem dynamics and ecosystem services
- Energy demand management
- Extreme climate event attribution
- Food security
- Sustainable infrastructure systems
- Tropical forests and carbon dynamics
- Water security