RA 4: Environment and Sustainability
RA 1
RA 2
RA 3
RA 4
RA 5
RA 6
Understanding environmental change, urban transformation, and sustainability by integrating cultural perspectives, ecological systems, and technological solutions.
RA 4 Leads
KCL
Dr Emma Colven
QMUL
Dr Caterina Gennaioli
ICL
Dr Elia Apostolopoulou
About this Research Area
This Research Area addresses the interconnections between ecological systems, social practices, and built environments, with particular attention to cultural understandings of environmental change. It investigates how communities interpret, experience, and respond to environmental challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and struggles over natural resources. It explores how policies, technologies, and institutions are designed and contested in efforts to achieve more sustainable futures, while recognising that these processes are deeply embedded in social and cultural contexts.
Harnessing environmental and social data to address ecological challenges and advance sustainability.
Great emphasis is placed on urbanisation and urban transformation, with research examining the politics of urban growth, the role of infrastructure, and the implications of environmental stress for public health and well-being.
The area also engages with political ecology and the social dynamics of energy transitions, paying close attention to the distributional effects of environmental change. Quantitative approaches such as environmental analytics and climate risk modelling are combined with qualitative methods that foreground cultural perspectives and local knowledge. By integrating these approaches, this Research Area not only examines the technical and policy dimensions of sustainability but also highlights the values, practices, and imaginaries that shape how societies envision and work toward sustainable futures.
Data Statement
Research Students
Doctoral projects in RA4 are expected to combine robust research design with reflexive attention to how evidence is produced, accessed, and governed. The choice of data and methods should always be guided by the research question. This approach encourages innovation in the use of diverse sources while promoting transparency.
