About the School

In the School of Environmental Sciences, we study our Planet from the atmosphere, the surface to the deep Earth, and exploring the different ways in which societies, communities and ecosystems respond to differing aspects of environmental, economic and social change.

We investigate the Earth's core and mantle, dynamic lithosphere and crust, and tectonic processes expressed at its surface in the form of volcanoes and earthquakes. We study past and present oceans to understand how they influence the climate system and the cycling of elements. We are interested in the shaping of land past and present, from the building of mountains to their erosion by water, wind, and ice.

We investigate the Earth’s ecosystems, how our species impacts them, and how human populations can be planned for and managed in the huge variety of environments in which we live. We study the different ways people interact, adapt, or respond to environmental, economic, social, and cultural change. We are concerned with natural and human-induced risks to our population and to the planet's ecosystem and the means to mitigate them.