World-leading research
Our ethos is to undertake research to understand better the physical and human processes shaping our environment and communities, the cognition and utilisation of these processes to support decision-making and to predict the trajectories and causes of future change.
We are well-known for our work in fields such as Geohazards & Tectonics, Future Energy, Deep Earth, Oceans & Climate, Ecosystem Dynamics, Power Space and Cultural Change, Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment, Geographic Data Science, Environmental Change, and Sustainable Cities Coasts and Oceans.
Research in the School of Environmental Sciences sits within the two Departments and seven mature, inclusive, vibrant, and cognate Research Groups that drive our research excellence. Our interdisciplinary ambition is reflected in our leading roles in University Strategy 2026 Research Themes: Climate Futures, Infectious Diseases, and Digital, and the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s Priority Research Challenges of Risk and Uncertainty, Coasts and Oceans, Autonomy, Simulation and Networks and Energy.
Earth Sciences
Earth Science research aims to understand the Earth from the core to surface. We employ field, laboratory and numerical techniques to provide an integrated approach to some of the most fundamental questions in our science.s
Oceans and Climate
The Ocean Sciences group at Liverpool has an international reputation for its work on climate change, including how the ocean is warming and sea level is rising, and how ocean physics and biogeochemistry interact together, including the cycling of nutrients, trace metals and carbon, and their effects on the ocean ecosystem.
Ecology and Marine Biology
We are a small but diverse research group, carrying out internationally-renowned research on land and in the sea. We aim to understand how terrestrial and marine ecosystems are structured, how they function and how to manage them.
Environmental Change
Our research aims to advance understanding and application in Mechanisms and dynamics of Earth surface and atmospheric processes operating in fluvial, hillslope, lacustrine, estuarine, coastal, and glacial environments and systems
Planning, Environmental Assessment and Management
Planning, Environmental Assessment and Management is an international research group addressing key planning challenges, from how oceans are managed through to the role of evidence in understanding development impacts.
Geographic Data Science
As a focused group, we are interested in making sense of how our world works, turning new forms of spatial data into information that we can use to make intelligent decisions. Collectively, we span the disciplines of econometrics, spatial analysis, spatial statistics, demography, population geography and computer science.
Power, Space & Cultural Change
We are a vibrant, collaborative and collegial group of social, cultural, political, economic and historical geographers engaged in theoretically- and methodologically-rigorous, socially meaningful, and empirically grounded work.