About us

The Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures is a collaboration between the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and The University of Sheffield.

At the Grantham Centre experts from academia, business and policy come together to create a sustainable future. And a key part of this is mentoring the next generation of sustainability researchers: the Grantham Scholars.

The Grantham Scholars

Interviews with Grantham Scholars — Our researchers are an amazing lot. Pictured are just some of them that we have interviewed, click on the picture to be taken to our blog, interviews and comment page.

Our researchers, the Grantham Scholars, do sustainability research across disciplines at the University of Sheffield. From plant pathogens to policy, they work on a broad range of topics. Further, all our research works towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. As such, they reflect the SDGs’ multidisciplinary outlook.

If you want to find out more about our researchers then look at our blogs and interviews. Here you’ll find easy-to-understand overviews, as well as deep dives into sustainability issues.

Because we want the Grantham Scholars to be the sustainability leaders of tomorrow, we provide a special training program. In this program they learn a variety of skills. For example, how to write for any audience and the best way to engage with policy makers.

Research

In order to address some of the most pressing environmental problems, we have set up dedicated research projects.

For example, we are tackling the plastic pollution crisis with Many Happy Returns. For this project we have gathered a team of diverse experts. From chemistry to linguistics, our plastics team work together to create new knowledge and solve old problems.

Do you have a PhD student at the University of Sheffield who could be a Grantham Scholar? Find out how to apply, what we offer, and what to expect.

What Do We Do?

Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goals are blueprints for a sustainable future. So UN member states are expected to use these Goals to frame agendas and policies. Find out here how Grantham Centre research connects to each Goal.

The food and agriculture sector offers key solutions for development, and is central for hunger and poverty eradication.

Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in.

Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity.

There needs to be a future in which cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more.

Promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to basic services, green and decent jobs and a better quality of life for all

Climate change is a global challenge that affects everyone, everywhere.

Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.

Our Background

We are co-funded by the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, founded by Jeremy and Hanne Grantham. A world-renowned investment manager, Jeremy Grantham was brought up in Doncaster and graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in Economics in 1961. He is a strong advocate for environmental issues.

“It is crucial that scientists take more career risks and sound a more realistic, more desperate, note on the global-warming problem. Younger scientists are obsessed by thoughts of tenure, so it is probably up to older, senior and retired scientists to do the heavy lifting. Be arrested if necessary. This is not only the crisis of your lives – it is also the crisis of our species’ existence. I implore you to be brave.”

Jeremy Grantham, Nature, 2012 Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (491, 303), copyright (2012)