To create a sustainable future we need to make sure there is enough for everyone – enough food, water and energy. And we need to do this within planetary boundaries. To create a sustainable future we need to work together towards global goals, and we need to do it with some urgency. Therefore we are commited to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Because these Goals provide a blueprint and a set of targets which can create a sustainable future.
To create a sustainable future we need to know how. Sustainability problems are multifaceted, they are local and global, material and social, political and industrial. One type of academic discipline alone will not solve them. Neither will policy without evidence. Neither will business without guidance. So here at the Grantham Centre, all our projects are multidisciplinary ones. Further, the perspectives of policy-makers and business informs our research. For example, all Grantham Scholars receive specialised training in working with policy-makers and businesses.
Our plan is to create usable knowledge that address the complexity of environmental crisis. We work closely with experts across the University, around the world, and from business and policy to provide leadership in the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Grantham Centre experts represent every Faculty within the University of Sheffield. So we can create cross-cutting research projects. For instance, Grantham Scholar Jenny Veenstra‘s first supervisor is soil scientist Dr Manoj Menon from Geography. But Jenny’s second supervisor is from Civil and Structural Engineering. Or Rohit Chakraborty, who is supervised by experts in chemistry, engineering, and science communication. Because Rohit studies air pollution, this range of expertise allows him to examine this problem from the social, chemical and civil perspectives.
Because Grantham Centre experts are used to working across disciplines with Scholars they can come together easily on other research projects. We have used this multidiciplinary thinking to win funding on collaborative research projects. For example, our £1 million UKRI funded project Plastics: Redefining Single-Use. Another example of this mixed team approach is our project at the Za’atari refugee camp. Here our experts – a team of scientists, engineering, social scientists, Grantham Scholars and policy experts – have co-created some solutions to life at the camp.
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.
Grantham Scholar Emanga Alobwede has published her first paper, which looks at circular economy fertilisation. “Nutrient losses from agricultural land to freshwater and marine environments contribute to eutrophication and often to the growth of algal blooms. However, the potential benefits of recycling this algal biomass back to agricultural land for soil […]
Our £1 million pound UKRI funded plastics project got off to a flying start with a 2 day stakeholder event at the wonderful Sheffield City Hall. Academics alone won’t find the answers to plastic waste, so we have created a large team of stakeholders, representing the local, national and international […]
Plastics: Redefining Single-Use is a new multidisciplinary research project announced on December 18th by the Science Minister. This £1 million collaboration at the Grantham Centre brings together world-class experts from across academic disciplines to address the ecological and societal problems posed by plastics. Sign up to our newsletter or find us […]
We work closely with our partner sustainability teams at the TUoS. The researchers behind these groups are mentors to many of Grantham Scholars and are coming up with innovative new solutions to sustainability challenges.