Staff profiles: Place, Environment and Community
View members of staff working in the Place, Environment and…
The Place, Environment and Community research priority area focuses on architecture, built environment and planning, and geography & environmental studies.
View our research projectsThe Place, Environment and Community Research Priority Area comprises around 40 academic researchers across a wide range of disciplines including biology, ecology, geography, sociology with a well-established track record in national and international funded research, strong research impact and policy influence and strong outcomes from the UK national research assessments.
The RPA is broadly organised into two core REF2021 Units of Assessment:
This UoA focuses largely on the Countryside and Community Research Institute has 26 research staff and 10 PhD students and aims to undertake innovative, applied and impactful. Funders include the European Union (Horizon 2020 programme), the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), UK national agencies and departments, and third sector bodies.
Much of the CCRI’s research supports the transition to net-zero and addresses the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular focus on rural areas, food systems and green spaces.
For more information contact Dr Julie Urquhart
This UoA largely comprises 15 academics in the School of Education and Applied Sciences, geography and biosciences teams. Researchers in this unit teach several courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level and supervise postgraduate research for PhD and Masters by Research.
In our research, we work with a wide range of funders both UK and international and collaborate with research in institutions around the world. There are two major scientific research labs: the Luminescence Lab which offers dating work for commercial archaeological clients, as well as international research teams, and the Biomedical Sciences Lab.
For more information contact: Dr Lucy Clarke
Within School of Natural, Social and Sport Sciences, the University’s Luminescence dating laboratory draws on the natural properties of sedimentary minerals to establish the chronology of past environmental change and human evolution, dispersal and occupation. This offers a unique service and attracts researchers from around the world from South America, Siberia and across Europe.
Lead: Professor Phil Toms
The Centre for the Study of Floods and Communities (CSFC) at the University of Gloucestershire is an interdisciplinary research centre that focuses on key issues in building sustainable and resilient communities in a changing flood risk context.
The CSFC was established in 2009. There are a growing number of PGR students as well. The Centre has active research links with other universities and community agencies including FWAG South West, CPRE, Thames Water and the Gloucestershire Nature Partnership.
Leads: Chris Short and Dr Lucy Clarke
The University of Gloucestershire Open Geospatial Lab (GOGL) is a collaboration between the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) and the School of Natural and Social Sciences (SNSS). The aim of GOGL is to develop and promote open source GIS education in our undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, and to stimulate innovative research in the application of open source geospatial technologies.
GOGL belongs to a growing global network of organisations formed under the umbrella of a memorandum of understanding between the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).
Under GOGL, the Campaign to Protect Rural England is funding a programme of student research using GOGL internship students to build a geographical information system (GIS) for the Severn Vale, using open software and data, which it is hoped will be an important tool for helping to inform future decision-making in the area.
Contact Kenny Lynch, research priority area convenor for Place, Environment and Community.
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