Environmental Change Institute
| Formation | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | to organise and promote interdisciplinary research on the nature, causes and impact of environmental change and to contribute to the development of management strategies for coping with future environmental change |
| Headquarters | Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom |
| Location |
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| Membership | 60 researchers, 60 graduate students, 350 partners |
Director | Professor Michael Obersteiner |
| Website | www |
Formerly called | Environmental Change Unit |
The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford in England was founded in 1991 "to organize and promote interdisciplinary research on the nature, causes and impact of environmental change and to contribute to the development of management strategies for coping with future environmental change". The ECI is part of the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, ranked as the world’s top department in Geography.
In 2013/14 it had a research income of £4.7million, 50 active projects, 350 partners and 60 researchers working across 40 countries.
The ECI's research is interdisciplinary in both outlook and approach. The institute has an international track record for research in climate, ecosystems and energy and a growing expertise in the fields of food, water and health.
ECI is involved in several long-term research projects, including the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) which develops new tools to link climate science with business and government for innovations that can adaptat to the impacts of climate change and Climateprediction.net, the world's largest citizen science climate project with 350,000 individuals running climate simulations in order to better understand regional climate patterns. Staff of the institute have led EU consortium programmes including Impressions, studying the impacts and risks of extreme climate change; and co-ordinated GEM, a global ecological monitoring programme across remote forest locations in South America, Africa and Asia.
The ECI also runs an MSc in Environmental Change and Management (ECM). The MSc is heavily oversubscribed attracting 400 applications for 25 places in 2024/25.