From its humble beginnings in 1992 CES has established itself as an internationally-acclaimed centre of excellence in sustainable development research and teaching. A core philosophy is that of the importance of taking a ‘systems’ view of a problem or topic, and within that, combining  engineering based approaches with insights from the social sciences.

CES developed one of the UK’s first and now longest running, EPSRC sponsored Engineering Doctoral programmes, following which three Masters’ programmes were soon established.  From our PhD, EngD and MSc programmes our Alumni have progressed into senior, influential roles where Professor Clift noted “they are really making a difference”.  

Glancing Back & Looking Forward gave around 250 Alumni, leading figures from industry and government and ex staff, together with members of CES and the University, an opportunity to reflect on the progress the Centre has made in its first twenty years and how it can help to shape responses to the major sustainability challenges that lie ahead.  Central in the day’s events were twelve workshops, each chaired by a leading expert, where practitioners and researchers identified the key challenges for important industrial and economic sectors and defined the research and training needs for a ‘sustainable’ future.  

Highlights from these workshops including key challenges and future research needs, and other outcomes from the event, can be seen on the workshop page, as progress is made in these areas this site will be updated to reflect these developments.  

The evening’s events started with Keynote talks by Sara Parkin, Founding Director of Forum for the Future, and CES’ Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development.  A lively and interesting question and answer panel discussion followed, within the overall theme: “How a research and training organisation can help to shape responses to the major sustainability challenges that lie ahead”. The panel was chaired by Surrey’s Professor Jim Al-Khalili, with panel members drawn from the University, public and private sectors, research organisations and NGOs.

The day’s events culminated in a reception and locally-sourced buffet supper where guests were entertained by the beautiful music of saxophone and guitar duet Fiona Asbury and Clement Regert. Participants had the opportunity to view posters describing the Centre’s current cutting edge research, continue earlier discussions, make valuable contacts and meet old friends. During the reception the World’s first environmentally friendly self-chilling drinks can was unveiled by its inventor American entrepreneur Mitchell Joseph; Surrey’s Emeritus Professor Roland Clift has been working with the Joseph Company of California to develop a way to deliver cooled drinks without refrigerated storage: the CHILLCAN®