Environment and Sustainability
As a postgraduate student, our interdisciplinary approach to research and teaching will give you the opportunity to pursue interests in almost any area of environmental protection and sustainable development – whether it be energy, water, waste, transportation, the built environment, air-pollution, land use, or beyond…
Research programmes
Taught programmes
Research Environment
Our approach is truly collaborative. From investigating people’s attitudes to the environment to understanding how nanotechnology can enhance future solar power solutions – we believe contemporary environmental and sustainability issues need to be tackled in an interdisciplinary fashion, investigating the questions that matter by drawing on the appropriate tools and techniques from a multiplicity of research domains.
Our extensive research community is committed to working together to deliver action-oriented, policy-focused responses that effectively address long-term environmental and social issues. We work closely with businesses and policymakers with these aims in mind. Environment and sustainability courses at Surrey give you the opportunity to develop a network of career-changing contacts in key areas, through MSc guest lectures, internships and company-supported dissertations.
Our research receives strong support from research councils and funding bodies in the UK and abroad – giving you access to excellent research facilities, whatever your specialism.
Key Research Areas
- Sustainable systems and development
- Social research on sustainability
- Policy, strategy and governance
- Lifestyles and resource consumption
- Environmental psychology
- Sustainable tourism
- Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES)
- The Hospitality and Food Management Group (HFMG)
- Tourism and Events Management Research Group
- Labour, workplace and the environment
Research Centres and Groups
Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES)
The Centre for Environmental Strategy is an internationally acclaimed centre of excellence in sustainable development. CES encourages productive research relationships across disciplines as diverse as engineering and the social sciences, putting collaboration at the heart of our policy-oriented responses to environmental and social concerns.
Centre for Environmental and Health Engineering (CEHE)
Research projects at CEHE cover every aspect of the water cycle. The Centre is a designated World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for the Protection of Water Quality and Human Health.
Robens Centre for Public and Environmental Health (RCPEH)
The RCPEH is well-recognised for advancing our understanding of the complex ways in which water affects human health. Work here plays an active role in building water quality monitoring and assessment capabilities in developing countries.
Centre for Osmosis Research and Applications (CORA)
Tackling global problems of fresh water availability, and the treatment and disposal of wastewater, CORA’s state-of-the-art facilities have led to breakthrough inventions, such as Manipulated Osmosis Technology. This system is now being commercialised to reduce the environmental impact of, and costs incurred by, desalination plants across the world.
School of Psychology
What is the relationship between the environment and people’s thinking, well-being, and behaviour? Environmental Psychology sets out to explore this question by exploring people’s attitudes, behaviour, and values – and examining the ways in which they interact with resource consumption.
Hospitality and Food Research Group
The Hospitality and Food Research Group focuses on understanding consumer behaviour and developing forward-thinking approaches to improve the performance of hospitality businesses across the sector.
Surrey Tourism Research Centre
With an outstanding reputation for inspiring new tourism research, the Centre takes great pride in shaping academic debate, influencing policy and guiding tourism practice through its strong commitment to inter-disciplinary collaboration.
Research Academics
Career Development
Opportunities for experts in this field are continually growing, and include providing expertise for consultancies, water or energy utilities, central and local government, regulatory bodies, relief agencies and international organisations.
Examples of positions achieved by our students after earning their postgraduate qualification with us:
- Hewlett-Packard – Head of Environmental Compliance for Europe, Middle East and Africa
- Buro Happold – Senior Engineer in Sustainability and Alternative Technologies Group
- Thames Water – Research Engineer
Links with Industry
Over 20 years of activity, we have built relationships with key players across every area of relevance to an environment and sustainability agenda – from UK businesses and organisations to international bodies such as the UN and World Health Organisation.
The University’s exceptional links with business, government and non-governmental organisations provide postgraduate students with an excellent basis from which to develop expansive networks of contacts.
Links developed through our EngD programme include:
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Hewlett-Packard
Ford UK
Unilever UK & Ireland
Bosch
Thames Water
Arup
MET Office
The EngD provides the opportunity to develop a network within industry which is a great foundation for things to come.
Jade-Ashlee Cox
Engineering Doctorate (EngD), Sustainability for Engineering and Energy Systems (SEES)
The SEES Engineering Doctorate at the University of Surrey complements my degree in Physical Geography from the University of Durham and MSc in Environmental Technology (Distinction) from Imperial College London.
My main motivation for undertaking the EngD was due to its direct engagement with waste management, environmental service firms and local government, in which I intend to pursue a career. The importance of waste resource management and making it effective is, in my opinion, the biggest challenge of today’s society. The EngD is a careful balance between working in industry and academia. It is an invaluable experience to gain the skills that will be required later in your career, whilst studying a subject in which you wish to become an expert and that you thoroughly enjoy.
The EngD provides the opportunity to develop a network within industry which is a great foundation for things to come. Coupled with the support and academic genius of the University, your project can deliver bigger and better results, as opposed to working in isolation.
Supervisors and support staff at the University make this an entirely enjoyable experience, even when times get hard. Supervisors both in industry and academia are enthusiastic about the projects and provide an excellent level of support as well as knowledge.
The EngD will enhance my opportunities and increase the level to which I can go individually, as well as in the industry I have grown to love. Working within local government has made me wish to pursue an environmental career within the higher echelons of the civil service which I believe will only be possible through the experience I will have gained through the EngD.