Centre for Environment and Sustainability

We are an internationally-acclaimed centre of excellence on sustainable development. We provide a friendly and supportive environment in which innovative thought and creativity are strongly encouraged and our internationally and culturally diverse group of students and staff can flourish.

Reflections by our founder

The Centre originated from a Damascene experience at a conference in January 1991. The conference crystallised the conclusion that the solutions to our environmental challenges do not lie within a single academic discipline. My response to this flash of the blindingly obvious was to seek funding to set up a research centre to bring together engineering and the social sciences.

Although my original intention was to set up a small research centre, CES has grown to the size of a modest department with national and international recognition and influence.

Oh, and it has been fun. Professor Roland Clift, Founder of the Centre for Environment and Sustainability

Study with us

We offer a brand new undergraduate course, excellence in innovative PhD and EngD programmes which are embedded within multidisciplinary research, as well as numerous MSc courses and CPD and short courses.

People picking up rubbish

Undergraduate courses

Wind turbines

Postgraduate courses

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Research courses

Students talking

CPD and short courses

Latest news

02 MAY 2025

Oxburgh Award goes to Surrey’s Professor Jim Lynch

26 MAR 2025

£1.4m project to assess whether vertical farming can strengthen the UK's food system

13 NOV 2024

New report showcases Surrey's continued progress in UN's Sustainable Development Goals

See all news

What we offer

Our research uses interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis of complex systems, integrating the engineering and science-based disciplines with insights from the economic and social sciences. From this we develop action-oriented, policy relevant responses to long-term environmental and social issues.

People talking at a table

Applied industry research collaborations

We can help your organisation reach objectives by using our expertise to resolve your research problems.

Person holding a small plant with soil

Interdisiplinary research

Developing action-oriented, policy relevant responses to long-term environmental and social issues.

Work with us

Commercialisation fellowship
Job vacancies

Our staff members

Dr Zoe Harris

Head of the Centre

Zoe’s core research focuses on how we can use land to provide food and energy provisions whilst minimising environmental impacts. She is currently assessing the feasibility of vertical farming and the potential it has to support the deployment of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS).Zoe leads the high profile Taeda Tech Project, a £4m interdisciplinary demonstrat...
Meet the team

Events

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Roland Clift lecture series

Every year we run our Roland Clift lecture series presented by a different speaker. Joanna Yarrow from the IKEA Group presented the latest lecture to talk about inspiring and enabling a billion people to live better lives within the planet’s limits.

Find out more about the lecture series.

Joanna Yarrow speaking at Roland Clift lecture
Joanna Yarrow speaking at Roland Clift lecture with audience
Female guest chatting at Roland Clift lecture
Two men chatting in the audience of the Roland Clift lecture

Stay connected

Latest tweets

@CES_Surrey

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Dr Marta López Cifuentes intrigued audiences with her talk about transforming urban food systems this weekend at th… https://t.co/sXmtYgmkno
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Fascinating short talk about sweetening the path to sustainability by Dr James Suckling at the @UniOfSurrey Showcas… https://t.co/AMZGS0RrT1
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Prof. Jhuma Sadhukhan from @UniOfSurrey highlights why biofuels can’t be the complete answer to decarbonisation.https://t.co/X4uY2x9UFy

Latest blog posts

20.11.23

How do we govern climate action?: the case of Surrey – improvisatory and compensatory governance for Net Zero

Ian Christie and Erica Russell 13th November 2023 How should we govern the complex and urgent task of...

29.04.22

Review of “The business of less: The role of companies and households on a planet in peril” by Roland Geyer (Routledge: London, 2022)

Roland Geyer’s new book The Business of Less starts with a vivid vignette – taking us back to 1991...