Sustainability research

Find out about our sustainability research, including our participation in COP26.

About us

We are at the forefront of research around climate action, biodiversity, sustainable food and the circular economy. We will also continue to be a key enabler and supportive trusted research partner in delivering sustainability regionally, nationally and internationally.

See how we're creating a sustainable university

Research programmes and centres

You can read more about the work of some of our key research programmes and our partner, the Institute for Development Studies, by following the links below.

Research in our schools
Explore all research in the:
Sustainability research activities are organised around the following departments and centres:
Research programmes and centres

Research impact

Our research helps to advance the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, we were ranked in the top ten universities in the world by the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021 against the UN SDG Goal 1: No Poverty, largely due to the research we have contributed to this area.

COP26

Find out how our research contributed to COP26.

We're working hard to become one of the most sustainable universities in the world.

Find out more

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Podcast: Rob Byrne on adopting new innovations and technology in sustainable energy projects

Rob Byrne is a Senior Lecturer at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex. He is also a co-convener for the Energy and Climate Change Domain of the STEPS Centre (a research initiative between SPRU and the Institute for Development Studies).

Working for a number of years in Botswana and Tanzania on various sustainable energy projects, Rob’s background was particularly instrumental in providing real life context for the study of innovation, energy and climate policy. In this podcast, Rob talks about just how complex the process of adopting new innovations and technology can be.

Listen to more Impacted podcasts.

Forecasting for drought in Kenya

A collaboration between Sussex researchers, Kenyan national agencies and non-governmental organisations aims to improve drought predictions through the use of machine learning techniques to analyse satellite-based Earth observations.

Find out more