Aerial view of Naples with Mount Vesuvius at sunset

The Climate, Hazards and Environmental Change Research Cluster

Engaging in multi-disciplinary research on climate change, hazards, disasters and sustainability.

Extreme flooding in a residential area

About us

The Climate, Hazards and Environmental Change Research Cluster draws on perspectives from multiple disciplines including human geography, physical geography, archaeology, biology, nutritional sciences and philosophy.

Our research has focused on a variety of topics, including:

  • Quaternary environmental change
  • Critical perspectives on climate change adaptation
  • Historical perspectives on wildfire hazards
  • Coastal floods and tsunamis
  • Flood risk management
  • Vulnerability to volcanic hazards
  • Environmental archaeology and paleoecology
  • Political ecologies of resource extraction.

Our researchers have experience of working in numerous locations including the UK, Ireland, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Italy, Germany, Russia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

Our researchers

David Simm

Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography

Matthew Law

Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography
A profile photo of a woman with dark hair wearing a black dress standing in front of trees

Giovanna Gioli

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
Person with long brown hair wearing glasses and a white sleeveless top smiling in front of purple-flowered shrubs

Margherita Scazza

Teaching Fellow in Geography

James Jeffers

Programme Leader for Geography
A man stands in front of a bookcase

Simon Haslett

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Partnership Strategy)
Lori Bystrom

Lori Bystrom

Lecturer in Food Enterprise and Plant Science
Person in hat with long hair smiling at camera in rural setting with fields behind

Kim Davies

Lecturer in Physical Geography
A dry riverbed due to prolonged drought. A bridge crosses over the riverbed.

Impact, engagement and collaboration

We are committed to research with impact and to collaborations with local communities, policy makers and industry. As university teachers and researchers, we are also committed to research-informed teaching, and to providing our students with opportunities to engage with and participate in research.

Our research informs our teaching contributions to degree programmes across the School of Sciences, including in Geography, Global Development and Sustainability, Environmental Science, Wildlife Conservation and Biology.

We are also affiliated with the University's Centre for Research on Science and Society and the Research Centre for Environmental Humanities.

Research projects

Our international research aims to deepen understandings of complex social, environmental and sustainability challenges.

View of woman holding mobile phone sitting on colourful cloths Digital Climate Futures
Image of greybrown rubble from a building with a fence and tattered flag. Tree in background. Political afterlife of rubble
Erupting volcano Dynamic Risk at Fuego Volcano
Firefighters on a smoky hillside Historical perspectives on wildfires in Ireland
The Last Hurrah: exploring climate change through theatre
Cork flood defences dispute
HiFlo-DAT Hazard Database
A vast flooded landscape of water over fields, with a few buildings and trees emerging from the still waters

Our events

Our online research lecture series is open to the public. To find out more or register to attend an online lecture, please visit our events page.

Recordings of some of our past events are also available on YouTube.

Browse our events
People walk amongst the rubble and remains of buildings after a major earthquake in a town.

Get in touch

If you're interested in our research, please contact our Cluster Director, Dr Jim Jeffers. Alternatively, speak to any member of our group.

Cluster Director

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