Full list
The HUB comprises more than 70 researchers who work on technological solutions for addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Together we provide world-leading expertise across a range of emerging technologies.
| Name | School | Themes | Description | ||||
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| School of Engineering |
circular economy urban sustainability low carbon construction engineering for development |
Interested in the current state of resource efficiency in urban systems and industries, and develops technological and policy interventions for a low carbon future. Mohit has worked with several cities to improve their materials management towards a more circular economy. In low and middle income countries, he is focusing on engineering driven solutions to achieve low carbon development solutions for buildings and construction sector. | |||||
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| Nicholle Bell | School of Chemistry |
environmental adaptation natural capital technologies for environmental monitoring |
Applying advanced analytical technologies to understanding how peatlands, Earth's largest terrestrial carbon store, adapt to human activities and climate change. Many believe peatlands store carbon due to the antimicrobial properties of certain molecules, however until now our ability to 'see' inside peat has been hindered by the fact that peat is the most complex mixture on Earth. | ||||
| Benjamin Bhawal | School of Chemistry |
organic chemistry catalysis |
Aims to develop new catalytic processes to unlock innovative chemical transformations. This will facilitate more efficient and environmentally benign processes. In addition, we are interested in designing new catalytic reactions for the valorisation of sustainable biorenewable chemicals. | ||||
| Frédéric Bosché | School of Engineering |
built environment digital construction project management |
Interested in digital twinning and the built environment, as well as digital technology to support Net Carbon assessment in the built environment. |
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| Euan Brechin | School of Chemistry |
quantum information refrigeration technologies |
Interested in the use of earth abundant molecule-based magnets for cryogenic refrigeration and information processing, replacing the critical resources currently employed, including Helium and the Lanthanides. | ||||
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| Julio Bros-Williamson | School of Engineering |
digital twins & living labs climate change resilience healthy buildings |
Interested in low embodied carbon materials and techniques in the built environment, energy-efficient technological solutions for the refurbishment of existing buildings, and climate change adaptation and resilience of buildings by developing solutions and low carbon building services. | ||||
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School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology circular economy metals |
Focus on bioleaching of critical metals from electronic wastes, contributing to the circular economy for a sustainable future. The rare earth metals that are at the top of the EU critical resources list, and viable solutions must be found for their effective recycling, especially from products such as electric car batteries, wind turbine magnets and mobile electronic devices. | ||||
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| Dominic Campopiano | School of Chemistry |
biocatalysis industrial biotechnology sustainability |
Using biocatalysts (natural and engineered) to catalyse chemical reactions, as well as developing chemical tools to reduce waste and increase yields of enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions. | ||||
| Thalia Chatzisymeon | School of Engineering |
environmental engineering water and wastewater treatment environmental sustainability |
Development of sustainable technologies for water and wastewater treatment; life cycle assessment of environmental processes and technologies. | ||||
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| James Cheney | School of Informatics |
provenance data quality databases |
Data curation, provenance and data quality, which are particularly relevant to scientific data management settings that are generically relevant to many of the SDGs. | ||||
| Charles Cockell | School of Physics & Astronomy |
space astrobiology microbiology |
Interested in sustainable biotechnology in space to support human space exploration. | ||||
| Christine Cooper |
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| Michael Cowley | School of Chemistry |
chemistry discovering new chemistry for a sustainable society |
Working on the chemistry of the most abundant metals in the Earth’s crust - aluminium and silicon - to provide synthetic methods to prepare bulk and fine chemicals with lower energy costs and without reliance on limited reserves of precious metals. | ||||
| James Cumby | School of Chemistry |
materials AI batteries |
Creating new materials for future energy technologies, with the aim of diversifying and improving energy storage systems. To do this I combine synthetic chemistry with artificial intelligence to discover materials faster and more efficiently. | ||||
| Jamie Davies | School of Biomedical Sciences |
synthetic biology medicines biotechnology |
Focussed on improved health and well-being, particularly through research and also dissemination to and partnership wit the global south in the area of pharmacology and diagnostics. | ||||
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| Simone Dimartino | School of Engineering |
bioprocessing adsorption technologies additive manufacturing |
Broadly interested in adsorption technologies for applications ranging from manufacture of new healthcare products and foodstuff to CO2 capture.s. | ||||
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| Katherine Dunn | School of Engineering |
electrosynbionics bionanotechnology renewable energy |
Research on electrosynbionics, which involves the development of devices that use biological or bio-inspired components to generate, use or store electricity. This includes biophotovoltaics and biobatteries. | ||||
| Virginia Echevarri-Bravo | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology synthetic biology nanotechnology |
Development of biological methods for recycling and up-cycling metals contained in spent lithium ion batteries; metal bio-recycling methods can support the development of more sustainable/greener recycling methods for enabling a circular economy. Reduce reliance on the current sources of raw materials associated with human rights abuses and decrease mining activities that have a negative effect on human and environmental health. | ||||
| Victor Elvira | School of Mathematics |
AI statistics signal processing |
Interested in time-series, Bayesian modeling, and statistical methods for inference/prediction. Most of the tools I develop can be directly applied in problems relevant to sustainability. | ||||
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School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology recycling catalysis |
Aiming to convert waste metals to useful products such as catalysts, with a particular focus on catalysis promoted by biogenic metal nanoparticles. | ||||
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| Andrew Free | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology anti-microbial resistance biogeochemical cycling |
Interested in the application of microbial communities to bioremediation, sustainable waste treatment and energy generation from waste. We also have interests in the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance and approaches to tackling it. | ||||
| Chris French | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology biomass pathway engineering |
Research on biomass degradation for sustainable non food-based feedstocks, also metabolic pathway engineering for conversion of sugars to valuable products as alternative to chemical processes. | ||||
| Daniel Friedrich | School of Engineering |
renewable energy heating and cooling data-driven engineering |
Develop and apply mathematical methods to practical problems in energy system design and optimisation, in particulat for decarbonising thermal energy systems. | ||||
| Raja Ganeshram | School of GeoSciences | environmental adaptation | Most of current reaserach is on Arctic climate change through NERC's Changing Arctic Ocean programme. specifically looking at biogeochemical and ecological impact of Arctic Climate change. | ||||
| Jennifer Garden | School of Chemistry |
sustainable polymers catalysis materials |
Focus on improving the sustainability of plastics across their lifecycle. We approach this by making materials from renewable resources (e.g. plants and CO2), improving the efficiency of production processes (by making new catalysts) and investigating opportunities to improve recycling technologies. | ||||
| Agata Glusek-Kustusz | School of Biological Sciences |
molecular cell biology wet lab based sustainability |
Promotes sustainable solutions for working in research laboratories. This encompasses organisation of lab spaces, organisation of purchasing sustainable equipment and promoting sustainable behaviours. I am interested in new technologies that would aid sustainability in lab spaces and beyond. | ||||
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| Margaret Graham | School of GeoSciences |
biotechnology remediation renewables |
Remediation methods to tackle environmental contamination in urban areas, such as the use of biochar/microorganisms to remove manganese from drinking water. | ||||
| Ross Grassie | School of Informatics |
quantum AI sustainability |
Interested in the potential of quantum computing to address sustainability challenges. | ||||
| Boris Grot |
School of Informatics
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datacenters big data processing |
Focused on improving energy-efficiency of data-intensive computing. This includes designing energy-efficient microprocessors, servers and entire datacenters with a focus on energy efficiency. | ||||
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| Aliakbar Hassanpouryouzband | School of GeoSciences |
sustainable chemistry renewable energy thermodynamics |
Development of tools to enable hydrogen as a low-cabon energy pathway, and the use of sustainable chemistry technologies such as climate engineering, water desalination, gas storage, cold energy storage, etc. | ||||
| Sian Henley | School of GeoSciences |
ocean science polar regions ocean governance |
Focussed on making ocean science more sustainable and employing science to make human use of our fragile oceans more sustainable. Also interested in ocean science and observations to underpin effective evidence-based decision-making for ocean governance, policy and management to protect and restore them. | ||||
| Lea-Anne Henry | School of GeoSciences |
science and policy renewable energy environmental adaptation |
Work centred on engaging with multiple stakeholders to develop the evidence base needed to implement and build better policies around oceans and marine ecosystems. I have strong links with the fisheries, tourism, oil and gas, and renewables sectors around the Atlantic. I engage with government agencies and international conventions with the aim of co-producing the evidence we need about the impacts of our activities and climate change to ensure marine policies are truly leading us on a path toward a more sustainable future. | ||||
| Michael Herrmann | School of Informatics | electric mobility | Novel mobility solutions that combine energy efficiency with convenience and communal acceptance. We are asking what level and type of individual traffic will be desirable and tolerable in future and what structural changes we need to support the best options. Solutions to these questions may benefit from work in my group on optimisation, machine learning, and multi-agent systems. | ||||
| Claire Hobday | School of Chemistry |
energy decarbonising heating and cooling |
Tackling issues of heating and cooling through understanding and developing solid-state refrigerant materials. We do this by analysing the structure of materials via diffraction and computational methods and understanding how the refrigerant properties are altered. | ||||
| Louise Holyoake | School of Biological Sciences |
synthetic biology proteins |
Interested in Synthetic Biology and how it can be utilised to create sustainable solutions. | ||||
| Louise Horsfall | School of Biological Sciences |
sustainable biotechnology resource efficiency synthetic biology |
Translating academic research into novel industrially-usable platforms for the sustainable production of scientifically improved enzymes, bio-based chemicals and other bio-derived materials by exploiting new analytical and bio-based technologies. Our disruptive innovations will lead to the development of unique and sustainable new products, derived from wastes and by-products, and demonstration of their cost-efficient and energy-saving production using novel biomanufacturing technologies. | ||||
| Alex Hutchison | Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF, Edinburgh Futures Institute |
data & AI for good climate change responsible innovation |
The Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF is a joint partnership between UNICEF, The Scottish Government and the University of Edinburgh’s Data Driven Innovation Programme which seeks to enable improvement in outcomes for every child. We draw on the strengths of our partners and their network to bring insight and solve problems using data and responsible innovative data practices, with a focus on delivering against the Sustainable Development Goals. Our mission is to provide the platform that brings together the appropriate data and expertise to answer our challenge questions for children across a variety of themes and geographies. | ||||
| Amanda Jarvis | School of Chemistry |
green chemistry biotechnology |
Development of greener and more efficient methods for chemical production, with a focus on using knowledge from both Chemistry and Biology to design better catalytic processes. | ||||
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Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems |
sustainable food systems agritech animal welfare science |
I work in the area of Sustainable Food Systems, and in particular the role of animal welfare science to ensure sustainable and socially acceptable food production systems. I lead the delivery of undergraduate programmes and courses in Global Agriculture and Food Security. I also lead the DDI Agritech Talent programme at Easter Bush Campus which is aimed at upskilling learners in data science and technology relevant to sustainable food systems. | ||||
| Emily Johnston | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology microbial cell factories synthetic biology |
Development of yeast cell factories for the production of plant triterpenoid compounds. These compounds have huge potential in many industries; for example as surfactants in cleaning products, as vaccine adjuvants and anti-inflammatories in therapeutics, and as gelling agents and foam stabilisers in food products. Some compounds provide novel functionalities (SDG 3 and 9), while others are bio-based alternatives to petrochemical-derived chemicals (SGD 12 and 13). | ||||
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School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology molecular microbiology anti-microbial resistance |
Works on understanding how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics and how to better find solutions to avoid resistance. We combine molecular microbiology, mathematical modelling and biophysics to address these questions | ||||
| Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems |
sustainable food systems AI chronic disease |
My research runs simulations to assess the health and environmental impact of shifting diets, particularly focused on red and processed meat consumption in the US. I'm interested in utilising novel machine learning methods in such simulations to boost their performance as well as integrate new datasets to assess a broader array of questions involving land use change and biodiversity impacts. Also involved in a project aiming to assess the impact on biodiversity from organic vs non-organic agriculture. | |||||
| Ruth King | School of Mathematics |
ecology statistics/AI conservation |
Expertise in statistical ecology, and in particular developing new statistical tools and associated model-fitting tools to analyse different types of ecological data. The aim is to improve our understanding of the given ecosystem which in turn may aid, for example, conservation management. | ||||
| Caroline Kirk | School of Chemistry |
environmental remediation green energy storage |
Materials chemistry solutions for environmental issues using low cost and sustainable methods. This includes innovative and novel approaches for remediation of potentially toxic elements, developing new materials for applications in green energy storage and production of sustainable and low carbon cements. | ||||
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| Sam Lau | School of Engineering |
chemical separations desalination polymer science |
Interested in recycling plastic waste into polymer membranes and microporous polymers for chemical separations. We also deploy Green Chemistry principles to make these materials by deploying green solvents and biorenewable materials. | ||||
| Wei Li | School of Engineering |
environmental remediation greenhouse gas removal clean air net zero |
Development of low energy solutions for multiple greenhouse gases removal at the climatically relevant scale to enable a transition to a net greenhouse gas neutral future. | ||||
| Gary Loake | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology agritechnology |
Interested in cultured plant cells as sustainable biomanufacturing platforms for high value chemicals, and sustainable solutions for crop protection. | ||||
| Jason Love | School of Chemistry |
extraction recycling catalysis |
Expertise in chemistry of the recycling and extraction of metals from their ores and other sources, including electronic waste, with the aim to develop new, sustainable, and environmentally benign processes that promote the circular use of metals. | ||||
| Oisin Mac Aodha | School of Informatics |
AI for conservation AI for education |
Development of automated AI-based solutions for golobal scale biodiversity monitoring and computer-assisted tools for providing scalable and cost effective personalised education. | ||||
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| John McCloskey | School of GeoSciences |
risk co-production urbanisation |
We run the GCRF Tomorrow's Cities Hub which aims to reduce disaster risk for the 2 billion new urban residents of tomorrow's rapidly expanding cities. We use interdisciplinary methods to understand risk and tools for risk assessment that can democratise the concept of risk and allow poor communities to argue for safer and more human future urban expansion. | ||||
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| Heather McQueen | School of Biological Sciences | Expertise in biology teaching and interested in the inclusion of SDGs in our curricula. | |||||
| Encarni Medina-Lopez | School of Engineering |
satellite data for coastal environmental applications renewable energy AI |
Expertise in water and energy and how these two interact in the natural environment. My research focuses on the development of tools to improve the monitoring of coasts and oceans using remote sensing and artificial intelligence. | ||||
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| Dimitri Mignard | School of Engineering |
water-energy-food nexus agritechnology desalination |
Technologies for irrigation, desalination and energy access, assisting with access to clean water, food production and reforestation, all using clean energy, and dedicated to serve poor communities in low income countries. | ||||
| Andrew Millar | School of Biological Sciences |
science policy biotechnology |
Interested in systems thinking, open research practices and science policy for partnerships, and potentially to biotechnology for a circular economy in industry, food and health. | ||||
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School of Biological Sciences | autotrophic biotechnology business | Interested in non-photosynthetic autotrophic microbiology and biotechnology. | ||||
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| Subramanian Ramamoorthy | School of Informatics |
AI technology in education healthcare technologies |
Expertise in Robotics and AI, with broad interests in the applications of these technologies to helping address societal problems. I am particularly interested in the application of predictive modelling and design methods to advancing healthcare technologies, and technologies for energy and sustainable systems. Also, as an educator, I am keen to explore ways to improve the quality and access to education. | ||||
| Win Rampen | School of Engineering |
renewables decarbonising heating |
Working on grid scale energy storage, and interested in decarbonising building heating with heat pumps, and technologies to help decarbonise agricultural/off road and construction machinery. | ||||
| Pedro Rangel de Faria | School of Biological Sciences |
synthetic biology plastic recycling biochemistry |
Developing a biosynthetic pathway that allows the bacterium Escherichia coli to use monomers derived from PET plastics as precursors to more useful compounds, with more value added, allowing for a more sustainable and circular economy. | ||||
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| Lynne Regan | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology agritechnology human health |
Expertise in biomaterials, such as hydrogels, made exclusively from recombinant proteins produced by bacteria. This method contrasts with those that use petrochemically derived components to synthesise such materials. | ||||
| Judy Robertson | School of Education, School of Informatics | data literacy | Academic lead for Data Education in Schools. We're looking for researchers who work on sustainability themes using data who might want to explain their work to school children. https://dataschools.education/. Our seminar series for teachers is themed around the sustainability goals this year. | ||||
| Neil Robertson | School of Chemistry |
drinking water solar rural |
Expertise in materials chemistry for application in low-cost solar photovoltaics, and electrical energy storage via batteries and supercapacitors. We also work on photocatalytic water treatment for rural communities in India, which would also be applicable to similar communities around the world. This is focused on villages where untreated surface water is currently being consumed. | ||||
| Björn Ross | School of Informatics |
AI social sciences policy |
Interested in responsible use of the technologies and resilience to nefarious uses. Particular focus in people's interactions with one another over technology and people's interactions with technology, using computational methods. This includes, for example, the automatic flagging of abusive social media content and the reduction of bias in AI methods that evaluate user-generated content online. | ||||
| Susan Rosser | School of Biological Sciences |
engineering biology biotechnology biomedicine |
Expertise in engineering biology approaches to engineer cells to perform novel functions e.g. build pathways for the production of biosurfactants, develop enzymes for cold water cleaning and new ways for biology to build things in general. My research is also focused on developing cell and gene therapies that are cheaper, more effective and widely available. | ||||
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| Joanna Sadler | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology waste valorisation plastic degradation |
Development of novel biotechnologies to valorise post-consumer waste (in particular plastic waste) into high value products. This is ultimately aimed at enabling transition to a more sustainable, circular economy for the chemicals industry. | ||||
| Rosa Santomartino | School of Physics & Astronomy |
space microbiology astrobiology space biomanufacturing |
Building a sustainable future for space exploration, by developing microbial biotechnologies which will implement circular economy for life support systems. | ||||
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| Matthew Staitis | School of GeoSciences |
geology palaeoclimatology climate science |
Interested in the study of past climates (palaeoclimatology) to inform us of the consequences we face under different scenarios and highlights humanity's role as a geological force in shaping our climate future going forward. | ||||
| Eva Steele | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology biorefinery circular economy |
Interested in valorisation of lignin, a major component of lignocellulose which is one of the most abundant sustainable and renewable resources on the planet. This will contribute significantly to the economic viability of second generation biorefineries. | ||||
| Adam Stokes | School of Engineering |
robotics bioelectronics engineering |
Interested in robotics for a safer and sustainable world. |
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| Job Thijssen | School of Physics & Astronomy |
battery materials sustainable reformulation JEDI (Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion) |
Interested in soft matter for sustainable energy materials, for example hybrid solid electrolytes for safer batteries, as well as the role of inclusion in current physics curricula. | ||||
| John Thompson | School of Engineering |
energy efficient communications renewable energy sustainable infrastructure |
Energy efficient solutions for wireless communications and internet of things systems. These technologies will help to underpin practical solutions in many application domains such as: low carbon energy generation; sustainable industry and infrastructure; smart cities. | ||||
| Camilla Thomson | School of Engineering |
renewable energy environmental impact energy systems |
Developing analytical tools for better evaluating the environmental impacts of energy systems and technologies. This aims to inform the rapid transition to low-carbon energy systems and support sustainable development. This is achieved by both evaluating emerging technologies, and exploring how they can be best combined and developed to produce energy systems that are secure, equitable, economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable. | ||||
| John Vines | School of Informatics |
design co-creation data-driven technology |
Interested in issues of social responsibility around technology design and development, and co-creation of new systems with communities that are affected by and responsible for them. Conducted research around digital technologies and data-driven systems in relation to civic action, community development, and in general the role of technologies in supporting sustainable communities and address issues of social inequality. | ||||
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| Gary Watnough | School of GeoSciences |
EO4SDGS poverty mapping |
Interested in how satellite data can be leveraged for monitoring poverty and livelihoods. This is because we need more data on how SDGs are progressing but the traditional ways of doing this using household surveys are time consuming and expensive. | ||||
| Mark Wilkinson | School of GeoSciences |
renewable energy sustainable industry |
Researching the geological storage of hydrogen to match supply from renewable energy to demand, the same with underground storage of compressed air, to enable the transition to sustainable and clean energy. we are also investigating Carbon Capture and Storage to decarbonise otherwise difficult CO2 emissions including cement manufacturing and iron and steel production. | ||||
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| Christopher Wood | School of Biological Sciences |
biotechnology AI bioinformatics |
Developing new methods for protein design. We collaborate broadly to apply our methods to address challenges in sustainability, both in agriculture and industry. We have a particular interest in developing protein-based sensors as well as novel enzymes that incorporate unnatural cofactors to expand their chemistry. |