About us

Vision and leadership of the Hub

Our Vision

The Science for Sustainability Hub nucleates academic activity at the University of Edinburgh that pioneer technological solutions toward a sustainable future for our people and the planet. The Hub acts as a portal to build engagement across research, industry, government and civil society to build a new vision for a sustainable future.

We aim to break down disciplinary barriers and work with external partners in the public and private sectors, to create collaborations that accelerate our mission to create an equitable, inclusive and sustainable for our planet.

Our activities are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide a wide-ranging roadmap towards a sustainable future. Our University is part of a global alliance of universities as signatories of the 2019 SDG Accord to align efforts across a spectrum of SDG-related activities.

Why now?

Our planet's life support systems are under strain. A growing population demands more energy, food and living space than ever before. This puts food production and supply chains under severe stress while at the same time causing irreparable damage to ecosystems and biodiversity.

Climate change has exacerbated this threat and created a global emergency. The challenges facing human society are vast, complex and urgent. We need to act today.

What we do

The Hub intends to provide a single front door for UoE's research activity in the sustainability space. We facilitate the creation of internal networks, promote the work of our scientists, and engage with industrial partners who wish to leverage on our expertise for developing sustainable solutions across a range of sectors of the economy.

Leadership

The Hub is jointly led by Louise Horsfall and Diego Oyarzún, and is further supported by a dedicated Steering Group.

Louise Horsfall Louise is Chair of Sustainable Biotechnology at the School of Biological Sciences. Her work focusses on applying synthetic biology to improve the sustainability of biological processes and products.	Diego Oyarzún Diego is Reader in Computational Biology at the Schools of Informatics and Biological Sciences. His research aims at developing predictive models of biological processes with applications in biotechnology and biomedicine.
Amanda Jarvis - Comms Amanda is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the School of Chemistry. Her research aims at developing sustainable chemistry with novel catalysts. She leads the communications and community engagement activities of the Hub.	Lorraine Kerr - Translation Lorraine is Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager at Edinburgh Innovations, our technology transfer office. She supports the Hub with vast experience in academic-industry partnerships and other translational activities.