Priority Area Leads: Prof. Corey Ross (History), c.d.ross@bham.ac.uk; Prof. Antonia Layard (Law) (starts at Birmingham in September 2012)
The relationship between humanity and environment promises to be a - perhaps the - central challenge of the 21st century. More than most, this is a field of enquiry that crosses many disciplinary boundaries, stretching from the natural and social sciences to the arts, taking in law and philosophy on the way. What ultimately binds it together is an interest in the multifaceted relationship between nature, society and culture. Our aim is to build on Birmingham’s existing research in this area by attracting scholars working on any aspect of humanity’s relationship with the physical world around it.
At Birmingham, research on humanity and the environment is carried out across a broad range of academic disciplines. Current areas of investigation include:
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Environmental Economics: including international trade and energy, the consequences of resource extraction and consumption, and the management of global resources
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Energy Research and Policy: including issues of governance, decision-making, financial support and legal regulation, at national, European and international levels
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Art, Literature and Landscape: including depictions of idealized landscapes, perceptions and representations of environmental change, notions of Arcadian idylls
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Environmental History: including landscape transformation, responses to climate change and natural disaster, the construction of environmental knowledge, ‘ecological imperialism’, the history of conservation, history of medicine and the senses, environmental activism
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Archaeology and Landscape Change: including geo-archaeology, digital modelling, paleo-environmental analysis
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Environmental Law: including planning law and policy, regulatory architectures and practices of sustainability and environmental protection, the role of site-based strategies in improving or threatening environmental quality and community well-being
Our work in these fields has been supported by a wide range of funding bodies, including the British Academy, European Union, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, English Heritage and the Leverhulme Trust.
Research Centres
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Environmental Politics Research Group
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Centre for Contemporary History
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Centre for the Study of the Middle Ages
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Centre for West Midlands History
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Institute for Energy Research and Policy
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Centre for Professional Legal Education and Research