Our Research Institutes

The school of GeoSciences has 3 Research Institutes. Each manages a portfolio of funding and specialist facilities while creating and nurturing a community of research staff and students. They provide a forum for the development of ideas and collaboration, as well as an environment for training, development and mentoring of research students and early career researchers.

Earth and Planetary Sciences Institute

The Earth and Planetary Science Research Institute is united by a desire to understand the physical processes, properties and history of the planet on a fundamental level, which continue to shape the world in which we live.

Earth and Planetary science is fast becoming one of the most crucial scientific disciplines of the 21st Century as humanity struggles to balance environmental protection and economic progress on a finite and fragile planet. Through the Institute, we conduct world-class research and provide outstanding training for the next generation of Earth scientists to contribute solutions to the most pressing problems facing society.  We deal with topics such as the formation of the Earth billions of years ago to the development of hydrogen storage technologies which will provide the clean energy sources for the future. 

Earth science at the University of Edinburgh has an unmatched pedigree, stretching back to James Hutton founding modern geology in the 18th Century. We continue to build on that legacy today, providing a stimulating and supportive environment where staff and students are challenged to extend our knowledge of the Earth. 

The research groups in this institute are:

Global Change Institute

The Global Change Research Institute is a grouping of researchers whose overarching mission is to understand past, present and future changes in the Earth system, and to inform mitigation strategies for future change.

The Global Change Institute conducts research in understanding how the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, land surface and oceans have interacted in the past, present, and in developing predictions of their future dynamics. We also engage in interdisciplinary research focused on mitigating the many challenges posed by the global climate emergency, environmental hazards, inequalities, conservation and sustainability. Our research extends throughout the world, over the seven continents, across all the oceans, from the poles to the equator,  and from the deep Earth to the upper atmosphere. 

We research and teach across all GeoSciences disciplines including ecology, environmental science, geography, geology, geophysics and meteorology. 

The research groups in this institute are:

Research Institute of Geography and the Lived Environment 

The Geography and the Lived Environment Institute is comprised of geographers and environmental scientists who study the social, cultural, political, economic and physical processes that create and reshape the world.

Our overarching goal is cutting-edge research that matters and makes a difference, intellectually and practically.  As a collective, we draw on and contribute to the arts, humanities, the social sciences and the environmental sciences. We are always striving for a critical and ethical approach to understanding the world,  working with all communities to achieve positive transformations in people's lives.

We work with a range of theoretical approaches, and our research is conducted globally.

The research groups in this institute are:

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