Sustainability Research at Newcastle University
NIReS was set up to facilitate research across traditional discipline boundaries and deliver practical, engaged solutions to real-world issues, under the banner of Enough, For All, Forever. To date it has acted to develop and strengthen relationships which support regional, national and international interdisciplinary research relating to sustainability.
Building upon this, NIReS will draw upon its areas of established research excellence and the experience of collaborating partners to make an internationally-leading contribution to the following global research challenges in the field of sustainability:
(1) Transform methods used to design and implement integrated infrastructure systems such that they better serve the needs of society, and ensure positive interactions with the environment;
(2) Through research, innovation and development of solutions, drive forward practical step changes in production and process efficiencies, such that the natural environment and its resources are safeguarded;
(3) Identify and demonstrate socio-technical techniques to radically reduce resource consumption, eliminate associated waste and mitigate pollution effects on whole ecosystems.
These challenges have been selected because they are globally important, fit with our areas of research excellence and are contextually relevant to regional, national and international communities.
NIReS will adopt a range of approaches in pursuit of significant progress and impact in these challenge areas, including:
- Socio-technical approaches
- Whole Systems Analysis
- Fundamental and applied research
- Collaborative, co-creation and participatory techniques
- Solutions oriented approaches
- Knowledge translation through demonstration