School of Geography and the Environment

Research Highlights

Don't panic about the birth of Baby 8 Billion. Before he's 65 our numbers will be in reverse We should not be alarmed at the rise in global population; it's inequality, greed and waste that are the real problems of our age, writes Professor Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography and author of Population 10 Billion in an opinion piece for The Guardian.

18/11/22 18 November 2022 -

read more + SoGE research in North-west Zambia: DRYCAB Project Climate change is expected to impose a considerable burden on the southern African region as it is one of two land-based areas of the planet where large-scale drying is projected to occur in future decades. A lot of the early summer drying is expected to result from the late onset of the rains after the six month long dry season. However much of what we know depends entirely on models rather than observations. In an effort to sharpen our understanding, a team from Oxford joined up with the Zambian Met Department from August to November 2022 to compile a comprehensive dataset on the onset of the rainy season as part of the NERC funded DRYCAB project.

17/11/22 17 November 2022 -

read more + Can the world feed 8bn people sustainably? Dr Tara Garnett, of Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, explores the dietary changes needed to feed 8 billion people sustainably. She argues that widespread dietary change cannot be achieved by focusing on individuals. 'Stop blaming the individual is one point I would make. There is a much greater role for government leadership and the food industry to play.'

15/11/22 15 November 2022 -

read more + Expert comments: COP27 Gender Day The power of women as key drivers of climate solutions yesterday took centre stage at the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh. SoGE researchers Alex McGivern and Sugandha Srivastav, and MSc Nature, Society and Environmental Governance alumna Sana Sherif share their insights.

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Our Research Centres

In addition to world leading education and research in the School, we host three internationally recognised research centres and lead cross-university initiatives and collaborative networks.

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  Environmental Change Institute

  The ECI is an interdisciplinary institute for research on the complex processes of global environmental change, the exploration of sustainable solutions, and the promotion of change for the better through partnership and education.
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  Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment

  The SSEE is a leading interdisciplinary, international academic hub focused upon teaching, research, and engagement with businesses and enterprise on climate change and long-term environmental sustainability.
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  Transport Studies Unit

  The Transport Studies Unit seeks to advance innovative approaches to the study of 'transport futures' over time and space.
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Our Research Networks

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  Oxford Networks for the Environment

  The Oxford Networks for the Environment mobilise the University's expertise to find solutions to the complex, converging challenges of energy, water, food security, climate change, and threats to biodiversity.
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Latest Publications

• Plyushteva, A. (2023) Affording mobility: Attending to the socio-material affordances of transport un/affordability. Journal of Transport Geography.
• Kowal, K., Slater, L., López, A.G. and Van Loon, A.F. (2023) A comparison of seasonal rainfall forecasts over Central America using dynamic and hybrid approaches from C3S and NMME. International Journal of Climatology.
• Yin, J. and Slater, L. (2023) Increase in drought-heatwave events worsens socioeconomic productivity and carbon uptake. Nature Sustainability. Research Briefing.
• Yin, J., Gentine, P., Slater, L., Gu, L., Pokhrel, Y., Hanasaki, N., Guo, S., Xiong, L. and Schlenker, W. (2023) Future socio-ecosystem productivity threatened by compound drought-heatwave events. Nature Sustainability.
• Moulds, S., Slater, L., Dunstone, N. and Smith, D. (2023) Skillful decadal flood prediction. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(3). e2022GL100650.
• Wang, L., Gu, X., Slater, L., Li, J., Kong, D., Zhang, X. and Liu, J. (2023) Phase Shifts of the PDO and AMO Alter the Translation Distance of Global Tropical Cyclones. Earth's Future, 11(3). e2022EF003079.
• Berghuijs, W. and Slater, L. (2023) Groundwater shapes North American river floods. Environmental Research Letters.

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