Research

Our research uses inter-disciplinary approaches to the analysis of complex systems, integrating the engineering and science-based disciplines with insights from the economic and social sciences, and from this develop action-oriented, policy relevant responses to long-term environmental and social issues.

Research areas

A light bulb is surrounded by various illustrations of environmental policy ideas

Policy, strategy and governance

Developing policy and industry-relevant responses to long-term environmental and social issues.

People picking up rubbish

Social research on sustainability

Developing a strong conceptual framing for sustainable development, using insights and methods from the social sciences.

Boy drinking water from a pump

Sustainable systems

Developing a range of tools for the analysis, design and management of sustainable technologies, systems and infrastructures.

Research groups

Cross-disciplinary research

Groups made up of colleagues from different schools and departments across campus, who have similar interests and/or are working in comparable fields.

Plastics_in_the_sea

Plastics in the Environment

Researching a wide range of areas surrounding plastics in the environment and related issues.

Earth Space

Space 4 Sustainability

Using Earth observation to provide data which can make a different to people's lives across the world.

Your right to repair

'Right to Repair' (RTR) is a global movement to make sure everyone has the right to fix the products they own. In this talk, our masters student Karan Kakkar, focuses on how RTR will have positive impacts on the environment and discusses ways which will lead to wider adoption of the movement.

Your Right To Repair | Karan Kakkar | TEDxSurreyUniversity

Activities

Open book on table in a library
Published books
Man_writing
Working papers

Pan-University institutes

The pan-University institutes support the University's aspirations to increase the scale and enhance the excellence of our research and innovation.

Child looking at global with lots of symbols floating around

Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence

Putting people at the heart of AI, augmenting human capabilities to deliver an inclusive and responsible force for good in partnership with industry, the public sector, government and national AI organisations.

Solar panels

Institute for Sustainability

We want to be a critical player in the global transition to sustainable living for everyone, through interdisciplinary research and innovation in partnership with national and international organisations, education and civic engagement.

Group of people sat around a table

Collaborate with us

We help link industry and academia to find innovative and enduring solutions for sustainability challenges across organisations.

Find out more