Environmental factors influence our health and wellbeing, as well as affect ecosystems and wildlife. An intimate understanding of such factors – chemical substances, for example, or changes in radiation or temperature – is urgently needed to better understand disease trends in humans and adverse effects on wildlife. Our research in the area of environment and health provides the foundations necessary to pinpoint preventable causes of ill-health and adversity and to underpin the development of evidence-based primary prevention policies. A second important focus for our research is to understand the impacts of human civilisation on Earth's natural systems and the ecosystem services that support us. We are developing technologies and approaches to prevent and remedy pollution as well as to renew and restore degraded ecosystems.

 

Our research focuses on five areas:

• Biological Pathways and Systems
• Environmental Health and Ecosystems
• Environmental Change
• Environmental Solutions
• Environmental Policy and Communication

 

Membership of London NERC – DTPs 
Staff from Environment and Health participate in the London NERC Doctoral Training Programme (DTP), a program that currently funds 70 PhD students in the natural sciences.  The aim of the London NERC DTC is to attain new standards of excellence in environmental science research training and deliver a transformative inter-disciplinary experience for PhD students in the heart of London. Students are trained at 9 of the World-leading research centres, which cover a huge range of environmental science research, from those driven by contemporary environmental challenges to those exploring complex questions about the evolution of planet Earth.  Student projects within Environment and Health are mainly in the themes of Environmental Pollution, Natural and Biological Hazards and Past Life and the Environment.