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LEC and its Research

We conduct fundamental and applied environmental research, across the Earth system, biological and social sciences. LEC is one of 5 key areas of investment at Lancaster, with a total of £25M spent on the LEC complex and facilities since 2003.

Our strategic partner, NERC’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), has made Lancaster one of their 4 national centres of excellence following their contribution of £11.8M to this total. The latest phase of University investment in LEC, finished in 2007, achieved complete physical co-location of the ~65 faculty, along with CEH and new Enterprise and Business Partnerships (EBP) facilities for Third Mission delivery and commercial/user partners.

A driving aim behind LEC is to assemble and optimise cross-disciplinary research teams, to address 21st century environmental challenges, especially those related to environmental change, sustainable (water, energy) resource and chemical management, biodiversity and ecosystem function, and sustainable agriculture.

We have 4 inter-disciplinary research Themes which drive our research activity. These are:

  • Atmospheric Science
  • Biodiversity and Global Change
  • Environmental Geosciences
  • Society and Environment

We have 5 Integrating Research Centres (IRC), to provide co-ordination and leadership of ‘outward-facing’ activities increasing our ‘science-to-user’ and ‘policy’ interfaces. These are:

  • Centre for Chemicals Management
  • Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
  • Centre for Sustainable Water Management
  • Centre for Environmental Informatics
  • Centre for Sustainable Energy

Research and outreach are facilitated by LEC’s dedicated Enterprise and Business Partnerships team. We form one of the largest concentrations of environmental researchers in Europe.

We have a clear agenda, structure, forward strategy and world class resources, and we lead and contribute effectively to the international research agenda in a diverse range of fields.

PURE research information system: