Impact
We are committed to making significant contributions to some of the most important intellectual and practical issues facing society.
Individuals and teams from Geography have been or are involved in many research projects that have a significant impact, including the following:
- Jonny Huck is undertaking research in Kenya into how non-medical interventions can effectively limit the spread of COVID-19 in places where conventional approaches to mitigating diseases are particularly challenging.
- Martin Dodge is collaborating with Manchester Library to repair, photograph, and share online the forgotten maps of Manchester’s slums, which had been overlooked for the last 130 years.
- Sarah Marie Hall is leading a £1.5million austerity and altered life courses project, funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)'s Future Leaders Fellowship scheme. The research will explore how ten years of austerity policies across Europe have affected young people’s life courses.
- Stefan Bouzarovski is enabling policymakers to use the UK’s post-pandemic recovery as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead a positive green revolution, making recommendations on emissions reductions, economic incentives, and new technologies in the publication On Net-Zero.
- Rob Bellamy is leading the University's contribution to the UK Government’s largest-ever programme on Greenhouse Gas Removal techniques, focusing on responsible innovation and societal engagement. Jonny Ritson and Martin Evans are also taking part, investigating re-establishing peatlands as a long-term carbon store.
Learn more about out how our research has been making a difference through our case studies below.
£13 million peat restoration for Peak District National Park
Research into peat erosion and conservation is supporting large-scale programmes to protect and restore some of Britain’s most ecologically valuable upland landscapes.
Field-based learning: Multidisciplinary mobile mapping methods
This Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership and Cheril-funded project is centred in the emerging and novel disciplinary field of Island Studies.
Tackling urban overheating
Modelling and monitoring studies have revealed how temperature patterns vary across cities, including what causes such patterns and how high temperatures can be effectively managed.
The DROP project: The role of governance in drought adaptation
The DROP Project (benefit of governance in drought adaptation) brought together a scientific team and practitioners working in the field of drought and water scarcity.
The European Network for Political Ecology (ENTiTLE)
ENTiTLE is funded by the Marie Curie action of FP7 and supports 18 researchers in the inter-disciplinary field of political ecology.
Triangulum: Demonstrating smart green growth in urban areas
Triangulum is a five-year €25million Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Union (EU) to demonstrate cutting-edge smart city technologies and roll them out across the globe.
Wildfire officially recognised as a major UK hazard
Prior to 2012 wildfire was barely recognised as a significant hazard in the UK. Research supported its inclusion in the National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies.