Reimagining digital research infrastructure in environmental science for a sustainable future

Digital research infrastructure (DRI) is revolutionising environmental science, enabling a new data-driven approach for monitoring and modelling that enhances scientific collaboration and decision making. At the same time, these infrastructures are made up of digital technologies that emit carbon across every phase of their lifecycle (i.e., manufacture, use, disposal), causing significant waste and social risks (e.g., harms to international communities from waste exports). A careful balancing act, therefore, lies ahead: the environmental gains achieved through DRI-enabled science must be levelled against its social and environmental costs. How can the crucial scientific progress required to support people and the planet be ensured, whilst also remaining within planetary boundaries? How can DRI systems be designed to achieve this future balance? This project seeks to address these questions, creating a bold initiative that reimagines DRI futures with environmental scientists to increase sustainability across its lifecycle by emphasising sustainable design, reuse, and waste reduction (i.e., circularity). Focusing on land use as a case study to contextualise our research, we will work with stakeholders in the scientific community to build an in depth understanding of the DRI landscape and its complexities; from this, we will add to current systems with new digital tools, data science techniques and innovation processes that maximise the benefits of DRI use in environmental science whilst minimising its detriments. Recognising the need for a cultural shift within the scientific community for these futures to be realised, we have embedded a range of impact and engagement activities to work with, and extend, our powerful network of stakeholder experts and partners, and support the wider DRI and digital technology communities in achieving a more circular and sustainable future. This project offers a crucial first step that is essential in mitigating digital technology's possible threat to UK net zero commitments, therefore supporting the UK's global leadership in green DRI and sustainable environmental research. We have assembled an expert team at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster University and Small World Consulting with a strong history of successful collaborations and the essential expertise in computing, environmental data science, social science, design, carbon accounting and circular economy to achieve this ambitious project. We do so through the following objectives: Create a unique methodology for reimagining sustainable DRI with stakeholders that can be transferred to other digital sustainability domains. It will consider the complete social and environmental system that surrounds DRI. Map and understand the full environmental and social impacts of DRI for environmental science using a series of case studies of land use for net zero (local farm, regional national park, national UK nature), achieving a systems-wide view of the complexities and interdependencies of DRI assets and DRI-enabled science. Develop sustainable digital tools, innovation processes and data science techniques that build on existing facilities and principles of DRI to support inclusive circularity of assets, minimise the full lifecycle environmental impacts, and maximise the social and scientific gains of DRI use. Maximise research impact and engagement by embedding stakeholder collaboration and disseminating findings across the UK and internationally, using new ways of communicating DRI's social-environmental impacts that inspire action in the research community.