SCENARIO. Postgraduate centre in the SCience of the Environment: Natural and Anthropogenic pRocesses, Impacts and Opportunities

This grant funds a network of doctoral training centres across the UK to train the next generation of environmental scientists. Postgraduate training in environmental science currently faces a gap: the challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution demand researchers who can work across traditional disciplinary boundaries. A geochemist, an ecologist, and a data scientist might each study the same polluted river but lack the shared language and methods to combine their findings. This programme addresses that by creating structured, collaborative training environments where PhD students learn to integrate natural and social sciences from the start. If successful, the programme will produce cohorts of researchers equipped to tackle complex environmental problems—from improving flood prediction models to designing sustainable land-use policies. These scientists will move into academia, government agencies, and industry, strengthening the UK’s capacity to respond to environmental change. The impact is indirect but systemic: better-trained researchers mean more robust evidence for decisions that affect infrastructure, water quality, and ecosystem management. This is primarily a skills and capacity-building investment, not a single research project with a defined output.