GeoSciences Research

The School is a leading international centre for research into GeoSciences, with some 80 academics, 70 research fellows and 130 PhD students, and an annual research grant and contract income of around £10 million. The School Staff contribute to one or more of five Research Groups and may be involved in inter-University Research Consortia and Research Centres.

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) our "Earth Systems and Environmental Science" was was ranked first in terms of the volume of international and world leading research (as tabulated by the journal Nature).   The breadth of our research covers both "Earth Systems and Environmental Science" and "Geography and Environmental Studies" and our combined RAE score demonstrated that 66% of the research carried out in the School as a whole was rated within the top two categories:  "world-leading" and "internationally excellent".  This result helped confirm the University of Edinburgh as a leading centre of international research excellence.

Our outstanding research success is lead through the following research groupings.

Research Groups

Earth and Planetary Science

Chemical and physical properties, origin and history of minerals, rocks, rock assemblages, pore fluids and magmas, and their interactions, at all scales within the Earth.

Earth and Planetary Science

Global Change

Investigating the dynamics and interactions of oceans, atmosphere, cryosphere, land surface and biosphere.

Global Change

Human Geography

Social Science and the interfaces between science and human geography, specialising in geographies of relations and identities; knowledge, practices and policies; and development and power.

Human Geography

Edinburgh Earth Observatory

Remote sensing and Geographic Information Science, modelling of atmospheric transmissivity and stratospheric ozone.

Edinburgh Earth Observatory

Centre for Environmental Change & Sustainability

Causes and impacts of environmental change and the technologies and policies needed to achieve sustainable development; links with external users of environmental research.

Centre for Environmental Change & Sustainability

Research Fellowships

Information for prospective Personal Fellows and postdoctoral researchers. Note also that the School has an active Research Staff Organisation.

Research Support and Administration

Information for School staff on research administration (log-in required).

Research Ethics

The University of Edinburgh has a commitment to promote and facilitate the conduct of ethical research. Link to School Research Ethics procedures.