Centre for Environment and Society (CES)

The Centre for Environment and Society organises research workshops throughout the academic year. We invite research experts and leading practitioners around the world to share their expertise and cutting-edge research in the fields of sustainability, climate change, disaster management, environmental management, and biodiversity.

Our Horizon Scanning and unscripted events provide a platform to promote greater debate and develop innovative approaches, which serve as the building blocks to an inclusive and collaborating community. Our events are open to all.

The CES directors and core team support the development of transdisciplinary research across our campus, and helps build partnerships with local, and national collaborators and stakeholders to be ready to respond to cross council and discipline research calls.

• Inter-disciplinary research cluster on “the environment and human rights" – University of Essex The Human Rights Centre (HRC) and the Centre for Environment and Society (CES) at the University of Essex organised a research networking event on human rights and climate change (initiated by Dr. Judith Bueno De Mesquita - HRC). The participants of this event managed to share a range of cutting edge and very complementary research on the environment and human rights being carried out by our academic staff across a range of departments. Based on the feedback from this event, HRC And CES have established an inter-disciplinary research cluster on “the environment and human rights” for networking, research-exchange, and funding applications in this area of global concern. We have formed an inter-disciplinary steering group for the cluster, which will support the development of its activities, together with the core teams of the HRC and CES. 
• Collaboration with Sustainability Science Institutes in Europe: CES has joined with the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and other 15 other Sustainability Science Institutes in Europe that operate as a separate Centre for sustainability, having strong scientific-basis and either being part of a University or having a national mandate. 
• The Eastern Arc thematic champion role: Professor Graham Underwood has recently been appointed to the Eastern Arc thematic champion role for sustainability, natural resources and food, with a remit to help bring together interested parties across the three EARC universities.  There are equivalent colleagues at UEA and Kent.  It’s a "convening- facilitating" role, and he can draw upon EARC resources and a direct feed into the PVC-Rs. 
•  Collaborations in Australia and New Zealand:The CES conducts collaborative research with Joint Centre for Disaster Research (JCDR), University of Massey, New Zealand and the International Centre for Ocean Governance (ICOG), University of Western Sydney, Australia.