Research groups

Environmental Sustainability Team

Through a range of programmes and services, Oxford University’s Environmental Sustainability team is helping the University to reach Strategy goals and to increase its positive impact on the world around us. The University’s Strategy sets two ambitious targets: to achieve net zero carbon and to achieve biodiversity net gain, both by 2035. The biodiversity-specific goal is to identify and address the University’s principal biodiversity impacts through its operations and supply chain, and enhance biodiversity on the University’s estate.

Oceans in the Anthropocene

‘Oceans in the Anthropocene is a discussion group of graduate students and early career researchers in the social sciences. We meets several times a term (online) to discuss issues related to ocean conservation, marine life entanglements, aquaculture, climate adaptation, and marine STS. We host guest speakers, share our research, and hold ‘book club’ discussions; topics this term include marine epistemologies, coral-human relations, artificial marine habitats, and rising seas.

We use a listserv not a website, please email:  kimberly.schoemaker@anthro.ox.ac.uk to be added

Community Ecology

We are a team of researchers based at the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford. We study a broad range of interrelated questions in community ecology, with a strong emphasis on empirical work. Our research interests include tropical forest diversity, ecological networks, ecosystem functioning, inter-specific interactions, conservation biology, agro-ecology and the impact of human activities on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Conservation at Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum

We work with partners across the globe to conserve rare plants. We develop ex situ conservation collections from biodiversity hotspots – areas with high plant species richness, and surveys to measure the diversity of these regions. Our work collectively focuses on the Mediterranean Basin and Canary Island Archipelago, and the Ethiopian and Japanese floristic regions. We also work with local conservation groups on rare plants around Oxfordshire, and on parasitic plants – a group neglected from conservation elsewhere.

More-Than-Human Geographies

Social science research group examining the cultural dimensions of wildlife conservation. Interested in public understandings of nature and the relationships between natural science and environmental policy. Common focus on the role of charismatic species in shaping conservation practice and policy.

Land Use Governance Group

We are a group of social scientists who examine the human dimensions of land use change. Our work spans numerous world regions, and includes a strong focus on the global to local equity dimensions of land use decisions.

Biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate adaptation

We work closely with policy-makers in national and local government and other stakeholders to develop and test methods of mapping, assessing and valuing natural capital, green infrastructure, nature-based solutions and the ecosystem services they deliver. We also use sectoral and integrated modelling techniques to project changes in the potential distributions of species and ecosystems at local, regional and global scales and to assess their adaptive capacity and vulnerability to climate change.

Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab

The Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab focuses on understanding the social-ecological causes and consequences of spatial patterns and processes in the sea, with the aim of developing science-based solutions to support marine biodiversity management and policy. The lab supports members of varied research experience levels in working to weave together theoretical approaches from the disciplines of landscape ecology, conservation biology, systems science and marine ecology. The lab is based in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford and is directed by Dr Lisa Wedding.

Ecosystems Lab

Our research aims to understand how contemporary ecosystems function, and how they are affected by global atmospheric change and anthropogenic activity.

Nature-based Solutions Initiative

Our mission is to enhance understanding of the potential of nature-based solutions to address global challenges, and increase their sustainable implementation worldwide. We are an interdisciplinary programme bringing together natural, physical and social scientists with economists, governance and finance experts from the University of Oxford and beyond.

Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme

Established in 2012 we work to align finance with sustainability. The centre is multidisciplinary and works globally across asset classes, finance professions, and with different parts of the financial system. OxSFP is a multidisciplinary research centre working to be the world’s best place for research and teaching on sustainable finance and investment.

Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS)

We are a group of conservation scientists working on applied research at the interface of social and ecological systems. We work in collaboration with non-governmental organisations, practitioners, government agencies and businesses to provide approaches which address key conservation issues in every biome.

Ethno-ornithology World Atlas

The Ethno-ornithology World Atlas is a space for community-curated bird and ecological knowledge in many languages. Founded on the recognition that humans everywhere are inspired culturally, practically and spiritually by birds, EWA is about building relationships between indigenous and local communities, conservationists, academics, and their institutions, to promote bird conservation through the engagement with, respect for and celebration of diverse cultural traditions of knowledge. EWA is a collaboration between Oxford University’s Department of Biology, the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, and BirdLife International. The EWA Research Group in the University of Oxford consists of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and faculty members spanning the life and social sciences, working on interdisciplinary topics encompassing Anthropology, Ornithology, Geography and Linguistics.

Plant Ecology

We are interesting in ecological questions relating to plants and the organisms they interact with both pure and applied. Our topics of interest include: Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning/services; Coexistence; Restoration and re-wilding; Diversity and stability; Tropical forest ecology.

DISturbance eCOlogy (DISCO) lab

We study how ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenically-driven disturbances such as wildfires, altered climate and land use.

Polar Ecology and Conservation Group

The polar regions are immensely special, but changing in response to current threats. Climate change, fisheries, pollution and direct human disturbance all threaten polar marine systems. As we move away from scientific bases and populated areas, fewer data are available on populations of predators and, consequently, huge gaps remain in our understanding of the polar ecosystems.

Antonelli Lab

Our passion is nature, and our mission is to stop biodiversity loss. To tackle this major challenge, we study the distribution and evolution of species and develop methods to speed up scientific discovery. Our research focuses on the tropics, where most species occur and the threats are most acute.

Wildlife Conservation Research Unit

The mission of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) is to achieve practical solutions to conservation problems through original scientific research. Our research is used worldwide to advise environmental policy-makers.