EERC is interdisciplinary with staff backgrounds in Civil Engineering and Environmental/Earth Sciences providing engineering approaches to key environmental and sustainability issues.  Two over-arching research themes have been identified within the cluster - Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) and Subsurface Systems and Engineering (SSE) .

Current MRE focus is on tidal stream devices and the environmental impact of marine renewables on coastal processes.  Strong collaboration with industry and other end users in wave energy has seen current funding exceed £2 million. 

A center of excellence for Groundwater research, the Groundwater group within SSE have been awarded significant grants approaching £3 million. Research focusses on hydrological contaminant pathways, fractured rock, poorly productive aquifers and wetland hydrology/hydrogeology.  

Geotechnical specialists within SSE focus on monitoring and predicting climate impacts on slope stabilities as well as applying constitutive models to saturated and unsaturated soils. 

Experts in environmental engineering systems within SSE have at their disposal a number of research facilities (eg Stable Isotope Facility, Environmental Tracers Laboratory, Contaminated Land Laboratory) with which to tackle issues in wide-ranging areas - food traceability and authenticity, intelligent tracing of environmental engineering systems and permeable reactive barrier (PRB) characterisation.  Other environmental systems research includes arsenic remediation and groundwater management in the Indian sub-continent and how climate and settling is effecting the long-term performance of capping material for nuclear waste disposal and the management of contaminated land sites. 

More details on the MRE and SSE themes and their ongoing, wide-ranging research projects can be accessed via the menu where details can also be found on the range of courses available to study,  the studentships available for research projects and the jobs that are on offer to join the EERC team.