University of Leeds

THE UNIVERSITY OF Leeds is a major teaching and research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Leeds is a leading research institution and one of the largest in the United Kingdom with over 32,000 full-time students. Established in 1904, it is one of the six original civic universities, and in 2006 it was ranked second for the number of applications received. Leeds is now among the top 10 universities for research in the United Kingdom and is internationally acknowledged as a center of excellence in a [Page 1030]wide range of academic and professional disciplines. Many of its research initiatives cross traditional subject boundaries, and Leeds currently promotes projects through 58 interdisciplinary centers and seven research schools. The university recognizes the importance of the environment and has established policies and programs to tackle environmental issues at a local and global level. Business in the Environment has ranked the University of Leeds as the top university in the region for environmental management and performance. The university also won the 2006 Green Gown Award for Waste Management and the 2007 Award for Continuous Improvement.

The School of Earth and Environment was formed in 2004 from the merger of the previous schools of Earth Sciences and of Environment. The school currently has over 60 academic staff, 35 support staff, and over 50 postdoctoral research fellows and associates. It is one of the largest schools in the United Kingdom that focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to understanding environment: the school studies the Earth from its core to its atmosphere and examines the social and economic dimensions of sustainability. The school offers both three-year BSc and four-year undergraduate degrees in geological, geophysical, and environmental sciences. The school also offers graduate degrees in Earth, atmospheric sciences, and sustainability research. The University of Leeds has recognized Earth and environmental systems science as one of its 12 gold research peaks of excellence. The school also has extensive ongoing research projects and collaborates with members of other departments and institutes such as mathematics and applied physical sciences and engineering, the Earth and Biosphere Institute, and the Earth, Energy, and the Environment Institute. This research grouping receives the second-highest research income nationally from the Natural Environment Research Council through competitive grant proposals.

The Earth and Biosphere Institute is a group of internationally recognized scientists with interests in the effects of biotic and environmental changes on a spectrum of time and space scales, from short term to geological, and from nanoscale to global. Research initiatives are ongoing within the University of Leeds and with groups from outside the university. The Earth, Energy, and Environment Institute is a multidisciplinary institute housed at the University of Leeds. The purpose of the institute is to provide integrated research solutions, knowledge transfer, and training in this energy-related area on all levels, from the regional to the global.