Partners
Living with Environmental Change (LWEC)
LWEC is a collaborative partnership involving the UK research councils, business and policy-making organisations, and was launched on 18 July 2008. LWEC will provide the impetus for finding ways in which society and individuals can prepare to adapt to the environmental changes that we face now and in the future, as a result of a changing climate. As a contribution to the LWEC programme, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), initiated the Adaptation and Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARCC) research programme. ARCC provides £6M of funding to provide support for engineering research tackling implications of climate change for buildings, infrastructure and utilities. One page summaries of the successful research projects that are part of ARCC can be found in the left menu.
EPSRC
EPSRC are the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing more than £800 million a year in a broad range of subjects – from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering. EPSRC has funded and is continuing to fund research directed at improving understanding of the impacts of, and adaptation to, a changing climate focusing on the built environment and infrastructure.
ESRC
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funds research and training in social and economic issues. It is an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter, but receives most of its funding through the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Its budget of £181 million (2007/2008) funds over 2,500 researchers in academic institutions and policy research institutes throughout the UK. It also support more than 2,000 postgraduate students.
UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP)
The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) works at the boundary between research and society on the impacts of climate change and on adapting to those impacts, helping organisations to adapt to inevitable climate change. Since 1997 UKCIP has been working with the public, private and voluntary sectors to assess how a changing climate will affect a range of businesses and organisations.
Since 2001 UKCIP and EPSRC began working together to simulate multi-disciplinary research on impacts and adaptation related to infrastructure, the built environment and utilities. This led to BKCC for which UKCIP led on establishing and maintaining an integrating framework and a stakeholder forum, both which were essential to the success of the resulting research. UKCIP also worked with the SKCC project team with the aim of sustaining the BKCC community and engaging researchers and stakeholders in exploring research gaps and defining a prioritised research strategy that was used to inform the ARCC call for proposals.
