International Centre for the Environment (ICE)

The International Centre for the Environment (ICE) is a unique organisation. It is a virtual
network of academics and researchers all over the University, collaborating with others across the UK and worldwide. Just as environmental issues concern everybody, so ICE
involves people from all Faculties and almost every Department. ICE’s main purpose is to bring people together to promote interdisciplinary leadership in environmental research and education.

ICE grew from the ‘bottom up’ and was interdisciplinary from the start. It began in the mid 1990s when Professor Graham Henshaw of Biological Sciences and Professor Geof Wood of Social Sciences got together to develop a new MSc programme in Environmental Science, Policy and Planning.

In keeping with its interdisciplinary approach, ICE is now led by Geoff Hammond, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, as Director, and Dr Adrian Winnett of the Department of Economics and International Development as Deputy Director. Under their leadership, ICE
is moving into a new phase and activity is hotting up. “In particular, we are making strenuous efforts to attract more research funding,” says Geoff Hammond. “We are bidding for a number of major environmental research projects. These tend to be complex and large scale, with long lead-in times, but we have several bids nearing decision.

ICE is well known for its very successful seminar series on environmental issues, organised by Carolina Salter: “The seminars are free and open to everyone and attendance is very good. Sometimes I have to find more chairs!” she says. “The seminars explore a wide range of issues, from the effects of tourism to ‘Consuming Paradise’, and the seminar papers have been published as a series of three books.”

ICE is involved in many local and regional activities, including Envolve, the Wiltshire Wildlife
Trust and a proposed Centre for Climate Change Solutions, possibly near Corsham. “One of the most interesting projects is the Science Museum’s Creative Planet Project, which is aiming to establish a state-of-the-art example of sustainable living in an old RAF hangar at Wroughton Park in Wiltshire,” says Geoff. “It’s a project that could really spark people’simaginations and get them thinking about what they could achieve in their own lives.”

From local to international, ICE is concerned with environmental research, education and awareness raising at every level. Geoff recently returned from South Africa, where he had discussions with the Centre for Energy Research in Capetown, while his next appointment is much closer to home – at a B&NES workshop on infrastructure and the environment. Adrian meanwhile has just returned from a regional meeting in Exeter and is about to
leave for Slovakia, to develop research links there. Both Directors are agreed on the importance of ICE’s work. “So many issues affect the environment, it’s essential to take
a wide, interdisciplinary view,” says Adrian. “There are obvious problems such as CO2 emissions, but there are many other issues. Take the environmental impact of IT. What happened to the paperless office? Up to now, the IT revolution seems to have had the
opposite effect! We need much more research in areas like this.”

Geoff Hammond agrees: “Global warming is probably the biggest challenge we face, but there are many others, such as waste management, water quality and sustainable energy. I estimate that we will run out of oil in just 40 years, so there’s no time to waste. But I’m optimistic – humanbeings are remarkably resourceful, and if we face up to the problems,it is possible to overcome them.”