CEEDS is a collaboration between Lancaster University’s Environment Centre (LEC), its Data Science Institute (DSI), and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH):
DSI is one of Europe’s strongest and most diverse single-institution data science communities, with over 250 members (including over 100 faculty in 15 departments). Since its creation in 2014, the Institute has attracted more than £17m in external funding. Distinctively, the agenda is driven by three challenge themes: the environment, health and society, with foundational data science developed in the context of real world challenges. Research in the Institute builds on Lancaster’s experience and through leadership in cross-disciplinary research, drawing on foundational expertise across statistics, operational research and computer science, alongside environmental science, health and medicine and social science. The environment theme also draws heavily on the research in the Lancaster Environment Centre, a powerful and distinctive centre that addresses emerging global environmental challenges through its world leading research, teaching, collegiate environment and multi-disciplinary collaborations. Many LEC staff are members of DSI.
LEC forms one of the largest groups of interdisciplinary environmental researchers in Europe, with over 200 staff spanning the environmental, biological and social sciences. Research and teaching in LEC is conducted by a community of colleagues with diverse backgrounds including: chemists, earth-atmospheric scientists, ecologists, geographers (human/physical), geophysicists, hydrologists, marine scientists, plant scientists, and sociologists. Qualitative and quantitative approaches, spanning ethnography, in-depth interviews, large scale surveys, laboratory, field, modelling, policy and strong stakeholder/end-user engagement are all employed. A distinctive feature of LEC is its Enterprise and Business Partnership (EBP) unit which hosts some 20 small companies working with LEC researchers and which has links to a large number of other national and multinational businesses and organisations. They run both graduate and undergraduate consultancy programmes and have an extensive programme of knowledge innovation and transfer with both private and public sector partners.
UKCEH is a world-class research organisation for integrated research in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere. Working with researchers, policy-makers, industry and society, UKCEH delivers solutions to complex environmental challenges. UKCEH excels in cross-disciplinary science, building on national capability in terms of long-term data sets, modelling capabilities and monitoring infrastructure. They offer leadership in Environmental Informatics, including running the Environmental Information Data Centre, thus curating important and substantive datasets on behalf of the environmental communities. UKCEH views data science as crucial going forward in making the most of these unique national and global data assets.