NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL eSCIENCE

The University of Cambridge has been chosen by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to run a national centre to promote the application of modern powerful computing techniques to research in the environmental sciences. Called the "National Institute for Environmental eScience", it will be closely modelled on the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. It will be integrated with the Newton Institute and with the Cambridge eScience Centre, which offers support for hugely-powerful computing resources in the eastern region. The new Institute will build on the variety of high-quality environmental research that is carried out in the region. It will develop and use state-of-the-art escience techniques, provide training in them, and facilitate the sharing of expertise.

The Institute will foster progress in escience research in environmental sciences through demonstration projects, workshops, training courses, and long-term visits by recognised experts.

Among the wide range of research areas that will be boosted by the application of escience techniques are studies of atmospheric science and climate change; volcanoes and earthquakes; hydrology, sediment transport and fluvial dynamics, fluid flow through rocks; industrial pollution and waste containment; remote sensing and image processing; and integrated modelling of climate change impacts on ecosystems and human populations.

The Institute will involve several academic departments of the University of Cambridge working on environmental research, including Earth Sciences, Geography, Scott Polar Research Institute, Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering. Partner institutes include the Universities of Bristol, East Anglia, Southampton, Manchester, and University College London, together with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (Monks Wood).

For further information, please contact Dr Martin Dove. E-mail: martin@esc.cam.ac.uk
Tel: 01223-333482, 01223-740075, 07889-724767