We have a number of UK-based projects focusing on issues related to our water, transport and food systems.
The Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC) is a consortium of seven UK universities led by the University of Oxford. ITRC has created a globally unique set of simulation models and methodologies to enable long-term cross-sectoral planning of sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems. The ITRC collaborates with partners in government, industry, academia and international organisations at global, national and regional scales.
The UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI) is a national centre established to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally. It will unlock opportunities for the UK to lead in greening finance and financing green. Within the CGFI we are leading the infrastructure flagship, which is developing new global-scale analysis of physical climate risks to infrastructure systems.
By integrating climate modelling, hydrological modelling and water resources system simulation, we are delivering a simulation model to inform large-scale strategic infrastructure planning by the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID).
DAFNI is the national platform to satisfy the computational needs in support of data analysis; infrastructure research; and strategic thinking for the UK’s long term planning and investment needs. First conceived of by Prof Hall, DAFNI has been developed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell with more than £9million of support from EPSRC. The platform, which has now entered its operational phase, is supporting academic research that is aiming to provide the UK with a world leading infrastructure system that is more: efficient, reliable, resilient and affordable.
We are using spatial modelling to analyse possible patterns of urbanisation in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. We have analysed a range of different scenarios, including those that prioritize accessibility to public transport and green corridors for nature (nature recovery networks). We have used the NISMOD systems model to analyse how energy, water and digital networks can be provided sustainably for the Arc.