Who's who

Professor Rachael Rothman

SYSC Academic Director

Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering and academic Lead for Sustainability at the University of Sheffield

Rachael's research is in the development and analysis of sustainable processes and clean energy systems. Her interests lie in whole systems analysis, clean energy technologies and thermochemical and electrochemical cycles for hydrogen production and carbon dioxide utilisation.

Research interests:
• Sustainable Processes
• Clean Energy Systems
• Thermochemical and Electrochemical Cycles
• Hydrogen Production
• Carbon Dioxide Utilisation
• Membrane Separations
• Whole System Analysis

Projects:
• Decarbonisation of heavy industries through process analysis and systems modelling
• Creating a “Green hub” to support SMEs in South Yorkshire

Dr Meg Lewis

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Lead

Delivery Lead, Agricultural and Environmental Sustainability, University of Sheffield

Meg has worked in roles related to knowledge exchange for 12 years, across government, industry, and higher education. Before the SYSC, she worked with academic researchers in the University's Faculty of Science and Institute for Sustainable Food, tackling challenges related to food security. In her SYSC role as Delivery Lead for the Food Systems & Environmental Restoration theme, she hopes to leverage Centre knowledge and partnerships to deliver public good.

Projects:
• Developing a Natural Capital Assessment Map for South Yorkshire
• Delivering Sustainable Food Systems
• Establish South Yorkshire green infrastructure to enable delivery of the net-zero food system roadmap

Dr Matthew Wood

Policy & Governance Lead

Matthew Wood is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield and co-investigator of the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre. He researches public policy in the UK and Europe, with an interest in the conditions for legitimate governance.

Projects:
• Certified Sustainable
• Energy Communities
• Consuming Sustainably

Dr Jayne Carrick

Policy & Governance Researcher

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield

Jayne's research is driven by improving participation in political decision making, particularly around engaging the public and stakeholders in environmental and climate change policy making. Previous research has explored the use and impact of democratic innovations such as citizens assemblies, including Climate Assembly UK.

Projects:
• Energy Communities
• Consuming Sustainably

Dr Danielle Densley Tingley

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Lead

Senior Lecturer in Architectural Engineering at the University of Sheffield

Danielle studied her undergraduate degree and PhD in the Department, and has completed post-docs here and at the University of Cambridge, before starting as a lecturer in 2016.

Danielle is passionate about reducing the impact of the built environment on the planet, particularly focusing on how our use of materials can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and thus minimise climate change.

Danielle’s previous roles have included leading the work on material efficiency in construction in the UK INDEMAND Centre at the University of Cambridge; where she worked with industry to understand the practical challenges and opportunities of reducing material demand in the built environment.

She has also worked on the multi-disciplinary BIG Energy Upgrade Project at the University of Sheffield, exploring the environmental impacts of external wall insulation and advising partner local authorities on best practice retrofit.

Her PhD was in design for deconstruction and material reuse and her undergraduate degree in Structural Engineering and Architecture.

Throughout her research she aims to work with industry partners in order to put research into practice, and deliver a real change in the built environment.

Projects:
• Development of a regional retrofit optimisation platform

Dr Hadi Arbabi

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Co-Investigator

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Co-Investigator. Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield

Hadi's work and research interests sit at the interface of data-driven urban analytics and planning. Their overall body of research focuses on the challenges relating to resource consumption and productivity in urban systems often in the context of planetary resource capacity and extreme climate change. Hadi previously worked on spatially multi-scale examinations of urban systems and the extent to which their performance is influenced by their embedded physical infrastructure. Hadi's other interests include urban complexity, population scaling and allometry, city morphology and infrastructure planning for agglomeration, network analysis of urban flows, stocks, and metabolism.

Projects:
• Development of a regional retrofit optimisation platform

Dr May Zune

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Researcher

Research Associate In Housing Retrofit Assessment, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield

May is a Research Associate in Housing Retrofit Assessment at the University of Sheffield. She joined the RISE (Resources, Infrastructure Systems, and Built Environments) research group to address concerns and generate value for the stakeholders across the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority's housing stock, features application scenarios where retrofitting options and cost are optimised considering what individual home needs and how to reach the net-zero target by 2050, facilitates housing performance assessment, but also integrate both passive, renewable and low-carbon HVAC options, through energy-balance/free-running strategies.

May graduated from the University of Nottingham with an MSc in Sustainable Building Design in 2016 and completed her Ph.D. in Building Technology in 2021. She is a ‘Certified Passive House Designer’. She worked as a Research Fellow in Energy Efficiency in Residential Buildings and contributed to the development of the PRELUDE project at Brunel University London. During her PhD years, she worked as a part-time research associate/assistant for the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, also co-founded the ‘AzuraBIM’ solutions for BIM consultation and BIM outsourcing services in Singapore and Myanmar.

Projects:
• Development of a regional retrofit optimisation platform

Dr Giuliano Punzo

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Co-Investigator

Lecturer, Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield

Giuliano is an aerospace engineer by training but, since he left the industry, he has cultivated an interest in the broad area of control theory and complex systems. Giuliano's current research aims at understanding complex dynamics at the interface between social and technical systems. These include the use of public services such as transportation or water systems, how these impact the demographic and the resilience of both the infrastructure and the community they serve. His research interests include network theory, control theory, consensus, complexity, socio-technical systems and game theory.

Projects:
• Developing transport routes to serve evolving demand while decarbonising assets and operations

Dr Samantha Ivings

Transport Sustainability Researcher

Research Associate, Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield.

Samantha specialises in mathematical modelling of real-world systems. She completed her PhD in quantitative stem cell biology within the University of Sheffield's Engineering department, and now applies similar mathematical tools to model networks of roads instead of cells. Samantha's current research is focused on transport sustainability, developing data-driven models for promoting the spread of active travel and reducing air pollution from vehicles in South Yorkshire. In particular, Samantha is developing an optimisation model which is applied to the South Yorkshire road network. The goal is to minimise air pollution whilst not drastically affecting individual road users' travel times, considering a variety of modes of travel. Samantha's interests include dynamical systems modelling, graph theory, computational biology, and sustainability.

Projects:
• Developing transport routes to serve evolving demand while decarbonising assets and operations

Jacob Nickles

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Knowledge Exchange Fellow & Project Manager, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester

Jake has been working in academia for 7 years, primarily building and researching hydroponic and aquaponic systems. He has worked in a variety of contexts from designing and building a high tech greenhouse in Oman, to building low cost hydroponic systems in an abandoned school in a disadvantaged area of Sheffield.

In more recent times he has taken up an interest in science communication with the aim of increasing public awareness and acceptance of sustainable agricultural technologies like hydroponics. He has also been developing relationships with commercial stakeholders of different shapes and sizes with the aim of bridging the gaps between academia and business. 

Projects:
• Establish South Yorkshire green infrastructure to enable delivery of the net-zero food system roadmap

Dr Peter Weston

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Senior Lecturer, Department of Engineering and Mathematics, Sheffield Hallam University

Peter is a Chemical Engineer with two main passions; to develop practical sustainable technologies and to support aspiring engineers. His research interests are focussed on bioenergy and sustainability.

Projects:
• Delivering Sustainable Food Systems

Fran Halsall

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Researcher

Fran is a member of Regather Cooperative, one of the partner organisations helping to deliver the Food Systems & Environmental Restoration theme at the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre. She is part of the multidisciplinary Urban Agriculture Task Force based at Regather, and works on landscape design, land access and community engagement to enable sustainable urban food production.  

Projects:
• Establish South Yorkshire green infrastructure to enable delivery of the net-zero food system roadmap

Gareth Roberts

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Researcher

Gareth is Founder and Director of Regather, Founder of ShefFood - Sheffield's Food Partnership, and Lead of the multidisciplinary Urban Agriculture Task Force, part of the Food Systems & Environmental Restoration theme at the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre.

Gareth is passionate about cooperation, and has worked collaboratively with people from all walks of life for over 20 years. His various experiences as an arts administrator, event manager, lecturer and serial social entrepreneur bring useful skills and resilience to the Sheffield cooperative economy. Since 2015 Gareth has led strategic developments around Community Economic Development and Sustainable Food Systems in Sheffield, ensuring Regather and ShefFood lead on innovative economic and social change. In 2022 he returned to Sheffield Hallam University to study for a PhD, focusing on the role of food & farming events in sustainable food system transformation.

His mission is a food system where money is retained in the local economy, land is more productive, food is better quality, health is improved and people have better awareness of and involvement with how the food system, from local to global, can be changed for the better.

Projects:
• Establish South Yorkshire green infrastructure to enable delivery of the net-zero food system roadmap

Alice Farmery

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Researcher

Alice is a Research Associate at Regather, and a member of the SYSC Urban Agriculture Task Force. She has a degree in Human Geography from the University of Sheffield, and now works at the intersection of food-growing and community development. Alice has a particular interest in using creative and participatory research methods to explore the links between human wellbeing, connection to nature and socio-environmental sustainability.

Projects:
• Establish South Yorkshire green infrastructure to enable delivery of the net-zero food system roadmap

Professor Solomon Brown

Industrial & Commercial Emissions Lead

Professor of Process and Energy Systems, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield

Sol's research focusses on mathematical modelling, process analysis and optimisation with a particular focus on clean energy processes, energy storage and energy systems. Key areas include:

• the development of agent-based models for energy systems and technology adoption
• techno-economic analysis of energy storage technologies
• scheduling and supply chain analysis
• uncertainty quantification and Gaussian Processes

Projects:
• Producing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of housing in South Yorkshire
• Decarbonisation of heavy industries through process analysis and systems modelling

Profesor Darren Robinson

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Co-Investigator

Chair in Architectural and Urban Sciences, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

Darren's main passion is for research that makes a difference. Much of his research is conducted at the interface between social physics (people), building physics (buildings) and urban physics (city): people – buildings – city.

This research is conducted at multiple scales: from the performance of individual buildings in their urban context and the how this performance is influenced by occupants; through the performance of entire complex urban systems and how their spatial and functional structures can be improved upon to maximise metabolic efficiency; to the performance of city, regional and national scale stocks of buildings and how these evolve over time.

Darren is interested in understanding how the implications on resource use of individuals, households, firms and institutions can be influenced (e.g. to invest in decarbonisation technologies, or to engage in more sustainable practices) and how this understanding can be embedded into predictive models.

Projects:
• Producing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of housing in South Yorkshire

Dr Timothy Hutty

Residential Decarbonisation Investigator

Research Associate, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield

A mathematician by background, Tim uses computational techniques including agent-based modelling and numerical optimisation to study solutions for a sustainable energy system. His research interests include heat decarbonisation and heat networks, peer-to-peer energy trading, and energy storage.

Projects:

• Producing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of housing in South Yorkshire

Professor Peter Styring

Policy & Governance Co-Investigator

Professor of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield

My expertise lies in the field of catalysis and functional materials, together with their continuous flow processing that allows reactions to be rapidly taken from the Discovery scale to the Production scale over a short time scale. I'm an expert in Carbon Capture & Utilisation (CDU) with increasing expertise in CDU policy.

I'm author of the Carbon Capture and Utilisation in the Green Economy policy document that has received global acclaim. I also work with government through consultation on future strategies for CDU both at national and at a European level.

Projects:
• Certified Sustainable

Professor Will Eadson

Just Transition Lead

Professor of Urban and Regional Studies, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University

Will is Professor of Urban and Regional Studies in CRESR. His research centres on two programmes of work: governance of urban and regional sustainability transitions; and economic geographies of zero carbon transitions. Will has published widely on these topics and has led research projects for research funding bodies, national governments, charities, city-regions and local authorities.

He is particularly interested in the differential spatial impacts of zero carbon transitions, for instance in a series of research projects understanding local economic development and employment implications of energy transition, and potential policy responses.

Projects:
• SMEs and Just Transitions
• Work Futures

Professor Aimee Ambrose

Just Transition Co-Investigator

Professor of Energy Policy, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University. 

Aimee's research is primarily concerned with understand the unintended impacts of energy policies, with highlighting injustices associated with decarbonisation efforts and with promoting citizen engagement with our energy futures through participatory research. Through pioneering qualitative research, she has developed methodologies to understand previously under-researched aspects of the lived experiences of energy systems and transitions. This has resulted in a much deeper understanding of the key societal challenges associated with energy transitions and carbon reduction, and how they are experienced by marginalised groups around the world. Aimee has three core areas of expertise:

• Understanding and addressing fuel poverty
• Developing pioneering qualitative research methodologies
• Understanding 'hard to reach' energy users

Projects:
• Visions of life in 2038
• Consumption Inequality

Dawn Witherley

Just Transition Research Associate

Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University

Dawn's research interests are in quality of life, well-being, and social, cultural and economic inclusion. Her research has focused on digital inclusion and the impact of both ICT and social media on quality of life and well-being. Her cross-disciplinary background has broadened her appreciation for addressing societal challenges and she is particularly interested in researching new and emerging phenomena impacting humanity and exploring equitable transitions towards creating a considerate and just world for our children and future generations.

Projects:
• SMEs and Just Transitions
• Work Futures
• Visions of life in 2038
• Consumption Inequality

Amanda Johnston

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Amanda provides strategic direction for Sheffield Hallam's National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering (NCEFE) and specifically for research and innovation activities which deliver healthy sustainable innovations for the food and drink system. Having worked for blue chip food manufacturing businesses in management roles for around ten years, she has worked in external engagement roles within the Higher Education sector for over 15 years and has been part of NCEFE since its launch in July 2014.  Her areas of expertise include: food system and sector knowledge; brokering relationships with internal, regional, national and international partners in the food supply chain, academia and sector bodies; leveraging funding to facilitate research and innovation activities; and Identifying potential applications of research and innovation expertise for the food system.

Projects:
• South Yorkshire Food Network

Professor Peter Jackson

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Peter Jackson is a Professor of Geography at the University of Sheffield School of Geography and Planning. He is also the Co-Director of the University of Sheffield Institute for Sustainable Food.

Peter's research focuses on commodity culture and the geography of consumption with a particular interest in food. Previous projects include an ESRC-funded project on consumption and identity in North London (published as Shopping, Place and Identity, Routledge, 1998); ESRC-funded research on the production, content and readership of men's lifestyle magazines (published as Making Sense of Men's Magazines, Polity Press, 2001); a collaborative study (with colleagues at Royal Holloway and UCL) of commodity culture and South Asian transnationality, funded through ESRC's Transnational Communities Programme and culminating in the publication of Transnational Spaces (Routledge, 2004); an ESRC-funded study of retail competition and consumer choice (with colleagues at Lancaster and MMU); and a study of food commodity chains, funded via the AHRC-ESRC Cultures of Consumption programme.

Dr Drew Woodhouse

Just Transition Researcher

Senior Lecturer in Economics, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University

Drew is a Senior Lecturer in Economics, specialising in the areas of Macroeconomics, Political Economy and Institutional Economics. His main research areas are in comparative institutional economics, political economy and macroeconomics. Drew is media active, with publications and engagements regarding contemporary economic issues such as Brexit, Structural Reform, Monetary & Fiscal Policy. He has been referred to by numerous media outlets and has been referenced in House of Lords Policy Briefs.

Projects:
• SMEs and Just Transitions
• Work Futures

Dr Anna Hawkins

Just Transition Researcher

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Social Science, Department of the Natural and Built Environment, Sheffield Hallam University.

Anna's professional background is in urban planning and regeneration. She teaches subjects related to urban sustainability and placed-based health. Anna's research interests include changing practices and processes to support sustainable and equitable resource consumption, ecological harm reduction and restoration. She undertakes work in policy and project evaluation, content analysis, theories of change, indicator / outcome mapping and specialise in research design to explore and address poor policy outcomes.

Projects:
• Visions of life in 2038
• Consumption Inequality 
• Nature Recovery Farming: Supporting the Transition

Amy Grace

Just Transition Researcher

PhD Researcher, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University

Amy Grace is a PhD student and researcher in the Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University. Amy’s PhD explores what drives and locks-in high consumption lifestyles, and considers the interplay between individual, psychological, social, cultural and structural factors that influence household consumption. This combines core research interests in Social Psychology and the barriers to adopting sustainable lifestyles.

Prior to commencing her PhD, Amy completed a Masters in Psychology in 2021 and spent 15 years in marketing and communications roles in the telecommunications industry.

Projects:
• Consumption Inequality

Professor Vania Sena

Data Driven Solutions Lead

Chair in Entrepreneurship and Enterprise, Management School, the University of Sheffield

Projects:
• Regional Emission Budgeting Framework

Dr Ling Min Tan

Data Driven Solutions Co-Investigator

Research Associate, Management School, the University of Sheffield

Ling Min obtained her PhD degree from the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield for developing 'An Ecological-Thermodynamic Approach to Urban Metabolism', with scholarship supports from the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures. Her research focuses on understanding and formulation of the effects of city economic and energetic characteristics on their resources consumption.

Prior to starting her role at the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre, Ling Min has contributed to the Active Building Centre Research Programme to develop a data-driven retrofit workflow for large-scale decarbonisation through evaluation of data integration and housing stock modelling approaches for meeting net-zero residential emissions.

Projects:
• Regional Emission Budgeting Framework

Professor Lenny Koh

Supply Chain innovation Lead

Professor, Management School, the University of Sheffield

Lenny's work is world leading with its novelty; and has generated major impact onto society, industry and government. Her research intersects supply chain and information sciences for resource efficiency and sustainability. Her work is multi- and inter- disciplinary, crosses supply chain, information systems, energy, engineering, social science and science disciplines in understanding todays and futures complex supply chain problems induced by climate change and uncertainty. She has pioneered and led many large scale, complex, multi partners, multi- and inter- disciplinary projects successfully.

Projects:
• Renewable energy-based power plants life cycle assessment
• Heat pump supply chain and life cycle assessment
• Sustainability assessment of hydrogen supply chains
• Hydrogen supply chain resilience
• Developing new standards for hydrogen technology supply chain sustainability evaluation

Dr Moein Shamoushaki

Supply Chain innovation Researcher

Research Associate in Life Cycle and Supply Chain Analyses, Management School, the University of Sheffield

Moein is a Research Associate at the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre. He is working on life cycle assessment and supply chain innovation of energy systems. The main goal of this project is to reduce carbon emissions and environmental impacts across the South Yorkshire region. Moein obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Florence, Italy in 2022.

Projects:
• Renewable energy-based power plants life cycle assessment
• Heat pump supply chain and life cycle assessment
• Sustainability assessment of hydrogen supply chains
• Hydrogen supply chain resilience
• Developing new standards for hydrogen technology supply chain sustainability evaluation

Liang Kong

AREC Researcher

Liang's research interests include supply chain resilience, complex adaptive systems, system dynamics, and circular economy.

Liang has a fundamental understanding of economic evaluations, strategies for addressing moral hazard, pandemic modelling, supply chain management, economic behaviour, and microeconomics related to health. She has conducted a comprehensive literature review on the impact of physical activities in preventing cardiovascular disease. 

Projects:
• Hydrogen supply chain resilience

Dr Hessam Jahangiri

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, Sheffield Hallam University

Hessam is a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University. His main research expertise is in renewable energy and sustainability, focusing on the thermal conversion of biomass (Pyrolysis, Gasification, Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis and Catalysis) to produce valuable fuels.

Projects:

• Delivering Sustainable Food Systems

Dr Mukesh Goel

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Senior Lecturer, Materials and Engineering Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University.

Mukesh uses science and engineering to solve industrial problems. His research areas include treatment of wastewaters and generating bioenergy. His research work involves working on various strategies for eliminating toxic chemicals and simultaneously generating energy. His research also focuses on environmental problems related to polyurethane foam, microplastics and a class of harmful pollutants known as emerging contaminants.

Projects:

• Delivering Sustainable Food Systems

Elpida Apostolopoulou

Just Transition Researcher

PhD Candidate at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University.

Elpida is a PhD Candidate researching Just Transitions for agri-food SMEs. She seeks to shed light to transition-induced injustices and explore alternative pathways, in order to promote a more inclusive and equitable for all agri-food transition. Her article-based PhD aims at providing theorical conceptualisations and critical understandings of just agri-food transitions and decarbonisation for different types of SMEs, across the different stages of the agri-food supply chain. In parallel, she uncovers the interrelationships and key challenges arising between agri-food SMEs and existing policy frameworks. Elpida employs comparative case studies from UK and Greece, with the spotlight shed on the South Yorkshire area, seeking to generate a place-based model that will guide Just Transitions in local agri-food SMEs, and will contribute to regional policy development, resilience, and sustainable development.

Projects:
• SMEs and Just Transitions

Thomas Cowley

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Researcher

Thomas is a PhD Researcher at the University of Sheffield and a member of The Grantham Centre and the Brown Group. He has a master's degree in chemical engineering, but his current specialization lies in clean energy and process systems modelling. Driven by a commitment to sustainability, he is dedicated to reducing heating emissions across domestic and industrial sectors, while also exploring various policy scenarios to enhance the adoption of district heating in the UK. His contributions to computational modelling of district-sized heat networks and publications steer the region toward a more sustainable energy future.

Dr Hongwei Zhang

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Deputy Head of the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, Sheffield Hallam University

Hongwei has a PhD in Control Engineering from the and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering. He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Hongwei is a keen researcher in the field of advanced control and condition monitoring of complex processes, industrial automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. 

Projects:

• Delivering Sustainable Food Systems

Dr Ella Hubbard

Just transitions researcher

Researcher, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University

Ella is a researcher at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research. She is a human geographer, specialising in qualitative methods. Her research interests include place-based approaches to environmental and economic transformation. She completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield. Ella is working on projects related to domestic retrofit in South Yorkshire.

Projects:

• SMEs and Just Transitions
• Work Futures

Dr Joe Glentworth

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Joe is a lecturer in Environmental Management and Environmental Science at Sheffield Hallam University. He has a PhD in Planning and Environmental Management from the University of Manchester and has experience working in protected area management and landscape-scale nature recovery. Joe's research focuses on the social and ecological implications of ecological conservation, restoration and rewilding in upland landscapes.

Projects:
• Nature Recovery Farming: Supporting the Transition

Professor Jill Edmondson

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Lead

Professor of Ecosystem Sustainability at the University of Sheffield

Jill's interdisciplinary research aims to address the challenge of improving the sustainability and resilience of ecosystems, with a focus on urban and agricultural systems. She has a particular interest in the interaction between soils, plants and the ecosystem services they provide to a growing global population.

Professor Gareth Phoenix

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Professor of Plant and Global Change Ecology at the University of Sheffield

Gareth's research focuses on the interactions between plants and the environment, particularly in the Arctic, northern boreal and upland ecosystems.

He studies the impacts of climate change (warming, extreme events, snow regime change, precipitation), UV-B radiation and pollution on ecosystem structure and function.

Gareth is interested in the impacts on biodiversity, on cycling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and the consequences for feedback to climate (ecosystem carbon balance). I also aim to understand how responses observed at the vegetation/ecosystem level are driven by individual plant, root and leaf responses.

His other interests include more applied fields such as understanding nutrient acquisition for sustainable agriculture.

Professor Katie Field

Food Systems & Environmental Restoration Co-Investigator

Professor of Plant-Soil Processes at the University of Sheffield

Plant-fungal symbioses and their applications in sustainable agriculture - Today, it is estimated that more than 80% of land plants, representing over 90% of plant families, form nutritional symbioses with soil-dwelling fungi. These associations are known as ‘mycorrhiza’, or ‘mycorrhiza-like’ in plants without roots. Through these associations, plants assimilate fungal-acquired mineral nutrients from beyond root depletion zones. In return, plants supply their fungal partners with carbohydrates fixed from atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.

Evolution, diversity and ecology of plant-fungal symbioses - Plant-fungal symbioses date back to when plants first colonized Earth’s landmasses more than 475 million years ago. Fossil and molecular evidence suggest that the earliest plants to emerge onto the land were likely similar to modern-day liverworts. As such, these tiny plants provide an excellent opportunity for us to understand how mycorrhiza-like associations in the earliest plants may have facilitated plant domination of the terrestrial biosphere.

Dr Abigail Hathway

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Researcher

Senior Lecturer, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Sheffield

Abigail completed her PhD at the University of Leeds, researching CFD modelling of bioaerosols released in hospital environments due to nursing activities.

Her research aims to ensure that in the drive for energy efficient buildings we maintain healthy indoor environments for the occupants.

Her focus is on building physics, with a particular interest in how the activity of people within a building and its interior spaces impact upon air flow. This focus on fluid flow in the built environment, incorporates building simulation with experimental and field work.

The role of human activity on indoor air continues to be an active research interest, and has developed to consider a variety of built environments, often through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Her main interest is in the interactions of people with their building and the resulting impacts on air flow across the building envelope and between interior spaces.

This includes researching the role of automated building systems to improve the comfort and quality of internal environments at low energy cost.

Dr Carolanne Vouriot

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Researcher

Lecturer in Building Physics, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Sheffield.

Carolanne received an MEng degree from the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College London. She joined the Fluids Dynamics Across Scales Centre for Doctoral Training in Imperial College London, where she completed an MRes and a PhD in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Carolanne then worked as a research associate on the Schools’ Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education (SAHME) project in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, before joining the department as a Lecturer in Building Physics in 2023.

Her research focuses on fluid dynamics for the built environment, specifically looking at the relationship between natural ventilation and indoor air quality, using numerical simulations and field measurements.

Dr Robert Barthorpe

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Researcher

Senior Lecturer, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Sheffield

Rob is a Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. He completed his MEng in Mechanical Engineering with German at the University of Sheffield in 2005 and his PhD in 2010. His research interests span dynamics, structural health monitoring and, more recently, energy applications.

Dr Stephen Parkes

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Researcher

Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Regional Economic & Social Research (CRESR), Sheffield Hallam University

Stephen is a mixed-methods researcher based within the Sustainable Futures Cluster in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research. His area of expertise is transport, but has also been involved in projects across energy, just transitions, and inclusive growth.

Stephen's primary research activity explores active travel and the intersection of active travel policy with issues of social and spatial equity. This shapes much of his work and is embedded in the three main programmes of work he is currently involved in on Active travel, High consumers of energy and transport and Autonomous Vehicles.

Projects:
• Was the Past More Sustainable? A Policy and Public Engagement Project

Mia Rafalowicz-Campbell

Residential Energy & Transport Systems Researcher

Research Associate in equity in the provision of active travel infrastructure, Sheffield Hallam University, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research

Mia's research aims to contribute to how we understand and address equity with regards to active travel, particularly in the context of the increasingly significant investments being made. Working in partnership with the SCR Mayoral Combined Authority and Living Streets, this research will use an innovative mixed-methods design to understand issues of equity across the Sheffield City Region, and to consider how policies and funding mechanisms can adapt to better promote equity in active travel benefits.

Jess Thomas

SYSC Operations Director

Jess has worked in a number of Operations and Programme lead roles across social change and third sector organisations, including Campaign Bootcamp and OpenDemocracy. Prior to joining SYSC Jess led the place based economic development team in the Cooperatives UK Development Unit. Jess is interested in finding out how to make complex projects work within organisations and alongside people and places.

Emily Williams

SYSC Centre Manager

Emily has worked in numerous project and programme management roles within the NHS and Sheffield Hallam University over the last 10 years, moving to The University of Sheffield January 2023 to take up the role of SYSC Centre Manager. 

Hannah Cornish

SYSC External Engagement Lead

Hannah has worked at the University of Sheffield since 2022, and joined the SYSC from Partnerships and Regional Engagement in August 2023. Before that, she worked in a range of sustainability roles in the public sector.

Projects:
• Creating a “Green hub” to support SMEs in South Yorkshire

Simon Archer

Communications Officer

Simon has worked in a number of communications roles over the last ten years. Most recently he was part of the Government's COP26 communications team. There, he was involved in the organisation and running of COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 and throughout the UK's COP Presidency year. Following COP27 he joined the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre.

Nicola Ross

SYSC Administrative Assistant

Nicola has worked at The University of Sheffield since 2011, working within the Accommodation and Commercial Services Department. She moved to the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre in November 2022.

University of Sheffield

The approach to sustainability at the University of Sheffield brings together the leading research of academics, the knowledge of professional staff and the passion of students to address some of the most pressing challenges facing the world.

The University of Sheffield is working to embed sustainable approaches in the education provided to students, campus operations, our city and our region to realise a just transition to a more sustainable future. The South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre plays a key role in its work with organisations across the region to make South Yorkshire healthier, greener, more vibrant and innovative for all.

Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam University is committed to embedding environmentally sustainable practices in all its operations, decisions and actions as well as teaching and research. 

As a civic university proudly of its place, its responsibilities extend beyond its own sustainability practices. It is nurturing a climate-conscious community of staff and students, working in partnership with organisations and groups across our region to drive positive sustainable change.

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority

Lead partner organisation of SYSC

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

One of South Yorkshire's four local authorities and partner of SYSC

Working with us on:

• Development of a regional retrofit optimisation platform
• Developing transport routes to serve evolving demand while decarbonising assets and operations
• Consuming Sustainably
• Regional Emission Budgeting Framework

City of Doncaster Council

One of South Yorkshire's four local authorities and partner of SYSC

Working with us on:

• Development of a regional retrofit optimisation platform
• Developing transport routes to serve evolving demand while decarbonising assets and operations
• Consuming Sustainably
• Regional Emission Budgeting Framework

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

One of South Yorkshire's four local authorities and partner of SYSC

Working with us on:

• Development of a regional retrofit optimisation platform
• Developing transport routes to serve evolving demand while decarbonising assets and operations
• Consuming Sustainably
• Regional Emission Budgeting Framework

Sheffield City Council

One of South Yorkshire's four local authorities and partner of SYSC

Working with us on:

• Development of a regional retrofit optimisation platform
• Developing transport routes to serve evolving demand while decarbonising assets and operations
• Consuming Sustainably
• Regional Emission Budgeting Framework

Ardagh Group

Working with us on the decarbonisation of heavy industries through process analysis and systems modelling

EON

Working with us on producing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of housing in South Yorkshire

Michelmersch

Working with us on the decarbonisation of heavy industries through process analysis and systems modelling

Nordic Energy

Working with us on producing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of housing in South Yorkshire

Northern Power

Working with us on producing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of housing in South Yorkshire

Our Cow Molly

Working with us on developing a natural capital assessment map for South Yorkshire

Premier Foods

Working with us on delivering sustainable food systems

Regather

Working with us on delivering sustainable food systems

Veolia

Working with us on producing a roadmap for the decarbonisation of housing in South Yorkshire

Zeck

Working with us on delivering sustainable food systems

Ipsos

Working with us on Consuming Sustainably

Grantham Centre

Working with us on Hydrogen supply chain resilience

Tyers Hall Farm

Working with us on developing a natural capital assessment map for South Yorkshire

Forgemasters

Working with us on the decarbonisation of heavy industries through process analysis and systems modelling

Community Energy England

Working with us on energy communities