School of Water Sciences, Cranfield University (UK)

Webs: http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/sims/water/

GOUVERNe Project Partner No. 4

The International Ecotechnology Research Centre (IERC) was set up in 1987 and concerns itself with the changing relationship between science, society and the natural world. Research at IERC recognises that the "future is open to choice". Consequently, the focus of IERC research is on the mutual interaction of human systems with their ecological, technological, and social environments. Our work is aimed at linking these different arenas, and providing a more holistic, long terms view. The science of complex systems and their evolution - the study of change - underpins this work. Fundamental research at IERC includes investigations into the nature of change, the evolutionary process and the origin of creativity in human systems. Other activities include research on learning systems and innovation and technology assessment. A significant feature of IERC’s work is its emphasis on collaboration between the disciplines. The academic background of the various faculty members are in subjects as diverse as sociology, physics, education, psychology, ecology, mathematics, and technology studies. Policy-relevant integration of the knowledge and skills from multi-discipline research teams is a major challenge for environmental science and management. By focusing on issues rather than scientific fields, we are developing transdisciplinary mechanisms for policy analysis. The unit has been a contributor to several EU projects under the Framework III and IV programmes, providing both environmental modelling and social survey / analysis skills. Through these projects it has developed an extensive network of academic collaboration, both in Europe and further a field in the Middle East, South East Asia, Australia and the USA. Recently, the IERC was successful in its bid to coordinate a complex systems research network on behalf of one of the UK research funding councils (the EPSRC).