Our research delivers real impact to help change the world for the better by focusing on three research areas: Sustainability, Health and wellbeing, and Digital.
The UK’s modern industrial strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost economic growth by investing in eight high-growth sectors, including clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital technologies.
At the University of Bath, engineering and management research is directly aligned with these national priorities. Through initiatives such as IAAPS, the Supergen Energy Networks Hub, and the Centre for People-Led Digitalisation, we are helping to accelerate the UK’s transition to net zero, strengthen industrial capabilities, and foster inclusive growth.
The sheer scale of the plastics problem can be difficult to comprehend. Data from the United Nations states that the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans, rivers, and lakes every day. Driven by unsustainable production and use, plastic has created a global environmental crisis that directly affects habitats, food production, and livelihoods.
The solution, according to Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, is not as simple as asking consumers to recycle more: “We need a systemic transformation to achieve the transition to a circular economy,” she says.
It’s a transformation being led by the University of Bath.
Learn how we're working to develop more sustainable plastics
Dr Yixian Sun is a University of Bath researcher helping to shape global environmental policy by connecting academic research with policymakers.
Dr Sun's research explores China’s evolving role in global environmental governance and climate action.
As Chair of the 2026 Earth System Governance Conference, set to be hosted by the University of Bath, Yixian’s work on sustainability governance within the Department of Social & Policy Sciences, the Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change, and the Centre for Development Studies is influencing international climate discourse.
The conference, which will bring over 500 global experts in research, policy, and civil society, is a platform for translating research into actionable policy and previous editions of the conference have influenced policy debates in cities like Toronto and Johannesburg.
"We’re proud to bring this important event to Bath. It’s a chance to showcase the University’s work on sustainability and to be part of vital global conversations about how we protect our planet." – Dr Yixian Sun
With extreme weather bringing home the realities of climate change, University of Bath research is being applied in the UK and around the world to engage the public, change behaviours and build support for ambitious climate action.
While international political and economic decisions are essential in tackling the climate emergency, people power also has the extraordinary potential to transform our responses to the challenges we face.
For the past two decades, University of Bath Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE has been championing new approaches to engaging the public with climate change in ways which resonate, change behaviours, and build support for the policies desperately needed to cut emissions.
In 2015, Lorraine edited Engaging the Public with Climate Change: Behaviour Change and Communication, which has become a go-to resource for those studying and working on climate change. More recently, she co-authored a section of Greta Thunberg’s international bestseller, The Climate Book. Now, as countries around the world implement policies and actions to curb emissions, her research and expertise are in hot demand.
The 1919 Housing and Town Planning Act established the UK’s commitment to a comprehensive social housing agenda. The majority of these homes are still in use but unfit for modern living, poorly insulated, and energy inefficient. It is critical to transform our existing housing stock to achieve carbon emission targets while providing homes that are fit for future generations.
The University of Bath, with Future Observatory, is bringing together diverse stakeholders to work together to address the common goal of finding housing retrofitting solutions in a new project to help address the challenge of providing Beyond Net Zero (BNZ) homes that are fit for future generations of social housing tenants.
See how we're helping to make social housing fit for the future
The University of Bath’s research and innovation centre for advanced propulsion and mobility, IAAPS, is reducing emissions by developing new production techniques, supporting changes to driver behaviour, and developing future fuels.
With governments, including the UK’s, pledging to reach net zero by 2050, the University of Bath’s Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS) is leading the quest to design impactful low-carbon transport solutions to the climate crisis.
The IAAPS facility opened its doors in 2022 after a £70m investment funded by the University of Bath, the UK Government’s Research England, and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.
Combining cross-sector academic rigour with commercial focus to support industry in the development and validation of zero-carbon propulsion technologies for integration into commercial applications, IAAPS is set to rank among the top-three independent research and innovation centres of its type in the world.
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