Leadership team
Professor Lindsay Stringer
Director
Lindsay Stringer is Professor in Environment and Development in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York.
She is a Philip Leverhulme Prize winner and held a Wolfson Research Merit Award from the Royal Society. She has authored several global environmental assessments including the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Africa Regional Assessment, the IPBES Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land, and the IPCC 6th Assessment Report (Working Group II).
Lindsay's research is interdisciplinary and focuses on understanding the links between environmental change and livelihoods; science, policy and environmental governance and the practical and policy actions that can advance sustainable development. She has worked in a variety of environments in all continents, from drylands to mountains, coasts and forests to develop solutions for sustainability challenges facing land, water, food and energy systems.
Professor James Chong
Food, Water & Waste Research Theme Co-Lead
Dr Liz Rylott
Food, Water & Waste Research Theme Co-Lead
Liz Rylott is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biology, University of York. Her research is focused on developing plants to remediate pollution and recover value from waste.
Liz leads research programmes using syn-bio techniques to investigate xenobiotic detoxification routes in biological systems. Target pollutants include metals, pharmaceuticals and explosives. Through her research on metal recovery, Liz has worked with a number of stakeholder groups in the Waste sector, and is an active member of The Elements of Bioremediation, Biomanufacturing and Bioenergy Metals in Biology network.
Liz has worked with a variety of formats: radio, digital, comics, in-person, to successfully engage a broad range of stakeholders with her research.
Twitter: @LizRylott
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Dr Judith Krauss
Resilient Socio-Ecological Systems Research Theme Co-Lead
Judith Krauss is a lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations. With diverse colleagues from different contexts and disciplines, her research focuses on global value chains, conservation and the Sustainable Development Goals in terms of how environmental concerns such as protecting nature intersect with economic questions on who benefits, and socio-political issues such as decoloniality and justice.
Judith is an associate editor for the Journal of Political Ecology, a volunteer-based, diamond open-access publication. She is passionate about making research accessible to the wider public e.g. through games such as the 'Cocoa Sustainability Challenge' and research storytelling. She loves learning with students about the intersections between global development, inequalities and sustainability, e.g. as programme lead for the interdisciplinary BA Global Development and ESAY's Sustainability Clinic.
Professor Rob Marchant
Resilient Socio-ecological Systems Research Theme Co-Lead
Rob Marchant is a Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography. His research interests focus on ecosystems and how they change. In particular, Rob uses palaeoecology, vegetation modelling, archaeological, biogeographical and ecological data to determine the role of past events in shaping the present day composition and distribution of tropical ecosystems. His research on social ecosystem interactions at a wide range of timescales, and developing tools to understand and navigate potential sociological futures, has resulted in over 400 publications, including books and contributions into IPBES and IPCC chapters.
Rob has a particular passion for understanding mountain ecosystem transitions across Eastern Africa and using this understanding to craft more sustainable and resilient futures. Through his work, Rob strives to enhance opportunity, build collaborations, innovations and impact to support development agenda and to deal with the challenges around changing climate and their impact on mountain ecosystems and societies. Rob makes the link between science and policy and continues to look at ways where insights from his work can be applied, most recently contributing to a Intergovernmental Task force on Land Use planning in Kenya.
Professor Peter Coventry
Health and Environment Research Theme Co-Lead
Pete Coventry is a Senior Lecturer in Health Services Research in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. He is a member of the Mental Health and Addiction Research Group where he co-leads (with Prof Rachel Churchill) a research theme on mental health evidence synthesis. He is also a senior and feedback editor for the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders group.
Pete’s research centres on integration of physical and mental health care, especially for people with multimorbidity. His work is underpinned by an ecological public health perspective and focuses on the development of interdisciplinary and sustainable approaches to developing and evaluating nature based solutions to improve mental health and wellbeing.
He co-leads, with Prof Piran White, a green and blue space research theme, as part of the UKRI funded Closing the Gap Network+ programme, that seeks to address health inequalities in people with serious mental illness. He is also leads the green space research theme as part of the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaboration, which partners with stakeholders in the NHS to promote the use green spaces for health and wellbeing.
Twitter: @Peteyc73
Dr Katherine Brookfield
Health and Environment Research Theme Co-Lead
Katherine Brookfield is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York. At the core of Katherine's research is an exploration of the relationships between people and their environment. Her work spans various contexts, delving into the intricate dynamics of urban design, housing market influences, and the production and impacts of systems of spatial regulation.
Katherine’s research often addresses issues of quality of life, examining the multitude of factors that can either enhance or impede a 'good' quality of life. Her portfolio encompasses studies on aids and barriers to social and political participation, age-friendly housing and built environments, supportive settings for stroke survivors, and the social, economic, and environmental outcomes of planning policy and economic development strategies.
