A diver monitoring a large marine animal

Work with us

Find out how to work with the Ecology and the Environment Research Centre - whether you are a policymaker, charity, business or fellow academic.

About

We work closely with a wide range of partners in Greater Manchester, nationally and internationally, including:

  • business and industrial groups, such as AirSensa on pollution monitoring and BeadaMoss on moorland restoration 

  • governments and other policymakers, including the Environment Agency, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the International Union for Conservation of Nature

  • charities and other non-government organisations,  such as Chester Zoo, Moors for the Future, and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

  • schools and colleges, including Pendleton Sixth Form College on monitor urban wildlife, and the College of African Wildlife Management, Tanzania. 

We partner with fellow researchers and academics from leading institutions in the UK and around the world.

We have also set up the UK Consortium on Sustainability Research to build on our commitment to sustainable development.

Our expertise

One of the major benefits of the centre for our partners is the range of academic expertise and practical experience we bring together.

Our members make leading contributions across biology, chemistry, geography and environmental science, with particular strengths in:

  • conservation and ecology

  • animal behaviour and evolution

  • microbiology

  • environmental and land use changes

  • analytical chemistry

  • glaciology

  • urban environments

  • low carbon and sustainable futures

We also support organisations aiming to limit their environmental impact by reducing carbon emissions and waste, and improving recycling.

  • Three female lions crossing a patch of tall grass

    Research strengths

    Discover our research strengths and the work we are doing to prevent further decline in the Earth's ecosystems and relieve the growing pressures on the environment.

    Go to Research strengths
  • A researcher wearing rubber gloves holding specimen tubes

    Research projects

    Find out about some of the projects our ecology and the environment researchers are leading around the world.

    Go to Research projects

Our facilities

The University’s dedicated facilities include state-of-the-art research spaces on our Manchester campus to study genomics, environmental chemistry and living organisms, as well as a specialist Earth observation and GIS laboratory.

We also share infrastructure and equipment at major research hubs in UK and overseas. These include:

  • the Henry Royce Institute, Manchester
  • the International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya
  • the ocean acidification lab at the University of Cartagena
  • the National Marine Research Institute, Colombia

Genomics

Our genomics research facility gives us capacity for fast-paced analysis. It includes:

  • Illumina MiSeq (eg bacterial community analysis (16/18S) )
  • Illumina NextSeq (eg bacterial, animal and plant whole genome analysis)
  • Oxford Nanopore (eg long-read whole genome sequencing)
  • Bioanalyser
  • Biomek Liquid Handler

Environmental chemistry

We operate and maintain a wide range of world-leading instrumentation for analysing environmental samples, including:

  • ICP-OES, ICP-MS, XRF and CN(S) analyser for analysis of elemental concentrations
  • Ion chromatography for analysis of anion and cation concentrations
  • IRMS for determination of stable-isotope ratios (H, C, N, O and S)
  • GC-APCI-qqq-MS, GC-MS and HPLC-HrqTOF for analysis of organic biomarkers and molecules
  • FE-SEM-EDX for automated single-particle elemental concentrations and characterisations
  • Standalone microRaman for single-particle characterisations
  • XRD for mineralogy

We have a large array of nestboxes throughout Greater Manchester to study the impact of urban pollutants on birds.  And we have access to an extensive range of air monitoring equipment, on campus and across the region, as well as labs for testing aircraft/engine emissions and catalysis emissions.

Organism research

We have environmentally controlled amphibian and aquaria pods for the study of cichlid social behaviour and ocean acidification.

And we use high speed video cameras to investigate animal behaviour, and advanced sound recording facilities to research the acoustic communication of animals in the wild.

Our advanced 3D imaging and visualisation systems help us study evolutionary morphology and leaf cutter ant communal behaviour. 

Earth observation and geographic information system laboratory

We use sophisticated remote sensing techniques and geographic information system to monitor and understand environmental changes, and the climate and disaster risks arising from them. As well as pulling in medium-to-coarse resolution satellite data, we use drones to collect data for model training and validation.

Contact

Contact us

If you want to know more about working with us, you can get in touch with centre director Prof Paul Hooper.

p.d.hooper@mmu.ac.uk