A student uses geographical information systems on a computer

Geospatial Data Science

Group Leaders
Peter Atkinson

Professor Peter Atkinson

Distinguished Professor, Executive Dean

Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science, DSI - Environment, Geospatial Data Science, Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre, LIRA - Environmental Modelling, LIRA - Fundamentals, STOR-i Centre for Doctoral Training

George Blackburn

Professor George Blackburn

Professor Emeritus

Geospatial Data Science, Improving global stewardship, Innovation for a better environment, Understanding a changing planet

A25, A - Floor, LEC 3

Publications

Projects

Can Image Analysis and DNA sequencing be integrated to describe ecological structure?
31/03/2021 → 30/03/2022
Research

DSI: 4DGreenland
19/11/2020 → 18/11/2022
Research

Pilot study: Can we use drone technology for quantifying and monitoring flower resources in field margins?
01/11/2020 → 30/04/2021
Research

DSI: CryoSta-2 ThEMatic PrOducts | Cryo-TEMPO (Phase 1)
01/10/2020 → 31/12/2021
Research

Future Places: A Digital Economy Centre on Understanding Place Through Pervasive Computing
01/10/2020 → 30/09/2025
Research

DSI: Antarctica4d - supplement
15/09/2020 → 14/09/2021
Research

DSI: Earth Observation 4 Surface Mass Balance
01/09/2020 → 31/12/2024
Research

DSI: Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)
01/08/2020 → 31/03/2023
Research

DSI: GCRF Exploration and Enhancement of Land Management Strategies Using Hyperspectral Image-ry and Big Data Analytics
01/04/2020 → 31/03/2021
Research

Integrating new statistical frameworks into eDNA survey and analysis at the landscape scale
01/02/2020 → 30/09/2022
Research

Explainable AI for UK agricultural land use decision-making
01/12/2019 → 30/11/2020
Research

Explainable AI for UK agricultural land use decision-making
01/12/2019 → 30/11/2020
Research

DSI: Antarctica4d
15/11/2019 → 15/10/2022
Research

Meltwater Ice-sheet Interactions and the changing climate of Greenland (MII-Greenland)
16/09/2019 → 15/05/2023
Research

IAA: Deep Learning in Massive Area, Multi-scale Resolution Remotely Sensed Imagery (IND Code)
02/09/2019 → 14/08/2020
Research

Understanding and reducing lodging in maize and rice: Impact acceleration
01/05/2019 → 31/08/2019
Research

Independent study on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) flows in the UK
01/04/2019 → 31/12/2019
Consultancy

Newton Fund PhD Placement - Xuyu Bai
01/04/2019 → 31/03/2020
Research

Polar Monitoring Mission, Assessment and Consolidation of Requirements and Analysis of Campaign Data
03/12/2018 → 31/12/2021
Research

DSI: Centre for Polar Observation and Monitoring
01/11/2018 → 31/03/2022
Research

SEOM- Sentinel 3 Performance Improvements for ICE sheets (“SPICE”)
01/11/2018 → 31/08/2019
Research

Advancing Drought Monitoring, Prediction, and Management Capabilities (Workshop)
17/09/2018 → 20/09/2018
Research

Sentinel-3 Tandem for Climate (S3TC)
15/06/2018 → 31/12/2021
Research

DSI: Data Science of the Natural Environment
16/04/2018 → 15/04/2024
Research

Rutherford Fund Strategic Partner Grant 2018
01/04/2018 → 31/03/2019
Research

Proximity to Discover: Industry Engagement for Impact
31/03/2018 → 30/11/2019
Research

Envision DTP: A multi-scale assessment of secondary forest in the Brazilian Amazon.
02/10/2017 → 31/03/2022
Research

Indoor Particulate Matter and Personal Mitigation in Guangzhou, China
01/08/2017 → 01/08/2021
Research

Improving Air Quality, Energy Efficiency, Well-Being and Productivity in Private and Public Buildings
01/02/2017 → 01/03/2020
Research

Sustainable regeneration: From evidence based urban futures to implementation
01/05/2008 → 30/04/2012
Research

Research Activity

We are undertaking research to develop innovative spatial techniques in order to increase our understanding of a wide range of environmental and socio-ecological systems.

We are constructing novel geospatial modelling and spatial data science approaches for application to new data streams such as spatial trajectories and satellite Earth Observation data.

Our goal is to apply the techniques that we are developing to answer a range of fundamental science and "grand challenge" questions.

  • Climate Change and the Cryosphere

    We need to understand the impact of climate change on Earth’s frozen regions to evaluate the contribution from melted ice and snow to future sea level. At Lancaster, we use geophysical modelling, remote sensing and data science methods to study the quantity and distribution of melting on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and the interactions between meltwater and ice flow. Our research is quantifying meltwater-induced perturbations to the Greenland ice sheet dynamics, understanding the role of supraglacial lakes in Antarctic ice shelf collapse and investigating the role of advanced statistics in improving predictions of future ice melting.

  • Environmental Changes in Global Ecosystems

    We are facing an unprecedented age of environmental changes in ecosystems across the globe. To tackle this grand challenge, we are examining how ecosystems function and respond to contemporary environmental changes, including climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and exploring the social impacts of those interactions on local food security, forest fires and tropical infectious diseases. This research spans the natural and social sciences, and we apply the tools of plant ecology, ecosystem science, geostatistics and remote sensing.

  • Human Exposure

    Through understanding the spatial and temporal constraints on individual human behaviour in relation to social and environmental hazards such as air pollution and vector-borne disease, for example, through the tracking of individual movements and agent-based modelling, we are able to develop improved measures of individual exposure. This, in turn, is leading to increased understanding of the impacts of exposure on health and wellbeing. We are using new and emerging sources of data to develop more sophisticated models that operate across network and cellular representations of space.

Research Microsites

Research Highlights

Montage: in the centre Professor Kirk Semple smiles to the camera, between images of the inside and outside of Lancaster Environment Centre

New LEC Director – from soil microbiology to multidisciplinary collaborations that make a positive difference

Bringing people together across disciplines and continents and giving everyone a voice to support sustainable, resilient and equitable futures, is the ambition of the Lancaster Environment Centre’s new director.
Medals laid out with bright blue ribbons

Colleagues of the Year Awards 2022

Recognising the exceptional​ contribution colleagues made to the day-to-day life ​of Lancaster Environment Centre this academic year.
Students of all genders sit on basalt rock columns

Top in the North West

Lancaster University is the best place in the North West to study Geography and Environmental Sciences, according to the Complete University Guide 2023.
Composite of two photos: a man tends food plants in a small raised bed of soil in the Amazon (left) and a car drives through a flooded UK road passing a "road closed due to flooding" sign and a bus stop

Ranked 2nd in the UK for the real-world impact of environmental research

The research carried out by the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) makes a real difference to people’s lives, according to the results of the UK Government’s research excellence framework (REF).
A group of very happy people cheering surrounded by colourful Brazilian drums

Brazilian carnival comes to Lancaster

Lancarnaval - a Brazilian style carnival celebration – is being held in Lancaster this weekend, thanks to a group of Brazilians who came to Lancaster University to work or study.
Pint of Science graphic

Grab a pint, of science

People across Morecambe and Lancaster are invited to join Lancaster University scientists for a chat in the pub.
A meltwater lake on the Sørsdal Glacier

Warmer summers and meltwater lakes are threatening the fringes of the world’s largest ice sheet

A study looking at surface meltwater lakes around the East Antarctic Ice Sheet has found that the area and volume of these lakes is highly variable year-to-year, and offers new insights into the potential impact of recent climatic change on the ‘Frozen Continent’. 
Simon stands in a woodland smiling and holding a professional camera

Doing it all

Cartographer, scientific illustrator, graphic designer, photographer, barman, pot washer, cleaner – 'jack of all trades' leaves Lancaster University after 18 years to focus on his family business, a 'knitting hotel'.
Composite image: a mother cradling a newborn baby (left), a person at a fruit market (centre), and a row of cows standing in water (right)

Feeding research into policy & practice

Improving food production from Africa to Lancaster, reducing carbon, waste & pollution, enhancing mother’s birth experience: Lancaster’s environmental researchers show how their work is improving lives.

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