The University of Sheffield
Interdisciplinary Centre of the Social Sciences

Research groups based in ICOSS

The Centre's interdisciplinary focus across the social sciences recognises the importance of collaborative work and physical proximity in addressing problem focussed and policy relevant research.

All departments within the faculty of Social Sciences are potential stakeholders in ICOSS and a number of research groups from across these disciplines are already located within ICOSS.

The research groups currently based in ICOSS are listed below. For further information on a particular research group please follow the link to the group's own website (listed on the right).

Building Environments Analysis Unit (BEAU)

The Building Environments Analysis Unit (BEAU, formerly known as Building Energy Analysis Unit) in the School of Architecture aims to promote research, teaching, training and consultancy in the field of energy and environmental issues related to the built environment, and to provide advice and support on sustainable building design to the building industry.

Our ultimate goal is to tackling Climate Change through developing Low Carbon Buildings. We have experiences through projects funded by EPSRC, Yorkshire Forward, Carbon Trust, Public/Private organisations and the EU platforms such as ERDF, Marie Curie, ERASMUS and EUREKA.

BEAU is a multi-disciplinary Research Centre based in ICOSS with primary roles:

Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF) – Low Carbon Supply Chain

Part of the Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LSCM) Research Centre.

In the Low Carbon Supply Chain Strand within the Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF), a balanced approach will consider a number of critical themes in developing a Balanced Green Supply Chain System. This system will include but not limited to clean technology management, waste minimisation, eco-accounting and investment models and standards. Supply uncertainty, technology uncertainty, demand uncertainty, and risk propensity of industrialists and policy makers towards these uncertainties will be mapped out in order to balance the green supply chain system. The level of energy efficiency and conservation and CO2 emissions will be assessed and the supply chain will be modelled. The performance output of this system will lead to the consolidation of a set of green measures to assess readiness, resilience and adaptation to climate change throughout the supply chain. These measures could also be used to set up the criteria for establishing the Responsible Investor Standard (RIS) and Green Impact Assessment Matrix (GIAM). Evaluating the potential business feasibility and sustainability of biorenewables generated supply and energy conversion technology is also important to enable full and holistic technology foresighting and options assessments and understanding of important decision variables for clean technology investment.

The proposed work will be carried out in several meta-projects, addressing the ever changing business landscape and eco-innovations developed over time. The pilot project is a scaled down version of the above, which will not only include the breath of the above issues but also the depth of those issues in selected sectors in the Yorkshire region. For the pilot project, 4 PDRAs will be appointed to undertake the research in the following themes:

Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth (CSCY)

The Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth was established in 2002. It is a multi-disciplinary Research Centre committed to contributing to the improvement of children and young people´s lives. Through research and dissemination it is actively involved in gaining a greater understanding of the lives of children and young people in modern society and in helping to develop and shape local, national and international policies that improve their everyday lives.

Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC)

CLAHRC will undertake high quality, strategic, applied research and related education in order to enable a 'step change' in the way research is delivered and services are designed in South Yorkshire; and to foster knowledge transfer that will improve the quality and effectiveness of health care delivery across South Yorkshire.

The CLAHRC research taking place in ICOSS falls under the heading of "Stroke - Prevention and Long-Term Management in the Community" with the aim of reducing the incidence of stroke within South Yorkshire and to improve the long-term provision and effectiveness of rehabilitation of stroke patients with the community.

Consumer Culture in an Age of Anxiety (CONANX)

CONANX is a four-year research programme (2009-2012), funded by the European Research Council, that will investigate consumer anxieties about food at a variety of geographical scales from the global scale of international food markets to the domestic scale of individual households.

Experiential Landscape (elp:rdu)

This project contributes to theory and practice in landscape architecture and urban design by developing from an intellectual construct called experiential landscape. This offers new ways of looking at relations between people and outdoor spaces used everyday, and a way of doing analysis and design in landscape and urban design practice.

The Green Roof Centre

The Green Roof Centre is an independent research and demonstration hub, which supports and promotes the uptake of green roofs through demonstrating their benefits and potential in a wide range of settings and scales.

Founded by the University of Sheffield and Groundwork Sheffield, and based in South Yorkshire, the Green Roof Centre operates with partners in the region to demonstrate the potential of green roof uptake in the UK.

South Yorkshire Comprehensive Local Research Network

The South Yorkshire Comprehensive Local Research Network (CLRN) is one of 25 CLRNs across England which form part of the NIHR Comprehensive Clincial Research Network (CCRN). CCRN provides support for clinical trials and other well designed studies in all areas of disease and clinical need.

Statistical Studies of Access to Higher Education in Further Education Colleges

A Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded project that extends the work of the quantitative arm of the Further Higher project, which examined the transition of students from Further Education to Higher Education. Both projects involve analysis of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) database as well as the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) database.

Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agendas (URSULA)

URSULA is an interdisciplinary collaboration between seven Departments in the University of Sheffield, Bradford and Durham Universities, and a wide range of external partners. It is funded by EPSRC to the value of £2.5M over 4 years, providing 310 man-months of researcher effort.

The URSULA hypothesis is that there are significant social, economic and environmental gains to be made by integrated and innovative interventions in urban river corridors. We will test this by providing a portfolio of interventions, tools and supporting evidence for the redevelopment of urban river corridors to create `places where people want to live and work, now and in the future´.