New Climate Crisis Pump-Priming Awards 2024–2026

UCL's Grand Challenge of Climate Crisis recently awarded ‘pump-priming’ funding to support cross-disciplinary research in three strategic areas for the climate crisis: 

• Climate governance 
• Food security
• Sustainable aviation 

Awards of up to £75,000 were available to develop research ideas that could become the basis for bids for further funding in these areas. Anyone interested in applying for funding under the scheme was invited to join one of our research funding workshops, where they could meet potential research partners from across the university and develop their project ideas. 

Twelve awards were made for projects that will run until the end of the academic year 2025/26. Three further promising ideas also received funding until the end of the current academic year (2024/25). We have also partnered with UCL Innovation and Enterprise to offer a further Sustainable Aviation award. 

The diagram below shows the links between different parts of UCL which are being enabled by these awards.  

The UCL Pro-Vice-Provosts for Climate Crisis, Professors Lisa Vanhala and Mark Maslin commented: 

“

We were excited to see such a strong response to this pump-priming call. The call was designed to support interdisciplinary research collaborations that build on UCL’s broad expertise in climate research. We received over 50 exceptional applications from ten faculties, reflecting the breadth of innovative approaches to the climate crisis at UCL. The 15 projects we are supporting represent a significant investment in bold, creative solutions from the UCL community. The funded projects address urgent global challenges in Climate Governance, Food Security, and Sustainable Aviation. This call will drive meaningful change and lay the groundwork for larger, externally funded initiatives. We look forward to seeing the impact of these projects and the continued momentum they will generate in advancing UCL’s leadership in climate research and innovation.” 

Summary details of the projects awarded are below:

Climate Governance Awards 

AI-Powered Climate Lobbying Database: Automating Text Extraction, Network Graphs, and Policy Position Analysis 
£74,814.77 
Dr Nino Jordan, Institute for Sustainable Resources, The Bartlett 
Dr David Coen, Political Science, Social & Historical Sciences 

Designing a Multilateral Guarantee Facility for International Low-Carbon Investment: Legal, Institutional, and Political Dimensions 
£73,439.52 
Dr Pedro Schilling de Carvalho, Laws, Laws 
Prof Michael Grubb, Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources, The Bartlett 

Fire sales of green bonds: how can complex network dynamics help us understand crisis resilience in sustainable asset management? 
£75,000 
Dr Maurizio Fiaschetti, Institute of Finance and Technology, Engineering Sciences 
Prof Andrea Macrina, Department of Mathematics, Mathematical & Physical Sciences 

CADENCE: Consequences of Adaptation for DEmocratic AdvaNCE 
£74,545.71 
Prof Mark Pelling, Department for Risk and Disaster Reduction, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 
Prof Lauren Andres, Bartlett School of Planning, The Bartlett 

Empowering UK Cities to Accelerate the Green Industrial Transition 
£74,967 
Prof Neave O'Clery, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, The Bartlett 
Dr Rachel Wilde, Education, Practice & Society, Institute of Education 

Progress reporting on climate change mitigation and adaptation: unlocking the governance challenge for strategic local authorities. 
£65,009.46 
Prof Mark Miodownik, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Sciences 
Dr Olivia Stevenson, UCL Public Policy, RIGE 

Single year funding 

Accountability from above or within? Looking for leadership which holds water 
£31,902.21
Dr Efrosyni Konstantinou, School of Sustainable Construction, The Bartlett 
Prof Nora Colton, Global Business School for Health, Population Health Sciences 

Food Security 

Enhanced Crop Yields with Photoconversion Mulch Film: an interdisciplinary project between optical engineering and plant sciences 
£75,000 
Prof Ioannis Papakonstantinou, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Engineering Sciences 
Prof Gail Taylor, Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Faculty of Life Sciences 

Leveraging Bottom-up Food Markets to Build Resilience and Decarbonisation in Food Systems: Lessons from London 
£49974 
Prof Maurizio Marinelli, Institute for Global Prosperity, The Bartlett 
Dr Estella Carpi, Risk and Disaster Reduction, Mathematical & Physical Sciences 

Innovative strategies for the scalable production of cultivated meat 
£74,917.85 
Dr Petra Hanga, Biochemical Engineering, Engineering Sciences 
Prof Richard Day, Division of Medicine, Medical Sciences 

Quantifying Biodiversity in Agri-Food Systems with Air-DNA 
£60,729 
Prof Elli Leadbeater, Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Life Sciences 
Prof Duncan Wilson, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, The Bartlett 

Single year funding 

The Role of Social Insects in Food Security: Lessons from Traditional Communities Across the World 
£30,788.00
Prof Seirian Sumner, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Life Sciences
Dr Lewis Daly, Anthropology, Social and Historical Sciences;  

Towards Culturally Diverse, Climate-Resilient Food Futures 
£30,752.00  
Dr Hanna Baumann, Institute for Global Prosperity, The Bartlett  
Prof Theano Moussouri, Archaeology, Social & Historical Sciences 

Sustainable Aviation 

Manufacturing SAF from Waste Plastics and Renewable Energy: Phase-2 (Technology Demonstration Pilot – Design & Economical Assessment) 
£75,000 
Dr Massimiliano Materazzi, Chemical Engineering, Engineering Sciences 
Prof Mark Barrett, Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources, The Bartlett 

The Political Economy of Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Exploring market opportunities for African production and the implications for national decarbonisation policy 
£75,000 
Dr Roberto Cardinale, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, The Bartlett 
Dr Simon Chin-Yee, Department of Political Science, Social and Historical Sciences 

Funded in partnership with UCL Innovation and Enterprise

Toxicity of real-world emissions and impacts on lifecycle assessment from SAF at Copenhagen Airport
£50,000 
Prof Paul Hellier, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Sciences
Dr Isabela Butnar, Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources, The Bartlett