Environmental Change Institute

NUI Galway's unique location on the North Western periphery of Europe, adjacent to the North Atlantic Ocean, has made it a great location for national and international collaborative research on atmospheric processes and climate change. The Environmental Change Institute makes a significant contribution to the very challenging field of environmental change research through its interdisciplinary approach, its pool of experienced researchers and motivated and scientifically-literate graduates, its purpose-built centre and state of the art equipment.

The Environmental Change Institute is conducting a wide range of research projects in the following areas:

Climate Change

Atmospheric composition and emissions
Air quality and pollution
Ocean-atmosphere exchange
Climate-ecosystem interactions

Biodiversity

Landscape management
Habitat mapping
Terrestrial, soil and marine ecology
Maintenance of biodiversity

Energy

Bioenergy
Renewable resources
Energy efficient technologies
Energy and society

Environment and Health

Water quality and human health
Health impact assessment
Environmental pathogens
Microbial source tracking

Environmental Informatics

Modelling of marine/atmospheric processes
Modelling the geological landscape
GIS integration
Remote sensing for environmental assessment

Environmental Technologies

Environmentally damaging emissions
Wastewater treatment systems
Alternative fuels
Environmental diagnostics

Social and Economic Impacts

Population, mobility, ecology
Agricultural restructuring
Environmental policy
Tourism and environment

GIS Facility

  • GIS/Remote Sensing (RS) training suite, containing nine computers running Windows 2000 with Pentium 4 2.2 GHz processors and 1 GB of RAM.
  • GIS lab containing eight computers with Pentium 4 2.2GHz processors and 1 GB of RAM.
  • Two Fujitsu-Siemens Primergy TX servers for hosting GIS/Imagery Datasets/Geoprocessing and for GIS-related web projects.
One server hosts the datasets and other information files,
The second server hosts web applications.
Both servers have 2 Xeon 3.06GHz processors, 2GB of RAM, and a RAID disk array of 546GB with an online backup.
  • The ECI training suite and GIS Lab are wireless enabled.
  • Internet GIS Application Server, ArcIMS for publishing geographic information through the internet/intranet.

Carron Field Research Station

  • The Carron Field Research Station was set up by NUI Galway as a base for groups involved in research on the Burren.
  • Dormitory accommodation for groups of up to 2
  • Separate accommodation for up to four supervisory staff
  • Cooking and dining areas
  • Meeting rooms
  • Fully serviced teaching laboratory

Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station

The Atmospheric Research Station Mace Head, Carna, County Galway offers westerly exposure to the North Atlantic ocean (clean sector, 180 degrees through west to 300 degrees) and the opportunity to study atmospheric composition under Northern Hemispheric background conditions, as well as European continental emissions when the winds favour transport from that region.

ECI/Orbsen Building

The New ECI building was completed in September 2003 and is situated on the North East side of the NUI Galway campus near the River Corrib.

PhD opportunity

Development of a greenhouse gas ocean-atmosphere flux sensor with MEMS-based photoacoustic technology

Postdoctoral researcher

Energy Research Centre: Life cycle energy modelling and information management in buildings Please visit our jobs section for a complete list of current vacancies.

The Environmental Change Institute is conducting a wide range of research projects in the following areas:

Climate Change

Atmospheric composition and emissions
Air quality and pollution
Ocean-atmosphere exchange
Climate-ecosystem interactions

Biodiversity

Landscape management
Habitat mapping
Terrestrial, soil and marine ecology
Maintenance of biodiversity

Energy

Bioenergy
Renewable resources
Energy efficient technologies
Energy and society

Environment and Health

Water quality and human health
Health impact assessment
Environmental pathogens
Microbial source tracking

Environmental Informatics

Modelling of marine/atmospheric processes
Modelling the geological landscape
GIS integration
Remote sensing for environmental assessment

Environmental Technologies

Environmentally damaging emissions
Wastewater treatment systems
Alternative fuels
Environmental diagnostics

Social and Economic Impacts

Population, mobility, ecology
Agricultural restructuring
Environmental policy
Tourism and environment

GIS Facility

  • GIS/Remote Sensing (RS) training suite, containing nine computers running Windows 2000 with Pentium 4 2.2 GHz processors and 1 GB of RAM.
  • GIS lab containing eight computers with Pentium 4 2.2GHz processors and 1 GB of RAM.
  • Two Fujitsu-Siemens Primergy TX servers for hosting GIS/Imagery Datasets/Geoprocessing and for GIS-related web projects.
One server hosts the datasets and other information files,
The second server hosts web applications.
Both servers have 2 Xeon 3.06GHz processors, 2GB of RAM, and a RAID disk array of 546GB with an online backup.
  • The ECI training suite and GIS Lab are wireless enabled.
  • Internet GIS Application Server, ArcIMS for publishing geographic information through the internet/intranet.

Carron Field Research Station

  • The Carron Field Research Station was set up by NUI Galway as a base for groups involved in research on the Burren.
  • Dormitory accommodation for groups of up to 2
  • Separate accommodation for up to four supervisory staff
  • Cooking and dining areas
  • Meeting rooms
  • Fully serviced teaching laboratory

Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station

The Atmospheric Research Station Mace Head, Carna, County Galway offers westerly exposure to the North Atlantic ocean (clean sector, 180 degrees through west to 300 degrees) and the opportunity to study atmospheric composition under Northern Hemispheric background conditions, as well as European continental emissions when the winds favour transport from that region.

ECI/Orbsen Building

The New ECI building was completed in September 2003 and is situated on the North East side of the NUI Galway campus near the River Corrib.

PhD opportunity

Development of a greenhouse gas ocean-atmosphere flux sensor with MEMS-based photoacoustic technology

Postdoctoral researcher

Energy Research Centre: Life cycle energy modelling and information management in buildings Please visit our jobs section for a complete list of current vacancies.