SUSTAINABILITY
Generating solutions for a sustainable future:
how our Global Research Institutes are driving transformative change
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) shape an international project that aims to tackle the major global crises our world faces, from climate change to economic hardship and inequality. The SDGs and their 160+ associated targets are among humanity’s best chance of creating a sustainable future.
At Heriot-Watt, our Global Research Institutes are focused on supporting the achievement of the SDGs through radical innovation. As progressive, multi-disciplinary convening platforms, they operate across our global campuses to advance collaboration across science, engineering, business and design.
Professor Gillian Murray, Deputy Principal of Business and Enterprise, explains: “The Global Research Institutes are engines for systemic change. Through them we mobilise resources, spur collaboration with diverse partners in business and industry, and deliver solutions focused on long-term impact. They will help us to transform the way people live and work and support an inclusive, sustainable future.”
There are four Global Research Institutes (GRIs), each with a clear thematic focus, spanning robotics and AI, health and care technologies, Earth and marine sciences, and infrastructure, energy transition and decarbonisation – they tackle the interdependency of global problems and the multi-dimensional ways needed to solve them.
Ready to drive sustainable innovation through interdisciplinary research?
Connect with our team to explore opportunities.
Our Global Research Institutes are engines for systemic change, supporting an inclusive, sustainable future.”
Our iNetZ+ GRI is focused on the urgent imperative to transition to low-carbon energy.”
Tackling the challenges of transitioning to net zero
Most recently the University has established the iNetZ+ Global Research Institute, focused on the urgent imperative to transition to low-carbon energy. Building on Heriot-Watt’s extensive expertise, from fundamental science to applied industrial work, iNetZ+ brings together research across decarbonisation, large-scale smart energy systems, sustainable synthetic fuels, green logistics, cooling technologies, new materials, policy, economics, and social sciences.
Professor Peter Cummings, academic co-lead for iNetZ+, commented: “Our holistic approach integrates a broad range of areas to tackle the challenges of transitioning to net zero. We have a substantial, diverse portfolio of frontier work across the University including the development and application of hydrogen technologies, alternative and integrated energy systems, and smart construction, but also in areas such as aquaculture, biodiversity and food and drink production. Through collaborative research with business and industry, iNetZ+ generates new knowledge, insights, and practical solutions to drive technological innovation, inform policy development, and promote sustainability in the UK and beyond.”
Interested in collaborating with us on net-zero innovation and sustainable technologies?
Please contact us via GRID@hw.ac.uk
Snapshots of innovation from our Global Research Institutes
Eco-innovation for the construction industry
iNetZ+ Global Research Institute
Heriot-Watt spin-out company, Kenoteq, has created the world’s first building brick made from over 90% recycled construction and demolition waste. As a ground-breaking, sustainable building material, and an exemplar circular economy product, the K-BRIQ® has the potential to revolutionise the construction sector and this impact has been recognised through a number of awards.
Across the world, it is widely recognised that the construction industry must take action to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and increase its use of sustainable construction materials. The final embodied carbon (the carbon footprint) of the K-BRIQ® is under 20g CO₂e per unit, which is 95% less than a traditional clay brick. It also boasts the highest percentage of recycled content of any brick in the UK market.
MADE FROM
recycled construction and demolition waste
The K-BRIQ®.
Tackling medical waste using chewing gum and fridge parts
Health and Care Technologies Global Research Institute
Tackling the issue of medical waste from single use plastics is an urgent challenge. Lateral flow tests (LFTs), which many of us are familiar with from testing for Covid during the pandemic, are used extensively in healthcare, for example to identify Strep A, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy, and mosquito-borne diseases among others. If they could be created from sustainable materials, and without the use of fossil fuels in their production, it could save between 30% and 80% of carbon emissions that virgin plastic processing produces.
Our academics are devising a sustainable prototype lateral flow test using waste plastics, including old fridge parts, discarded chewing gum, and sustainably derived plastics. The team is testing its sustainable version to ensure they function as well as standard ones. The new devices could support global healthcare sustainability and the development of a circular economy through potential changes in procurement and legislation as well.
Preserving precious marine life
The Lyell Centre for Earth and Marine Sciences
Globally, more than four million tonnes of marine fish are unintentionally caught by trawling every year. Trawling is a fishing practice that herds and captures fish by towing a net along the ocean floor. However, this method also gathers sharks, rays, dolphins, critically endangered turtles and seabirds. Most of these creatures are returned dead or dying to the sea.
Researchers from the Lyell Centre and the National Robotarium have developed Smartrawl to tackle this problem. Using AI-technology to determine the individual size and species of marine life captured inside a trawl net, via images taken by an underwater stereo camera, Smartrawl releases or retains each marine animal depending on whether it qualifies against a trawler’s intended catch using a computer-controlled robotic gate. In this way vessels only catch the fish they are targetting and release other animals back into their natural environment quickly and without harm. Smartrawl will significantly benefit the marine environment while potentially revolutionising fisheries around the world by supporting them to be more commercially viable and sustainable.
Optimising resource use for farmers through AI
The National Robotarium
A partnership between Heriot-Watt and The University of Edinburgh, the National Robotarium is the largest and most advanced applied research facility for robotics and artificial intelligence in the UK. It promotes a breadth of innovation across a wide range of sectors including offshore renewables, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, utilities and retail.
One recent example is a new AI system that counts flowers on fruit trees with a 90% accuracy. This system is helping farmers to predict harvest sizes months in advance, making crop yields more efficient, sustainable, and profitable. Developed by researchers at the National Robotarium, alongside scientific partners in Chile and Spain, the system uses images taken with a standard smartphone to accurately estimate the number of flowers on a fruit tree by recognising patterns and features. By providing more precise yield forecasts up to six months before harvest, the system could help growers optimise water use, allocate human and economic resources more efficiently, and better plan harvesting and distribution logistics.
Ready to drive sustainable innovation through interdisciplinary research?
