Research Strategy 2022-2030

Version:	2.00
Status:	Final
Author	Professor Angela Lee
Date	09/06/2025

Approval History

Version	Date	Comments	Approver
1.00	06/10/2022	Approved	Research Committee
2.00	09/06/2025	Approved	Research Committee

Document History

Version	Date	Comments	Person
0.01	10/10/2022	Revision of previous strategy	Angela Lee
1.01	11/05/2025	Updated	Angela Lee

Background

The University of the Built Environment’s ambition is to transform into a research-informed institution, as the ‘Centre for Excellence for Built Environment Education.’ With this, our central strategy, GLOBE, that will lead the University up to 2030, will place sustainability at the centre of our core purpose.

Achieving a better Built Environment is increasingly synonymous with a sustainable Built Environment. The ultimate impact the University strives to achieve is framed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), with our primary focus of activity on the SDGs to which the University’s core purpose most directly aligns, as well as demonstrating our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials. Therefore, the University’s 2022-2030 Research Strategy is intended to form a reference point and provide the basis for the actions the University take to ensure that research contributes fully to GLOBE’s objectives. It reflects our historical and current research position, and how the University can improve upon this for the future.

Many actions set out in this strategy depend upon changes in the culture and processes in the School and in our Research Centre, and most importantly, as individuals. Therefore, widespread buy-in will be needed if this strategy is to be realised. It is also important that this Research Strategy is coordinated with other areas of the University, for teaching and enterprise. The overarching driver is a University, which is excellent in research and research impact, is far better equipped to meet and exceed the expectations of its students and wider stakeholders.

The University has a clear intention to play a leading role in setting the built environment research agenda, nationally and internationally, through real-world focused research. Our aspiration is to build upon our reputation to deliver world-leading, co-created research that shapes built environments of the future. Our research has a global impact in supporting the creation of sustainable, resilient buildings that embrace ideas to improve the wellbeing and wider cultural lives of all their citizens.

The University acknowledges the new fast-changing realities in our towns and cities. These developments are a result of the following:

The reality of climate change

The challenges and decline of infrastructure

The emergence of ecology of cities

The challenge of governance

The economic turmoil

Ageing population

With this, urbanisation is increasing at an alarming rate. The majority of towns and cities face ecological threats that require immediate intervention for survival. Climate change will soon reach a point in many places where the average coldest year will be hotter than the past 40 years (a climate departure point; the journal Nature projects that the whole world will pass the climate departure point in 2047). The need for a true circular economy has never been greater.

Disruptive innovations, largely relying on the significant advance in digital technologies, have already helped the sector achieve progress towards achieving sustainable, resilient, and more inclusive future-built environments. The University therefore will position itself in a way to best deliver against these new realities. Staff are poised to generate concepts and solutions that are designed to create ideas, digital tools and new infrastructure, that all work together to deliver solutions for new forms of living. In doing so, the University aims to address the UNSDG agenda – our GLOBE strategy has the UNSDGs as its core. Achieving a better built environment is synonymous with a sustainable Built Environment.

The University encourages staff to engage with research and advanced scholarship within our Sustainable Built Environment and Property Research Centre; all staff are invited to be full members, or associate members. Our Research Centre is built around three key thematic research areas that form the core focus of our work:

Adapting to a changing world

The world is rapidly changing, where the urgent need to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change is undeniable. The built environment sits at the heart of both the problem and the solution. While sustainable methods for new construction are well-established, the strategies for adapting our existing buildings and cities are less defined - yet they are critical to achieving global sustainability targets.

The existing built environment, with its complexity and diversity, demands a shift away from one-size-fits-all rating systems towards tailored, context-specific solutions. As the discourse moves beyond "net zero," circularity and adaptive reuse are emerging as key strategies, emphasising the importance of transforming what the University already has rather than focusing solely on new builds. This research theme will therefore centre on adapting the built environment to meet contemporary sustainability challenges, with a focus on retrofit, adaptation, and the re-evaluation of how the University measures environmental, cultural, and economic performance. It calls for a paradigm shift not only in practice but also in education, policy, supply chains, infrastructure, and urban design – ensuring that new construction aligns with and enhances the existing context as the University responds to our changing world.

Societal wellbeing and transformation

The traditional reductionist separation between the built environment and societal constructs such as happiness, health, education, social mobility, well-being, healthy communities through place building, and of course all things sustainability, is being challenged. Such rhetoric had traditionally placed humans (and other actants) in a one-way consumer orientated relationship with the built environment. That tradition offered little to no acknowledgment of the causal relationships around such constructs. This research theme seeks to reposition the built environment and its relationship with all stakeholders, recognising the need for more nuanced yet holistic thinking.

In doing so, the research theme will seek to mobilise both fresh theoretical, and also, methodological approaches. It is envisaged such approaches will draw upon the broader social sciences, whilst seeking to look beyond and challenge the silo’s long held by the built environment sector.

The research theme offers two key points of departure, privileging the iterative causal relationship between the built environment and stakeholders and how that might be improved. Secondly, offering a collegiate, fertile and supportive space to look beyond the narrow built environment literatures, and instead draw upon giants from the broader social sciences and thus fresh perspectives that can challenge and disrupt.

Towards an Equal, Diverse, and Inclusive built environment

It is imperative that the construction and wider built environment sectors foster a truly diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the rich variety of global communities they serve. Increasing representation across ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic background, and other underrepresented groups is equally critical.

The University acknowledges that broadening diversity in construction not only addresses entrenched inequalities but also brings valuable knowledge, fresh perspectives, and innovation that make the industry more dynamic, resilient, and efficient. Although there is growing recognition of the need to attract, recruit, and retain a more diverse workforce – through fostering an inclusive culture and widening the talent pool – progress remains slow. While the sector is gradually becoming more appealing to underrepresented groups, much work is still required to embed diversity and inclusion as core priorities, not peripheral concerns. At the University, we are committed to building on our strengths to establish internationally recognised, interdisciplinary research excellence, capitalising on the innovation that arises from cross-disciplinary and inclusive collaboration. As a first step, our focus is to better understand the specific challenges faced by diverse groups in the construction industry – including those related to balancing career progression with family responsibilities, navigating cultural and systemic barriers, and accessing opportunities – so the University can identify practical changes that create a more supportive, inclusive environment for all.

The University has a firm commitment to grow the breadth and depth of our research, and this Research Strategy sets out a number of objectives:

Aim:	Success measure:
Grow our research	Research income. High-quality research outputs. Postgraduate Research (PGR) students. Number/ proportion of staff capable of supervising PGR students. Number/ proportion of staff engaged in research.
From participation to leadership	External impact and influence, not limited to the number of conferences, seminars, workshops that the University convenes and attends etc.; staff sitting on editorial boards, membership of global networks, advisory panels etc.
Drive impact and make change	Research-informed curricular in all UG and PGT programmes. Strategic partnerships established with leading organisations from academia and industry. Numbers of co-produced/ collaborative research. Numbers of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research Future Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission.

The University will aim to do this by:

The University will:	The University will do this by:
To provide a research culture and infrastructure that attracts and retains world-class academics.	To become the location of choice for research excellent staff at all career stages. Clear pathways for promotion through a supported workload balancing model. Provision of research mentoring for staff. To provide an environment that attracts and retains staff at the peak of their research careers. To ensure administrative support for research is integrated and supportive to maximise quality time to undertake research.
To provide a research environment that attracts and supports high quality postgraduate researchers (home- growing our own research active staff is key), with first class training, supervision and facilities.	Offer research degrees with support from an accrediting partner, with the ambition of obtaining RDAP (Research Degree Awarding Powers) in the long term. Extend supervisory capacity in areas of strategic importance for PGR growth. Work closely with external institutions to support PhD activities; to collaborate in doctoral partnerships and projects. Build on links with international university partners to support shared PhD activities, with the ambition of developing a doctoral school in future.
To publish high quality, impactful research	Maintain the highest standards of rigour and integrity in all aspects of research. Ensure the quality of our research is reflected by leading performance in any measures of quality that may be applied, including international rankings and the REF, by publishing in leading outlets and attracting high levels of citations for the majority of our outputs. Support the requirements of Open Access while taking account of the specific needs of our discipline. Externalise our research, including maintaining a University repository. Ensure our research has an impact beyond academia and yield economic, social and cultural benefits.
To be recognised both in the UK and internationally for the application of our research for the benefit of industry, commerce, government and society as a whole.	To convene high-profile research focused events. Leading in the development of wider debates around the role of the built environment in social, economic and environmental change. Ensuring consistency of message in communicating our research agenda to externals.
To foster a research environment that supports Sustainability (GLOBE) and key research themes of UK Research Councils and addresses global challenges	Develop strategically important areas of research growth. Develop new areas of research collaboration informing our own subject research but also redirecting the development of other disciplines. Exploit our capabilities to form new and ground-breaking interdisciplinary combinations to address societal challenges.
To be a valued collaborator with UK and international businesses and industries through collaboration, partnerships and knowledge exchange.	Create institutional partnerships, both internationally and within the UK. Increase external funding for research through pre- application support; increased training for early and mid-career researchers in funding applications. Develop the relationship of our research activities with SMEs, professions and international industry partners. Increase the visibility of our staff in national and international media forums.