GeoEngineering Assessment & Research
A new, vibrant research centre at the School of Environmental Sciences in the University of East Anglia.

Welcome to GEAR

Researchers at the GeoEngineering Assessment & Research (GEAR) initiative are engaged in evaluating the range of environmental issues surrounding the emerging field of geoengineering. GEAR is an independent academic initiative keen to provide objective scientific assessment of geoengineering to inform science and policy makers.

Geoengineering is the large scale intervention in the Earth system to counteract human induced climate change. There are two types of geoengineering approaches that have different interactions with the climate system.

GEAR is supported by the Norfolk Charitable Trust.

9th July 2010: PhD Opportunity at University of Oxford, Department of Engineering Science

Applications are invited for a research studentship on geoengineering technology assessment, at the University of Oxford, Department of Engineering Science. This studentship is part of the EPSRC/NERC project: Integrated Assessment of Geoengineering Proposals (IAGP), which aims to build a framework for assessing geoengineering technologies. For more information click here. Closing date is noon on Wednesday July 28th 2010.

5th July 2010: Geoengineering in The Independent

Dr Nem Vaughan spoke to Sophie Morris last week about our research on assessing geoengineering. The article can be viewed here.

19th May 2010: Dana Centre geoengineering event

The Dana Centre is holding an evening public event on geoengineering entitled, 'My technology can save the world'. Nem Vaughan has been invited to talk about biochar (a carbon dioxide removal technique). Other speakers are from The Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

13th March 2010: NERC public dialogue on geoengineering

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is conducting a public dialogue about geoengineering entitled, 'Experiment Earth?'. Nem Vaughan was invited to participate as an expert on geoengineering at one of the public dialogue workshops the Eden Project in Cornwall.

22nd March 2010: Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies

The Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies was held from 22nd to 26th March 2010 in Pacfic Grove, California. A key focus of the conference was on developing and proposing guidelines for the responsible conduct of potential research activities. Andy Watson and Nem Vaughan attended and participated in the conference.

18th March 2010: Royal Society launches geoengineering governance study

The Royal Society launched a major new initiative tackling the governance of solar radiation management geoengineering techniques. The initiative is being undertaken by the Royal Society in partnership with the TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

30th October 2009: MIT Geoengineering Symposium

Tim Lenton attended a geoengineering symposium, 'Engineering a cooler Earth: can we do it? should we do it?' hosted by the Earth System Initiative at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

21st October 2009: Geoengineering in The Guardian

Nem Vaughan spoke to The Guardian's Alok Jha about geoengineering in relation to comments about using stratopspheric aerosols in the new book Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.

Read the article here.