Directors of Sustainable Futures

Alice is a Professor of Climate Science & Energy Policy and part of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. Although a physicist by training, her work has an interdisciplinary focus and spans multiple areas of climate change mitigation, particularly energy systems, shipping and aviation. Alice has held a number of leadership roles with the University, including Vice-Dean and Head of School of Engineering from 2019 to 2023. Alice joins the platform from her previous role as Energy Beacon Lead and brings a wealth of experience and expertise of energy research at the University, which she will continue to champion through her Sustainable Futures role.

Helen has been acting as Deputy Director for the platform since January 2023 and now continues her leadership of the platform as Co-Director. Helen is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology with expertise in sustainability, the sociology of consumption, materiality and the circular economy. She is a member of the Sustainable Consumption Institute and works across a diverse portfolio of interdisciplinary research projects, including the ESRC funded JUST Centre (Joined Up Sustainability Transformations); an EPSRC Prosperity Partnership with Bupa, exploring plastics circularity in the healthcare sector; and the UKRI funded One Bin to Rule Them All project.