£11.34 million gift to propel advances in environmental research

Philanthropic support from the Michael Uren Foundation will transform ecological research at Imperial’s Silwood Park Campus.

The world is facing unprecedented challenges in climate and environmental health, such as global warming, pollution and biodiversity loss. Understanding how changes in the world impact plants, insects and other living organisms that contribute to our ecosystems is crucial to creating informed policies that protect the wellbeing of the planet, nature and populations globally. Every day, Imperial scientists are investigating the forces that shape our world, from observing how pollution impacts soil health and crop yield to assessing the relationship between rising temperatures and disease transmission via insects. While experiments in the lab can give insight into these critical areas, outcomes are often limited and do not reflect real-world situations.

Transformational support from the Michael Uren Foundation will bridge the gap between lab and field, creating a new state-of-the-art controlled environment research facility which will enable Imperial researchers to recreate any environment, study plants and insects in their natural habitat in a changing climate, and measure outcomes. The Sir Michael Uren Future Environments Facility will transform Imperial’s Silwood Park Campus to become the leading research and innovation hub for addressing major ecological issues, such as emerging diseases, threats to food security and the biodiversity crisis.

Silwood Park scientists are at the forefront of many of the most vital issues of our time – including understanding climate, biodiversity and disease. [We] are extremely grateful to the Michael Uren Foundation for its exceptionally generous support, and for the collaborative way in which we created this mission together. Professor Daniel Davis Head of the Department of Life Sciences

Professor Richard Craster, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, said: “It is becoming clear to us that many of the most critical challenges in the next fifty years will be related to climate, environment and sustainability, requiring the groundbreaking science for which Imperial is renowned. Thanks to the very generous philanthropic support from the Michael Uren Foundation, the new Sir Michael Uren Future Environments Facility will strengthen Silwood Park’s position as a pioneering research hotspot in planetary health, where experts are empowered to make rapid progress in science and deliver the solutions the world so urgently needs.”

The Trustees of the Michael Uren Foundation said: “We need to give scientists the resources they require to make a difference, and it is very exciting to know that the Sir Michael Uren Future Environments Facility will be a place where experts can convene and combine their expertise for the world’s benefit. Addressing one major global challenge at a time, we are pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with Imperial through this ambitious project.”

The late Sir Michael Uren is the most generous benefactor in Imperial’s history. His landmark £40 million donation in 2014 – the largest single donation Imperial has received – established the Sir Michael Uren Hub at Imperial’s White City Campus, a new research facility for the latest research and innovation in the biomedical engineering field. Since then, the Michael Uren Foundation has continued to support a variety of projects at Imperial.

Spearheading innovation and collaboration in ecological research

Silwood Park’s unique capabilities allow researchers to move seamlessly from lab to field, combining world-class lab facilities and an outdoor laboratory for large-scale field trials in the same space.

The new Sir Michael Uren Future Environments Facility will scale the breadth and speed of research at Silwood, allowing Imperial scientists to recreate specific environments and get accurate data on how plants and insects behave in their natural habitat and respond to different climate conditions. Researchers will be able to modify temperatures, humidity, lighting and atmospheric gases to mimic any environment, including drought-stricken landscapes and high CO₂ atmospheres. As each room in the lab can be independently controlled, researchers can test multiple scenarios in a larger scale that would have been impossible in a normal lab incubator.

Another novel element of the facility will be its unique ability to capture data on responses of the organisms – from their behaviour and movements to their growth and physiology. Researchers will be able to produce large, complex datasets to help us better understand how organisms respond to climate change, which can help create informed policies around the world.

Professor Daniel Davis, Head of the Department of Life Sciences, said: “Silwood Park scientists are at the forefront of many of the most vital issues of our time – including understanding climate, biodiversity and disease. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that we are establishing a new controlled environment research facility to bridge the gap between our field work and our lab research. All of us in Life Sciences are extremely grateful to the Michael Uren Foundation for its exceptionally generous support, and for the collaborative way in which we created this mission together.”

Imperial researchers have been doing crucial work to better understand the forces that shape our world, such as predicting the emergence of diseases spread by mosquitoes and studying how fungal pathogens infect coffee plants. Read more about Imperial's key ecological research activities at Silwood Park.