Over half of humankind lives in rapidly expanding urban settlements without suitable shelter, climate protection, or access to civic services and infrastructure.

Our research supports sustainable cities to tackle global crises and deliver better physical environments providing socio-cultural, economic, and health benefits for people and their local communities.

Supporting Belfast’s Resilience Strategy’s ambition for ‘an inclusive, low-carbon, climate-resilient economy in a generation’, Architects of Change puts students from Ulster University’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment at the heart of developing and delivering a training programme to business leaders across the region.

At a Glance

Environmental Sustainability Policy

Our Environmental Sustainability Policy considers the impact our activities have on the wider environment and aims to minimise negative impact through our ISO14001 certified Environmental Management System.

Sustainable travel plan

We have a comprehensive sustainable travel plan which aims to encourage staff, students and visitors to travel to and from the university by more sustainable means.

Dedicated cycle hubs, comprising locker storage, shower and changing and cycle parking, are available on the Belfast, Coleraine and Magee campuses.

Our Belfast campus location within the city centre supports a modal shift to sustainable travel with easy access via rail, bus, cycling and walking.

To promote our “car free” campus Ulster University art students were challenged to design a potential new bus livery for a suite of electric buses that will service the University staff and students.  The winner of the Translink student livery design competition was art student Shakira Kidd.

Architects of Change

Ulster and Belfast City Council have come together in a unique research partnership to make a practical and tangible impact on the climate change emergency.  Architects of Change puts students at the heart of developing a training programme for business leaders to bridge the green skills gap.

Roisin Hyde, Lecturer in Architecture researches the development of a high-performance, low-impact, cement-free geopolymer concrete through the use of innovative automated technologies including 3D Laser Scanning, Point Cloud Modelling and 3D Printing.

Belfast-THRI(VES)

Belfast-THRI(VES) is a pilot research project between Ulster and Belfast City Council to support the Council and both the Department for Infrastructure and Department for Communities to better inform decisions for enhancing the liveability of the city and wellbeing of its inhabitants.

Northern Ireland Demand Flexibility Map

Northern Ireland Demand Flexibility Map is an interactive tool providing a whole energy system model, linking socio-demographic, housing, heating and transport data with known congestion and constraints on the electrical transmission and distribution systems.