Responsible Science

We currently focus on four main issues: disarmament and security, climate change and energy, questions of who controls science and technology and issues surrounding new and emerging technologies. You will also see that we work on some other issues too. You can explore these with the menu on the left of this page and with the search function. Material in this section includes all SGR's main outputs since 2005, with a selection of the more important material from before then.

Climate change: an introduction to SGR's work

An introduction to SGR's concerns and activities on climate change.

Latest update: 28 August 2020

The growing military involvement in UK universities - and the alternatives

Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, highlights the rapidly increasing military involvement at UK universities, especially as part of the government's 'Global Britain' agenda.

11 September 2021

Nuclear weapons, the military & climate overheating

Dr Philip Webber, SGR, compares funding for nuclear weapons with funding for tackling climate change, using the UK as an example.

9 September 2021

Cumbrian coal mine: SGR objection

SGR's objections to the proposals for a huge new deep coal mine in West Cumbria, UK. This includes evidence that, for each job created, the resulting additional climate change impacts will lead to more than 100 extra deaths worldwide.

8 September 2021

The potential for rapid transition of the aviation industry after COVID-19

As the world recovers from the pandemic, Dr Lucy Gillam, Transport and Environment, looks at the steps that need to be taken to prevent the aviation sector returning to pre-COVID pollution levels.

6 September 2021

Overconsumption, the climate emergency and the scientific community

As the stark findings of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change make global headlines, Prof Julia Steinberger, University of Lausanne, explores how to live well within environmental limits, and asks why questioning overconsumption is so problematic.

11 August 2021

Nuclear weapons are now illegal

On 22nd January 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) became part of international law. As the world marks the anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Dr Philip Webber, SGR, examines the implications of this new UN treaty.

6 August 2021

Institutional gaps between words and action on climate science: Royal Society calls for low-carbon finance but still invests in fossil fuels

With the Royal Society holding a conference on green finance, Andrew Simms, SGR, looks at the gap between the institution's words and actions.

22 July 2021

Space tourism: environmental vandalism for the super-rich

As billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson launch the first flights of their space tourism corporations, Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, takes a look at the climate impacts.

20 July 2021

What if we treated the climate emergency as seriously as we treated COVID–19?

Prof Alice Larkin, University of Manchester, argues that, if our society were really serious about tackling climate change, we would put much greater priority on social and economic change - as shown by the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

29 June 2021

Issues