/filters:format(webp)/filters:no_upscale()/prod01/cdn/media/stirling/news/news-centre/2025/oct-25/1200X630Freshwater.jpg)
Pioneering database charts how freshwater wildlife respond to rising temperatures
Spaces: adapting to a changing world
Spaces are the environments - built, natural, ecological and digital - that frame how we live, work and connect. They are changing at unprecedented speed. This mission brings together research, innovation and community engagement to help societies respond and adapt. From climate resilience and biodiversity protection to digital transformation and cultural continuity, we work across disciplines to develop solutions that safeguard both heritage and future.
/filters:format(webp)/prod01/cdn/media/stirling/services/research/images/wind-turbines-and-aquaculture-1920X689.jpg)
Our Spaces research explores:
- Climate and biodiversity action: Developing solutions that combine nature, technology and human behaviour to mitigate ecological crises and support resilient societies.
- Resilient futures: Exploring sustainable management of resources, infrastructures, ecosystems and food systems, while strengthening social and psychosocial resilience and sustaining cultural landscapes in times of accelerating change.
- Rethinking space: Investigating how societies inhabit and adapt environments - ecological, built and digital - and how these can evolve sustainably while maintaining cohesion and cultural recognition.
- Environmental stewardship: Sustaining shared ecosystems - land, water, biodiversity - by embedding ecological and social resilience into governance, science and practice.
- Policy influence: Engaging with policymakers to embed resilience, sustainability, human rights and cultural recognition into strategies for governance and growth.
Related research
/filters:format(webp)/filters:no_upscale()/prod01/cdn/media/stirling/services/research/images/earth-observation-satellite-760X470-copy.jpg)
Research Spotlight
Improving the world's water with Earth observation expertise
For more than 30 years, our scientists have been improving water quality globally through Earth observation in an ever-changing world.
/filters:format(webp)/filters:no_upscale()/prod01/cdn/media/stirling/services/research/images/nigel-willby-water-quality-760X470.jpg)
Research Spotlight
Saving Europe's freshwaters
Find out how our research has been critical to implementing major new policies to repair tens of thousands of water bodies across Europe.
/filters:format(webp)/filters:no_upscale()/prod01/cdn/media/stirling/services/research/images/aquaculture-farm-578X358.jpg)
Research Spotlight
Aquaculture research
Our Institute of Aquaculture's priorities reflect a global interest in understanding how aquaculture can support the rapidly increasing human population without depleting wild-fish stocks.
Supporting sustainable development
Our mission-orientated Spaces research is aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, reflecting the critical contribution that Stirling is making to tackling complex global challenges.
/filters:format(webp)/filters:no_upscale()/prod01/cdn/media/stirling/news/news-centre/2025/oct-25/1200X630Satellite.jpg)
/filters:format(webp)/filters:no_upscale()/prod01/cdn/media/stirling/news/news-centre/2025/sep-25/Professor_Stuart_Galloway_and_Professor_Anna_Whittaker_1200X630.jpg)