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Systems research at Imperial

Imperial has world-leading expertise in systems research that is key for solving global societal and environmental challenges

Systems research

Systems research is found in groups across Imperial covering areas from systems engineering to systems biology, and systems medicine. Research methods, tools and techniques from different disciplines can be brought together to tackle complex challenges such as climate change, development of low-carbon energy systems, water management, resilience to disease, and innovative diagnostics and therapeutics for healthcare.

We invite you to explore the wealth of research being undertaken at the College using a systems perspective. Please get in touch - we welcome discussions with other academic, industry and policy institutions

Scroll down to find out more.

Systems research centres and initiatives

Transition to Zero Pollution

Transition to Zero Pollution is a flagship initiative of the College's Academic Strategy with a vision to realise a sustainable zero pollution future. The initiative will bring researchers from different disciplines to take a systems approach to tackling pollution in all its forms.

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Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation

CSEI addresses how complex infrastructure challenges are addressed in an integrated way using principles of systems engineering. We develop and apply novel data-driven and process-based modelling approaches to maximise resilience, safety and sustainability of the all pervasive infrastructure-environment system.

A computer screen showing process operation software

Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering

The Sargent Centre is a multi-institutional research centre of world-class departments at Imperial College London and University College London.

Centre for Integrative Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

CISBIO brings together scientists from a wide range of different fields to develop innovative interdisciplinary approaches to understanding biological problems. A key component of the interdisciplinary strategy is a repeated cycle of experimentation and modelling.

A researcher looking at samples in a lab

Systems Medicine

The Division of Systems Medicine’s world-leading discovery science programme leverages the deep biological and technical expertise of its faculty and staff to positively impact the study of human health and disease.

Centre for Environmental Policy

The Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP) provides a unique and interdisciplinary research interface between science and technology, and the economic and policy context in which it is developed and applied. Systems thinking is embedded in everything we do.

Environmental Research Group

The Environmental Research Group (ERG), part of the School of Public Health, is a leading provider of air quality information and research in the UK.

Sustainability through Life Cycle Approaches

The Imperial Network of Excellence in Sustainability through Life Cycle Approaches brings together and connects life cycle-related research and researchers across Imperial. The purpose of the Network is to foster collaborations and facilitate networking, as well as to share knowledge and contribute to advancements within the life cycle field.

Researchers sitting in a computer systems lab

Department of Computing systems research

In the Department of Computing's systems research area, work covers a broad range of topics related to the design, implementation, experimental evaluation as well as verification and analysis of software and hardware systems.

Space Lab

A network of excellence working with space agencies around the world, including NASA and ESA, bringing together academics whose research covers a broad range of space-related fields

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Centre for Transport Studies

The Centre for Transport Studies (CTS) is one of the leading multidisciplinary transport centres in the world, and forms the focus for wider transport research interests at Imperial College London

Systems research programmes

Integrated Development of Low-Carbon Energy Systems (IDLES)

Hosted by the Energy Futures Lab, IDLES brings together researchers from across Imperial to provide the evidence needed to facilitate a cost-effective and secure transition to a low-carbon future. This 5-year, EPSRC-funded programme centres on whole-energy systems analysis; aiming to create a modelling tool that can better coordinate the complex interactions within the energy domain and indicate optimal forms of future, integrated, energy systems to policy makers.

Community Water Management for a Liveable London (CAMELLIA)

CAMELLIA is a a £5m programme funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. Focusing on London, CAMELLIA brings together environmental, engineering, urban planning, socio-economic and organisational experts with institutional and industry stakeholders and citizens to co-develop a systems approach to urban water management, which will provide integrated solutions to enable required housing growth in London whilst sustainably managing water and environment in the city.

Imperial-Sainsbury's partnership

Imperial is carrying out a range of research in partnership with Sainsbury's to help the supermarket chain meet its Net Zero emissions target. The research is carried out by academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, and other academic teams within the College.

PharmaSEL-Prosperity Partnership

The PharmaSEL-Prosperity Partnership on Transforming synthetic drug manufacturing: novel processes, methods and tools is a multi-million pound business-led research programme led by the global pharmaceuticals company Eli Lilly and Company and the Centre for Process Systems Engineering (CPSE) at Imperial College London and University College London aimed at delivering novel systems based engineering design methods for the rapid development of manufacturing processes for advanced synthetic drugs.

2050 calculator

The 2050 Calculator is a uniquely open and transparent energy model that can be used by governments, stakeholders and the public to understand how to decarbonise a region or country, and to develop evidence-based policies. It was originally developed for use in the UK but is now being used in over 30 countries.

MRC Centre for Environment and Health

Multidisciplinary, collaborative research analysing the impacts of the environment on health in the modern world.

A scientist looks through a microscope in The Environmental Research Group in the Sir Michael Uren Hub.

NIHR HPRU in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards

The mission of this National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) is to address today’s most pressing chemical and radiation threats and hazards, advance understanding of how the everyday and exceptional contact we have with chemicals and radiation leads to ill health and deliver timely impact on policy to improve the long-term health of the nation

A view of a factory tower against a cloudy sky

NIHR HPRU in Environmental Exposures and Health.

The mission of this National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) is to undertake the highest quality research on the health effects associated with exposure to a range of environmental pollutants, including those in the ambient and indoor settings.

Publication highlights

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Systems thinking for the transition to zero pollution

This briefing, joint with the Grantham Institute, explains how systems thinking can be used to capture the problems involved in addressing environmental pollution and support decision-makers in finding solutions.

Find out more about our briefing paper

CSEI 2020-2030 research strategy

A research agenda on systems approaches to infrastructure - paper highlights

At a time of system shocks, significant underlying challenges are revealed in current approaches to delivering infrastructure, including the need for holistic assessment and that infrastructure users in many societies feel distant from nature.
Adopting an approach that sees the natural environment as all pervasive, where the built infrastructure is inseparable from it and an adaptation of the natural environment to suit societal needs, using its materials and resources.
Research focused on complexity, systems integration, data-driven systems engineering, infrastructure lifecycles, and the transition towards zero pollution as key themes that can further our understanding and evaluation of Infrastructure-Environment Nexus.
The case for modelling that brings natural as well as built environments within the system boundaries to better understand infrastructure and to better assess sustainability.
A 2030 research agenda with the aim to develop novel modelling methods, forms of model integration, and multi-criteria indicators to better understand the natural and societal impacts of infrastructure interventions under uncertainty.

Read the full paper for more information (ResearchGate)

Briefing Paper: Climate change and the human-made water cycle

A Grantham Institute briefing paper that considers the impact of climate change on water resources, and how the UK water sector can plan for the future by implementing a sustainable water cycle.

Paper highlights

Climate change is already happening, and the UK’s climate will continue to change as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, with the long-term resilience of its infrastructure at risk.
The water sector cannot adapt to the challenges of climate change in isolation, as policy effects in one sector will have indirect effects in others.
Current demand pressures and reductions in abstraction licences – rights to draw water – are causing supply-demand deficits and this is coupled to the impacts of climate change. If no action is taken, the current high standards of service that is offered at a fair price, and without causing environmental damage, could soon be at risk.
While impact on water flows might not yet be measurable, there is evidence to show that if water companies carry on with ‘business as usual’, we risk a future without enough water for people, business, farmers, wildlife and the environment.
With water as the key medium that links atmospheric temperature rises to changes in human and physical systems, government, water companies and all the players in the wider sector need to play a more proactive role in accelerating the transition to a circular economy, while helping people, politicians and decision makers to understand and prepare for the risks of climate change

Read the full paper: Climate change and the human-made water cycle: Implications for UK water sector‌ [PDF]

A systems-based approach to catchment water management

As part of a NERC-funded Innovation Academic Placement, Dr Ana Mijic, Co-Director of the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation has produced a report in collaboration with the Environment Agency and the Royal Academy of Engineering on A systems-based approach to catchment water management as part of the Systems Water Management for Catchment Scale Processes (CASYWat) project. Dr Mijic's project looked at an innovative, systems-based approach to water management to help organisations involved in water planning and management understand how different parts of the water system interact and develop ways of managing the water environment as a whole.