Research Themes

The SustAI CDT focuses around 5 research themes where AI can improve environmental sustainability. 

AI for Sustainable Operations and Circular Economy
This focuses on using AI to optimise manufacturing processes, operations, and supply chains for sustainability, including reducing waste and energy use, improving resource efficiency, waste management and recycling, and developing more sustainable products, packaging, and service delivery models within a circular economy framework. 

AI for Transportation and Logistics
This focuses on using AI to optimise transportation and logistics operations for sustainability, including reducing energy and resource use, improving smart mobility services, and developing more sustainable transportation systems. 

AI for Sustainable Energy and Buildings
This focuses on using AI to optimise and improve the management of sustainable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro, including forecasting and predicting energy demand, improving efficiency and reducing costs, smart grid and energy markets, and managing energy use in smart buildings. 

AI for Biodiversity
This focuses on using AI to protect and conserve biodiversity, including monitoring and predicting changes in ecosystems, identifying and mitigating threats to endangered species, and developing sustainable agricultural, fisheries and land management practices.

Sustainable AI
This theme focuses on reducing the power consumption that is associated with the use of AI. It investigates both creating more efficient algorithms as well as introducing fundamentally different approaches at the hardware level using Southampton’s world-leading nanofabrication facilities.

We encourage interdisciplinary research and novel PhD proposals that align with the overarching topic of AI for Sustainability, even if they span across different themes.