Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods

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A diverse and inclusive research community

We bring together scholars from various disciplines and institutions, alongside industry professionals, businesses, government bodies, charities, and local communities. Our focus is on collaboration, sharing knowledge and expertise across sectors to help break down silos and accelerate Scotland’s transition to net zero in Scotland by 2045.

About Us

Opportunities

Our research themes

A whole-system approach to sustainability

We recognise that the major challenges facing the transition to greater sustainability and net zero by 2045 sit across three broad themes. Tackling these in a whole system approach means we can work together to achieve positive outcomes and better impact.

Our Research Themes

A Whole-System Approach to Sustainability

Decarbonising Heat

The Decarbonising Heat theme addresses Scotland’s urgent need to increase renewable heat use, aiming for 22% by 2030. It tackles technical and social challenges in deploying low-carbon solutions across diverse households, building a cross-sector consortium to develop inclusive strategies that support Scotland’s climate goals.

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Financial Pathways

The Financial Pathways theme unites fragmented initiatives to finance the decarbonisation of Scotland’s housing. It fosters collaboration among financial institutions, researchers, government, and communities to explore innovative funding solutions, support household engagement, and address the national investment challenge of upgrading and retrofitting millions of homes to meet net zero goals.

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Sustainable Housing

The Sustainable Households theme explores how households can actively shape a just transition, emphasising community knowledge, intersectionality, digitalisation, and human-nature relationships. It fosters collaboration across disciplines and sectors to inform inclusive research and policy, strengthening community capacity and challenging traditional models of household energy use and sustainability.

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What our collaborators say

The strength of SRAEHL lies in its collaborative spirit. Endorsements from our stakeholders reflect the value of our cross-sector approach, which drives meaningful progress toward a sustainable and just transition to a net zero Scotland.

“Thanks to SRAEHL, I hosted ‘town halls’ across the Scottish Islands exploring UK energy grid constraints as experienced by islanders. These vital conversations provided local insights that shaped policy engagement, informed recommendations, and steered my research in a more impactful direction. ”

Dr Cornelia Helmcke – Senior Policy Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews

“The Alliance have been great partners in helping our work on the cobenefits of climate action and on local climate investment. These areas are so important in getting policy and delivery commitment on local action against climate change, and they have helped us to build awareness and engage with new partners who can help us develop our programme and our routes to impact.”

Jamie Brogan – Head of Climate Partnerships, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. Strategy Lead, Scottish Climate Intelligence Service

“We’re grateful to SRAEHL for the seed funding that enabled our event on Healthy Net-Zero Housing that was instrumental in fostering collaboration, student engagement, and cross-disciplinary ideas which are now evolving into funding proposals.”

Dr Gráinne McGill – Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer, Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde

What our collaborators say

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Dr Cornelia Helmcke – Senior Policy Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews

Jamie Brogan – Head of Climate Partnerships, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. Strategy Lead, Scottish Climate Intelligence Service

Dr Gráinne McGill – Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer, Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde