TRACE for greener research and innovation activities
Background [2022-2024]
With the publication of the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice (CESRIP), individual researchers and applicants are urged to “show leadership in their work/field by designing, carrying out and disseminating Research & Innovation in an environmentally sustainable manner […]”.
While institutions are taking a range of approaches to reducing the environmental impacts of activity, individual researchers often lack the information to act on their own projects. Beyond the core of highly invested researchers, it is outside of the scope and expertise of individuals to assess specific impacts of a broad range of activities. Outside of widely known impacts, such as air travel, it isn’t clear what impact a project might have, and we often lack the data to indicate this impact.
In 2022, the University of Exeter initiated the development of TRACE (Tracking Research Activity Carbon Emissions), a tool allowing researchers to “cost” the carbon impact of their research project. This tool has completed phase 1 of development and been through initial testing to develop a proof-of concept model.
Partnership, Improvement and Roll-out - Wellcome Funding [2024-2027]
In November 2024, Dr Chloe Onoufriou, Assistant Director of Research Strategy, Development and Management, received a Wellcome Trust award to develop TRACE to increase usability, ensure broad applicability, address, or acknowledge assumptions made; and to provide a solution to understanding carbon impacts at a project level and helping reduce their footprint.
The project team brings together the Sustainability Data and Analysis Manager, Research Software Engineers and Data Scientists.
Collaborating with the University of Bristol, University of Bath, Cardiff University, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), the University of Exeter is now working towards producing an open-source and widely adaptable tool, alongside other HEIs and in relation with funders.
After a phase of improvement, TRACE will be piloted across several organisations over a six-month period during the 2025–26 academic year. This pilot will allow the team to evaluate its robustness and prepare for a full operational rollout in 2026–27.
Please feel free to contact the project manager (a.hebrard@exeter.ac.uk) if you would like to know more about the project.
