Nathalie Seddon
Professor of Biodiversity
The Agile Initiative
at the Oxford Martin School
The Agile Initiative at the Oxford Martin School aims to revolutionise how world-class, high-impact research supports environmental policymaking.
For governments to make sound decisions about the environment, policymaking must be informed by the very best research. Yet science does not always seek to answer the same questions directly facing policymakers, nor does it move at the speed with which policy decisions need to be made.
Established with a major £10 million grant from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Agile Initiative is an ambitious effort to meet this challenge by responding to specific environmental policy questions with fast-paced research ‘Sprints’. In these Sprints, Oxford's world-leading academics and partners work together to feed evidence and science-led solutions into the policy cycle in real-time.
Sprints are chosen for their environmental importance to policy, potential impact, time-scale deliverability, and commitment to EDI considerations. More information on the Sprint research, including on how we do fast-paced impact-focused research, can be found on the Agile website.
Visit the Agile Initiative website
We don’t have much time to get humanity onto a sustainable trajectory. We need to act more swiftly and flexibly. The Agile Initiative intends to change how research and evidence guide environmental policy, whilst also catalysing a shift in the research culture. Agile is building a genuinely demand-led interdisciplinary research structure, able to work more efficiently and more cooperatively. There is a huge opportunity here for researchers in any discipline, especially early career researchers, to get involved and be the change they want to see.
The Agile Initiative's Sprints
How can we assess the macroeconomic and inequality impacts of Carbon Budgets?
This Sprint develops new modelling approaches to assess the macroeconomic and inequality impacts of carbon budgets, addressing key evidence gaps for UK climate policy. Partnering directly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, it evaluates how emissions reductions affect growth, investment, and different income groups. The project aims to inform the UK’s Seventh Carbon Budget, supporting fair and effective policy decisions and producing tools transferable to other countries and contexts.
Environment and National Security: Exploring Policy ‘Demand Signals’ and the Science Response
This Sprint explores the links between environmental change and national security, examining how climate and ecological pressures can affect conflict, stability, and geopolitical risk. Bringing together researchers and policy stakeholders, it identifies pathways to integrate environmental evidence into security strategies. The project highlights the need for cross-sector collaboration, improved risk assessment, and proactive policies to address emerging security challenges driven by environmental change.
How can action on deforestation strengthen the UK’s food system security and resilience?
This Sprint examines how deforestation and the global food system are interconnected, focusing on how food production and consumption drive forest loss. It brings together researchers and stakeholders to explore policy, trade, and supply chain solutions that can reduce deforestation while maintaining food security. The project emphasises system-wide change, highlighting trade-offs, global impacts, and the need for coordinated action across producers, consumers, and policymakers.
Latest news
Reflections on COP30 in Belém
Researchers from across the University of Oxford were at COP30 in Belém, taking part in side events, presenting new research, and working with partners to support the negotiations and inform the wider political process. They included the Directors of two of our major programmes, Nathalie Seddon from our Agile initiative and Thomas Hale from the Oxford Martin Programme on Climate Policy.
New plan aims to make public procurement a force for climate action
Today at COP30 in Belém, the Government of Brazil announced an ambitious plan to drive action on climate change using the power of public procurement. The Belém Declaration on Sustainable Public Procurement establishes concrete measures to move high-impact markets and production chains into alignment with the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, including targets up to 2030 and sustainability indicators.
Pre-COP dialogue cements Oxford and Brazil partnership in forest conservation and climate finance innovation
Brazil’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Antonio Patriota, highlighted the country’s groundbreaking Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF)—an ambitious financing mechanism that will reward nations for preserving tropical forests.
New algorithm supercharges climate models and could lead to better predictions of future climate change
Professor Samar Khatiwala, from the University of Oxford’s Department of Earth Sciences, has led a major advance to solve a critical issue in modelling future climate change. The findings have been published in Science Advances.
Publications
Advancing nature-based solutions through enhanced soil health monitoring in the United Kingdom
Efficient spin-up of Earth System Models using sequence acceleration
Optimal fuel supply of green ammonia to decarbonise global shipping
Nature-based solutions are critical for putting Brazil on track towards net-zero emissions by 2050
Forthcoming events
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