Sustainable Places Research Institute

Griff Rhys Jones unveiled as Patron

Actor, author and comic signs-up as Research Institute Patron

Watch a video of Griff Rhys Jones talking about the Research Institute's new approach to the science of sustainability

Broadcaster, writer, comedian and environmental advocate Griff Rhys Jones has been unveiled as the Sustainable Places Research Institute’s first Patron.

After breaking through with the comedy shows show Not the Nine O’ Clock News and Smith and Jones, Griff has broadcast and written more recently on conservation and environmental issues, including the BBC series Restoration.

As Patron, Griff will support, encourage and help publicise the Sustainable Places Research Institute's work on sustainable solutions for individual cities and their surrounding regions, tailored to particular circumstances around the world.

The Sustainable Places Research Institute, launched last year, brings together world-leading researchers from across ten disciplines at Cardiff University. The Institute combines experts in buildings, energy systems, communities, the natural environment, infrastructure, health and policy-making – who often work in isolation elsewhere - to work on creating comprehensive solutions to sustainability for all parts of the world.

Talking about his role as Patron, Griff Rhys Jones who is a Cardiff University Honorary Fellow, and whose father was a graduate of the University, said:

“I think everybody recognises that sustainability and an approach to the way that we as human beings have laid waste our world is something that’s long overdue.

“I firmly believe that human ingenuity is the answer to the problems we face with sustainability. This Research Institute is offering to bring together different disciplines and to look at sustainability across the globe in different localities so that we can start to measure and assess how different places need to respond to the challenges ahead.

“It’s an exciting project and it is a very great honour for me to be asked to be Patron.  I hope I can help to publicise the work that Professor Terry Marsden and his colleagues are going to undertake.”

The aim of the Sustainable Places Research Institute will be to push the boundaries of traditional sustainability research.  The team’s vision is to achieve a world first for a new level of connectivity between academic disciplines while developing the kinds of practical, policy-led sustainable solutions needed across the globe. With a huge range of scientific disciplines working together on ‘place-based’ sustainability science, the Research Institute will place Wales at the centre of global debates on this vital issue, and develop a new way of approaching the science of sustainability.

Professor Terry Marsden, Director of the Institute said: “If we fail to tackle current levels of consumption and fail to reduce pressure on the environment, the result is likely not just to have an extreme environmental impact, but also to become one of the greatest public health threats to billions of people worldwide over the course of this century.

“We are privileged to have such an ardent supporter as Griff Rhys Jones. We are looking forward to working with him to stimulate much needed debate, raise the profile of this new Institute, and ensure that its work in sustainability science continues to reach the concerns and agenda of governments, the private sector and the public.”