A grassroots initiative of scientists from a range of disciplines across physics has published a document reflecting on the environmental impact of their collective work. The publication was released on World Environment Day, 5 June 2023. The ‘reflection document’ covers research across high-energy physics, cosmology, astroparticle physics and hadron and nuclear physics – but could be applied more widely to many scientific fields.
Dr Hannah Wakeling from the Department of Physics is one of the authors: ‘The aim of the document is to reflect on the environmental impacts of our research and work practices, to highlight current efforts and best practices and to make concrete recommendations for positive change.’
Professor Philip Burrows, also from Oxford’s Department of Physics and Director of the John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, provided a foreword for the publication.
The collective behind the publication is known as HECAP+. The acronym HECAP was adopted to refer to High Energy physics, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. With the document’s subsequent inclusion of key contributions from the hadron and nuclear physics community, with whom HECAP share common research infrastructure and common challenges in the pursuit of improved environmental sustainability, the acronym was modified to HECAP+.
Environmental sustainability in basic research: a perspective from HECAP+, 2023