About the Earth and Life Systems Alliance

ELSA is a major strategic collaboration between the John Innes Centre (JIC) and the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, UK. Within the Alliance, researchers are aiming to understand fundamental biological processes in plants and microbes, and how changes to these processes have impacts on a larger scale. From single base-pair genetic changes to major shifts in population dynamics and global elemental cycles, the Alliance is addressing the influences these changes can have on landscapes and ecosystems, as well as human societies and economies.

With genetic and molecular analyses at the micro-level, and macro-level modelling encompassing global systems, ELSA brings together expertise in plant and microbial sciences, biogeochemistry, IT-based modelling and visualisation systems and social sciences. This unique combination of expertise is being harnessed with the goal of understanding and ameliorating the effects on life and earth systems due to human activities.

The research agenda of the Alliance is focussed around three pillars:

• Biodiversity in the face of global environmental change
• Agricultural transitions under climate change
• Elemental cycles that sustain life and the planet

ELSA Public launch, April 2008

The House of Commons saw a gathering of MPs, policy-makers and senior members of the national research community to celebrate the launch of ELSA. View the presentations used during the event