Focus area: Coast

The Eastern Arc region is bounded by 1,000 miles of coastline, amounting to approximately 10% of the total for the UK mainland, and a fifth of that for England. Along its length there is huge natural, social and economic diversity. It has a unique set of opportunities and challenges.

Environmentally, it is at the frontline of climate change, with coastal erosion affecting the Norfolk coast and flooding increasingly impacting the marshes of Essex and Kent.

However, it is also a pioneer in building opportunity in the face of adversity, such as off­shore wind generation, with our region having the largest renewable energy capacity in the UK. Economically and socially, many of our coastal towns and communities (CTCs) are in the top 20% of the most deprived areas in England, with the lowest pay in the region, and 95% of our CTCs are below the national average, with the lowest skills, education and life­expectancy. But it is also a haven to the
cultural and creative industries, which nationally provide £100bn GVA to the UK.

Our universities are home to unparalleled expertise in this area, including the Centre for Coastal Communities at Essex and the Centre for Coastal Research at Sussex, UEA’s Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), the Norfolk Initiative for Coastal and Rural Health Inequalities (NICHE) and Kent’s Centre for Health Service Systems (CHSS).

We have more than 150 researchers working on coastal issues, and together we will leverage our strengths to address the challenges and opportunities of our coast.