About AIMday Climate at Leeds
The University of Leeds - through the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures and Nexus, in partnership with EarthScale - is hosting the first AIMday Climate on the 17 June 2026 at Nexus.
This one-day event brings together industry, public sector and third-sector organisations with leading researchers from across the University of Leeds to explore real-world climate-related challenges and opportunities.
AIMday (Academic–Industry Meeting day) consists of a series of focused, one-hour workshops, built around challenges submitted by participating organisations.
Each challenge is discussed by a small, interdisciplinary group of academic experts, creating space for open exploration, knowledge exchange, and the identification of potential pathways forward.
AIMday enables organisations to:
- Explore complex or uncertain climate-related challenges
- De-risk innovation and strategic decision-making
- Access interdisciplinary academic expertise
- Identify opportunities for future collaboration
The AIMday format: One question. One hour. A group of academic experts.
The Partners behind AIMday Climate
Priestley Centre for Climate Futures
The Priestley Centre for Climate Futures brings together world-leading expertise from across the University of Leeds to address climate change through interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
The University of Leeds offers:
- Strength in climate science, engineering, environmental science, data and AI, economics, social science, policy and design
- World-class facilities, datasets and analytical methods
- Experience in co-designing research with external partners
- A track record of translating research into real-world impact
Through AIMday Climate, organisations gain access to this breadth of expertise in a focused, practical and collaborative setting.
Nexus
Nexus is a community of innovators and entrepreneurs, bringing together the brightest minds from business, technology and academia in a state-of-the-art innovation hub on the University of Leeds campus.
Nexus help businesses navigate the innovation landscape across West Yorkshire, providing access to research, talent and facilities across the University of Leeds and beyond. To date it has worked with over 600 ventures, helping connect them to innovation, talent, and support.
Nexus also provides Grade-A offices, labs and co-working space for business ventures to base their operations.
EarthScale
Launched in April 2025, EarthScale is a national programme supporting 60 IP-rich climate tech startups and spinouts across the UK to scale, navigate manufacturing, and raise Series A funding. The programme is led by Imperial College London, in partnership with a consortium of six universities.
It is a 12-month, cohort-based, high-impact initiative offering tailored support to overcome key scaling barriers, including: access to world-class technical and manufacturing facilities, enterprise development expertise, investor connections, talent and peer-learning opportunities, and policy and regulatory navigation.
The programme is funded by Research England Development fund until 2028.