Background to the DLCS
The DLCS was formally launched on 21st February 2007, as an academic unit, it supersedes the Graduate School of Environmental Studies (established in 1991), and the David Livingstone Institute of International Development Studies (established in 1973).
The Centre is a product of the merger between the Graduate School of Environmental Studies (GSES) and the postgraduate and research components of the Department of Civil Engineering, including the David Livingstone Institute. A principal objective of the merger was to create the organisational and administrative basis for the DLCS to effectively address the global agenda of sustainability through research and teaching programmes and evolve as a centre of excellence for research and postgraduate studies on the various aspects of sustainability.
The Centre is named after one of the celebrated alumni of the University of Strathclyde, Dr David Livingstone (1813-1873), whose pioneering and internationally acclaimed work in Africa as a missionary, traveller, philanthropist and medical doctor involved sharing of knowledge through the dissemination of appropriate technologies, which demonstrated in practice the principle of "useful learning" on which his alma mater was built.
