The Chair has two major thematic areas that are related to mining and environmental management namely;
i) Mining, pollution and remediation studies
ii) Landscape transformation
iii) Mining and rural livelihood. The Chair has a Research Advisory Committee, mainly composed of experts of global/international reputation, providing guidance and counsel to the Chair to ensure that it remains focused. Additionally, the Advisory Committee’s other role is to link the Chair (where possible) to many other relevant networks.