Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) is accelerating solutions to the most complex climate and sustainability challenges of our time through interdisciplinary research and teaching.

Empowering people, driving solutions

Today’s problems are complex and interconnected, and so are the solutions. Addressing the 21st century’s most pressing climate and sustainability challenges requires new levels of collaboration and action across disciplines, sectors, and scales of impact. 

Through solutions-focused research and education enabled by deep partnerships across Brown and beyond, IBES aims to be an engine of real-world impact and a training ground for the next generation of changemakers building a just, sustainable world.  

Grounded in a culture that promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, nimble innovation, public engagement, and equitable outcomes, we seek to bolster knowledge-to-action pathways in Providence, across the nation, and around the world.

Upcoming Events

IBES News

Marine ecologist Jon Witman is driven to pursue permanent protection of Cashes Ledge, a unique ecosystem and natural laboratory in the heart of the Gulf of Maine.
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Meet Dr. Sonam Futi Sherpa, a new postdoctoral researcher in IBES! Sherpa is working with Professor Laurence C. Smith's Northern Change Research Laboratory, using a NASA SWOT satellite mission to observe water and the proglacial environment. Read this Q&A (edited for length and clarity) to learn more about Sherpa's work and what she looks forward to doing at Brown.
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Building upon her undergrad experiences, this IBES alum now creates mission-driven environmental change at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
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Jayanthi’s undergraduate experiences and commitment to knowledge-sharing position her as an environmental advocate, ready to champion sustainability for policymakers.
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Possibly Podcast

Looking at the science behind proposed solutions to environmental challenges, to help listeners cut through the noise and make choices that, possibly, will make a difference.

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What We Do

Climate change and flooding, pathogens and poverty, conflict and extinction – these threats know no borders. Our fragile planet and its vulnerable peoples are at risk. This time of unprecedented challenge requires bold solutions and innovative thinking.
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Brown students change the world. IBES helps them save the planet.
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Sustaining life on Earth requires change in the way we power our campuses and cities, how we incentivize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and how we grow and distribute our food.
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Contact Us

Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES)
Brown University

Box 1951
85 Waterman Street
Providence, RI 02912

Phone: 401-863-3449
Fax: 401-863-3839
environment@brown.edu