Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
Education
Brown students change the world. IBES helps them save the planet.
Education
Brown students change the world. IBES helps them save the planet.
IBES students learn how to tackle today’s urgent climate and sustainability challenges through a truly multidisciplinary education.
IBES faculty have joint appointments in units across the University — from sociology to geology and from health sciences to anthropology and more. This unique blend of critical expertise provides students with the systems-level thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to design and implement solutions, whether their professional goals lie in the private, public, or nonprofit sector.
As the centerpiece of IBES’ Strategic Plan, our academic programs cultivate a thriving community of scholars, students, champions, and partners dedicated to our mission: to advance solutions to critical challenges at the intersection of environment and society through solutions-engaged interdisciplinary research and education.
Discover how IBES equips students with the skills they need to address the planet's biggest challenges.
The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society welcomes affiliation by graduate students from all disciplines whose research interests center on understanding environment and society.
A Legacy of Environmental Leadership
As one of the first universities to offer an interdisciplinary environmental studies program (1978), Brown has launched generations of transformative leaders who trace their success to Brown’s ENVS program. The predecessor to IBES, the Center for Environmental Studies, cultivated a culture of learning-by-doing that saw students developing policy at local and state levels, transforming campus through initiatives like Brown Is Green, and carrying out the hands-on construction to convert a Carriage House into the Urban Environmental Laboratory—a historic building turned sustainable showcase.
In 2014, President Christina H. Paxson created the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society to foster thriving, interdisciplinary education and research in climate, sustainability, and the environment. The Institute has since grown tremendously, and now boasts 27 faculty appointed across 10 different academic departments, serving close to 150 concentrators and over 1,000 other Brown students every year. A large network of IBES Alumni and Friends plays a key role in the student experience through guest lectures, mentoring, hosting internships, and networking for job training and placement.