Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
Research
Today’s global challenges defy borders, so our response demands bold, transdisciplinary solutions.
Research
Today’s global challenges defy borders, so our response demands bold, transdisciplinary solutions.
Creating New Knowledge. Spearheading Societal Interventions.
With more than two dozen core faculty engaged in 100+ research initiatives—from air quality mapping and carbon capture strategies to combating climate misinformation—IBES is Brown's hub for environmental, climate, and sustainability research in the pursuit of environmental justice for all. Embracing Brown’s culture of collaboration, IBES drives urgent, durable, and equitable solutions at local to global scales.
Banner image: A temperate mountain forest in the southwest Czech Republic from high-density drone LiDAR. This NASA-funded project was led by IBES Associate Professor Jim Kellner.
FEATURED RESEARCH PROJECT
Equitable Climate Futures Initiative
A campus-wide partnership advancing equitable climate solutions on the local to global scale
Equitable Climate Futures will build Brown’s capacity for climate solutions research, with a strong focus on under-resourced and historically marginalized groups. Learn more.
Transdisciplinary Research Projects
These projects both unite diverse academic fields and extend beyond academia—collaborating with community members, policymakers, industry leaders and others to tackle today’s complex environmental challenges.
The Climate and Development Lab is a student-faculty think tank informing a more just, equitable and effective climate change policy.
Breathe Providence is a community-focused air monitoring network in Providence, Rhode Island aiming to characterize Providence’s air quality on a hyperlocal level.
Our research delivers insights on the politics of climate change, providing deeper understanding of the factors obstructing action around the world.
Equitable Climate Futures is an initiative that will build Brown’s capacity for climate solutions research, with a strong focus on under-resourced and historically marginalized groups.
This project, supported by the National Science Foundation, will focus on creating a set of tools and convening experts to address climate change related challenges faced by communities along the New England coast.
Areas of Focus
IBES researchers use remote sensing, advanced imaging, and DNA metabarcoding to study the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, such as tropical forests and coral reefs. This work focuses on species responses, carbon dynamics, and long-term ecological shifts driven by human activity.
Using satellite data, computational analysis, and epigenomics, IBES researchers study the impacts of climate change, air pollution, and other environmental factors on human health and the spread of infectious diseases.
This work focuses on analyzing media coverage of climate change, identifying misinformation in the energy policy landscape, and exploring local environmental history to better understand the intersection of policy, public perception, and environmental impact.
An emerging focus on energy and climate includes exploring decarbonization pathways, advancing renewable energy systems, and developing innovative resources, including offshore wind and carbon reservoirs, with a commitment to supporting at-risk populations and addressing equity injustice.
IBES researchers study the changing Arctic, weather-related population shifts, sustainable urban agriculture, and the socio-environmental impacts of industrial agriculture worldwide.
Catalyst Research Awards
Accelerating Exploratory and Emerging Research
IBES nurtures innovation through flexible, exploratory seed-funded programs called Catalyst Research Awards. These startup-style initiatives enable our researchers to quickly tackle emerging challenges and uncover unexpected connections.
IBES Research In the News
Environmental Studies & Sciences concentrator Caitlyn Carpenter '26 is a co-author of this study.
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Funding from the National Institute on Aging will enable Brown researchers, including IBES faculty members Allan Just and Elizabeth Fussell, to study the negative health effects of climate change and develop practical solutions that promote healthy aging.
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Brown University ecologists teamed with National Park Service scientists in Yellowstone to answer a vexing question about how different wildlife species find enough to eat.
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Co-Teaching: An IBES Hallmark
A biogeochemist paired with a historian to delve into our climate history. The chair of Modern Culture & Media collaborating with an environmental historian to explore the origins of environmental inequalities. At IBES, professors are encouraged to break down barriers to connect with leading minds across campus and beyond because we know collaboration is the key to solutions to the interconnected climate and sustainability challenges of our time.