IBES at 10: A decade of innovative research and teaching in environment and society

Since its 2014 launch, the institute has taken on an increasing global leadership role in climate, sustainability and environmental scholarship, accelerating solutions at the juncture where natural ecosystems and society meet. As IBES marks its 10th anniversary, institute leaders are not only reflecting on early successes, but leaning further into its role as an engine for boundary-breaking, cross-field solutions and teaching in climate and sustainability.

"Many of the grand challenges of the 21st century can't be solved with technology alone, nor with policy alone or behavioral changes alone," Cobb said. "Addressing the accelerating climate crisis, for example, requires systems-level solutions that draw on experts from across a wide variety of disciplines and sectors, working together in a sustained way. IBES is a place where this type of next-generation collaboration thrives and is delivering results."

Over the last decade, that kind of interdisciplinary approach has become hardwired into the institute's ethos, Cobb said. She pointed to the 25 core IBES faculty members who have joint appointments in nine academic departments at Brown, in areas ranging from the humanities to public health to the social and physical sciences.

"There is a strong focus here on what unites us - our shared purpose in turning environmental challenges into opportunities for change - rather than what divides us," Cobb said.

A decade of scholarly impact

The work of the institute's faculty and students has spanned the globe, influencing local, state, federal and international policymakers. Their scholarship has sparked new environmental initiatives and broadened understanding of the consequences of the global climate and environmental crisis and how it impacts different populations, aspects of society and the environment itself.

In 2015, for instance, Brown sociologist Leah VanWey and ecologist Stephen Porder teamed up to explore ways to revitalize the Mata Atlântica rainforest in Brazil. The pair identified economic incentives most likely to encourage both societal benefits and restoration of the forest. Separately, in Greenland, a region particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, research teams from the lab of Brown hydrologist Laurence Smith combined high-resolution images with indigenous knowledge to study how fjord ice behavior affects daily life of communities in the area. Other work from the lab provided new insights into glacier dynamics and how they impacts sea-level rise.