Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability
Problem Focused.
Curiosity Driven.
WE ARE...
a problem-focused and curiosity-driven interdisciplinary institute for research and learning. Our mission is to cultivate the knowledge, skills, and actions that will accelerate transitions to a sustainable and just world.
Graduate Program
News and Events
Featured Events See all
John P. Bell Global Indigenous Rights Lecture presents Dr. Dolly Kikon | March 13 5:30pm
The Woman who Became a Deer: Sacrifice and Salvation in the Indigenous World
In this talk, I present the Naga world through stories and focus on the web of connections about sacrifice and salvation. I invite you to meditate on knowledge, culture, and sustainability that are grounded in everyday lives of the Naga world. Far from romanticising Indigenous cultures as timeless, I draw attention to ongoing challenges such as extractive regime, structural violence, and inequality. Drawing from my ongoing engagements on repatriation, reconciliation, and redistribution, I offer some reflections about working together to humanize and care for one another, and dwell on Indigenous values as possible pathways of holding on to hope and healing during uncertain times.
-Dr. Dolly Kikon
Food Systems Sustainability: Understanding the Global Challenge and Taking Local Action | Feb 13 2pm
Short presentations and panel discussion followed by Q&A with Navin Ramankutty (Director, IRES; Professor, IRES and SPPGA), David Speight (UBC Food Services Executive Chef ), and Liska Richer (SEEDS Sustainability Manager).
News See all
Solid Carbon receiving $24 million to advance ocean-based carbon dioxide removal
Dr. Terre Satterfield is co-leading a $24-million initiative over six years through the Government of Canada’s NFRF to advance the Solid Carbon research project—one of the most promising ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) initiatives of the modern era to combat the climate crisis.
$22 million awarded to Indigenous-led and multi-institutional research project for Indigenous and community-based approaches to chemical risk management
IRES has partnered with 20 researchers and collaborators from Canada and Aotearoa (New Zealand) on a large international research initiative that puts Indigenous experts as leaders in designing how chemical risk is evaluated and managed.
Seminar Series See all
March 27, 2025: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Carly Ziter
Carly’s talk is centered in the growing field of urban landscape ecology. With her students, she employs citizen science, environmental sensors, field observations, and social-science methodologies to explore how the landscape structure of our cities influences biodiversity, ecosystem services, and their interaction over space and time.
April 3, 2025: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Angela Danyluk
So you want to save the planet? Join Angela Danyluk, Manager of Climate Adaptation and Equity at the City of Vancouver, for stories about working in local government on climate action and environmental policy.
