The Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability

is 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

Prospective Students

Current Students

Courses

FEATURED EVENTS

NEWS

SEMINAR SERIES

  • September 25, 2025: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Nivi Thatra

    September 25, 2025: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Nivi Thatra

    Help improve the reach of your research and your skills! Communicating your work to a wider audience can help inform policy and society, and gets you hired. Join Nivi Thatra for this free workshop covering how to write a lay abstract, a graphical abstract, and refining your online presence.

  • September 18, 2025: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Kate Harriden and Dr. Katie O’Bryan

    September 18, 2025: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Kate Harriden and Dr. Katie O’Bryan

    Exploring aqua nullius—the systemic exclusion of Indigenous water rights and science—this talk examines how it functions as a critical tool of colonisation, how it impacts Indigenous women’s water rights, and how, through this focus, it aims to reassert the possibilities for reforming settler-state legal and governance systems to ensure Indigenous women’s sovereignty, water rights, and…

RESEARCH THEMES

Ecosystems, People & Resilience

Land, Food, Water & Waste

Perceptions, Culture, Values & Behaviour

Energy, Pollution & Climate Change

Infrastructure, Emerging Technology & Development

Governance, Policy, Law & Justice

IRES offices are situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) People. We have a very long way to go in engaging with Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) and other First Nations to address this regrettable history and its ongoing legacy. Learn more at Our Values page.