Research themes

Innovations in Governance and Sustainability

We study innovations in governance and the complexity of sustainability challenges, including the development of (1) new institutions that transcend conventional political boundaries or bring actors together in new ways, (2) new tools and experimental interventions for inducing behavioral change or enabling participation in decision making, and (3) new forms of association in the creation and protection of collective goods.

Innovations in Governance and Sustainability Projects

Projects under this theme include studies of social media interactions around climate change and vaccination policies as potential deliberative mini publics, investigations of equity issues in water allocation, considerations of the workings of ‘visible carbon’ (e.g. carbon tracking and accounting), research into community and network-scale resilience assessment in partnership with the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, design and implementation of a US-wide STEM learning network, and analyses of the Locally-Managed Marine Areas Network in the South Pacific.

	Ocean Halos: Marine Zoning in Small-Island Countries (Matthew Burgess)
	"Social-Impact Network" for Wildfire Adaptation (Bruce Goldstein)
	Environmental Rights and Adaptation to Climate Change (Steve Vanderheiden)
	STEM Learning Network (Bruce Goldstein)
	Locally Managed Marine Areas Network (Bruce Goldstein)
	Water Equity Project Workshop (Steve Vanderheiden)