Sustainable Societies Initiative
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We bring together researchers from across the university to address a central global challenge: How do we accomplish the social, economic, cultural transformations needed to create societies that are truly sustainable?
These complex, integrated, human-centered challenges require deep engagement with governments, business, civil society, and communities. This engagement will foster research that yields insights and pathways to enable and propel transformative change. Addressing political, institutional, behavioral, technological, historical, environmental, and ecological dimensions requires an integrative social-environmental systems approach for success.
Research Priorities
Stanford Center for Just Environmental Futures: Serving as an intellectual and community hub for interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship to advance environmental and climate justice. Launching in January 2026, led by Maxine Burkett, Professor of Environmental Social Sciences.
Transformation science: Understanding interventions that have potential to be powerful forces for transformation. Led by Nicole Ardoin, Associate Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, and Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, Associate Professor of Earth System Science.
Enhancing societal resilience to extreme weather events: Generating insights and innovations that can help societies develop institutions, policies, and processes to reduce vulnerability, improve response and recovery, and increase community resilience to future events.
Solution areas and integrative projects: Providing support for interdisciplinary teams of faculty collaborating with decisionmakers to tackle systems-level sustainability challenges. The Sustainable Societies Initiative currently supports work in three areas (Food, Sustainable Cities, and Platforms & Tools for Decisionmaking) of the school’s Solution Area - Integrative Projects grant program.
Events
Sustainability in Practice series: Stories of partnering for impact
The Sustainability in Practice series brings together scholars, students, and practitioners twice per quarter to share personal stories of authentic sustainability impact through research-action collaborations. Beginning in January 2026, these informal gatherings will foster candid conversations about innovations, challenges, missteps, and breakthroughs in cross-sector collaboration.
Humanities and Sustainability Salon
The Stanford Humanities Center and the Sustainable Societies Initiative convenes Stanford humanists, social scientists, and natural scientists to explore sustainability readings through philosophical, historical, and other perspectives. The salon, held on campus with Stanford faculty twice per quarter starting in January 2026, aims to enrich understanding not only of sustainability, but also of each other’s disciplines as we confront the changing nature of life on this planet.
People
Faculty directors
Senior Associate Dean for Research
Staff
Faculty Affiliates
- Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor in Petroleum Engineering, Emeritus
- Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
- Associate Professor of Environmental Social Sciences, of Oceans, of Anthropology and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
- Luke W. Cole Professor of Environmental Law, Director of the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, Professor (Teaching) of Environmental Social Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
- Edward Clark Crossett Professor of Humanistic Studies Professor of German Studies Professor, by Courtesy, of English, History, and Comparative Literature Chair, Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages
- Assistant Professor of Environmental Social Sciences and, by courtesy, of Organizational Development at the Graduate School of Business
- Olive H. Palmer Professor of the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science
- Assistant Professor of Earth System Science and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
- Associate Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
