Research Institutes & Labs

At the center of our university's commitment to sustainability is the dynamic hub of the Sustainability Research Institute. Here, a community of scholars and practitioners comes together to forge new understandings of the interplay between environment, economy, and equity. Our goal is to generate knowledge that empowers the formulation of policies and practices, ensuring thriving societies today while safeguarding similar opportunities and resources for future generations.

From extreme drought to longer wildfire and pollen seasons, climate change is having a profound impact on human health. In addition, the health burden caused by climate change and its drivers is disproportionate, with some populations more at risk of respiratory and heat-related illnesses, water and food insecurity, disease, forced migration, and other consequences of planetary neglect. GW’s Climate & Health Institute seeks new solutions to global health and equity challenges associated with climate change, and is addressing those challenges through cross-disciplinary research, training, and action.

The George Washington University Institute for Racial, Ethnic and Socioeconomic Equity (Equity Institute) is a university-wide collaboration to create an institute dedicated to community-engaged research on the worldwide problem of racial and ethnic inequality. The Institute seeks to serve the cause of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic equality by dedicating our University’s most precious resources – our people and our knowledge – to help solve one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

The George Washington University’s Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI) seeks to conduct state-of-the-art, relevant research, to promote graduate and professional education, and to undertake service activities that are pertinent to the application and implementation of national and international standards for the management of environmental, energy, and sustainability challenges facing organizations and communities throughout the Nation and the world.

The Global Food Institute at the George Washington University (GFI) will create the infrastructure for revolutionary discoveries to become effective policy, innovative ventures, and compelling stories.

Cross-disciplinary research and teaching will be the foundation of the GFI, permeating all of our work. Our pillars of policy, innovation, and humanity will guide the institute, creating real-world impact and transforming how we grow, distribute, consume, and think about food.

The ICR is devoted to the development and dissemination of scholarship, including research and teaching focused on corporate responsibility. The ICR serves as a vehicle for continuing education, curriculum development, conferences and seminars, which address the needs of the School of Business, the university, and the greater Washington, D.C. community.

The ICR leverages its DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia) location and serves as a leading resource to the business community by partnering with business associations as well as the policy offices of federal agencies, Congress, local and regional governments, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations.

By developing this university-business-government partnership across the United States and throughout the world, the ICR creates and disseminates knowledge, builds scholarly capacity for our faculty and student, and further develops GW’s global presenc

The Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP), which is located within the Elliott School of International Affairs, serves as a catalyst for high quality, multi-disciplinary, and non-partisan research on policy issues surrounding economic globalization. The Institute research program helps develop effective policy options and academic analysis in a time of growing controversies about international economic integration in many countries around the world. The institute’s work also encompasses policy responses for those who face continued poverty and financial crises despite worldwide economic growth. Affiliated faculty have appointments in the departments of economics, geography, history, and political science as well as the public health, public policy, public administration, law, and business schools.