The Institute

The Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED) is home to basic and applied social science and humanities research that is motivated by the most pressing environmental problems. Our research and outreach inform policy- and decision-makers, as they seek to identify strategies to enhance the environmental sustainability of human activities. Our teaching improves students’ capabilities as critical thinkers who are able to deal with complex real-world problems, informed by relevant scientific knowledge and theories of social change.

The research and teaching activities of IED lie at the interface between natural science, social science and decision-making. Environmental policies and decisions need to be informed by the findings from scientific research into environmental and social systems. For that knowledge to be salient, credible, and legitimate, scientific research has to take into account the information needs of private and political decision makers and the knowledge and values of stakeholders. For this reason, IED researchers closely collaborate not only with other researchers across ETH and beyond, but also with public and private institutions and civil society.

The composition of IED reflects the fact that our research and teaching are problem oriented, rather than being defined by a particular academic discipline. It is both an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental institute. It consists of groups from the Departments of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS), Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC) and Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (D-GESS).