Welcome to the Institute for Global Change Biology

Welcome to the IGCB

A Nexus for Interdisciplinary Global Change Research

Global change is disrupting organisms and ecosystems globally. Drivers of change include climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, biotic exchange (novel pathogens, pests), land use, and more. We see these impacting our forests, croplands, lakes and rivers, oceans, coastlines, and cities.

Impacts on people and nature are, and will be, staggering—now and within the next decade—not the end of the century, as previously predicted.

What's Going On at the IGCB?

Institute for Global Change Biology: Call for Postdoctoral Fellows

The IGCB is seeking another round of exceptional applicants for the IGCB Michigan Postdoctoral Fellows Program (application deadline 9/30/26) and a selection of Global Synthesis Working Group research fellows (review begins 9/1/26). Please see Postdoc Opportunities for more information on each.

IGCB Representatives Travel to UFPA/CISAM Workshop of the Fulbright Chair

In August 2026, representatives Benjamin Goldstein, Thiago Gonçalves-Souza, Dimitrios Gounaridis, and Kai Zhu from IGCB will travel to the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) in Brazil for the first workshop of the UFPA/CISAM Fulbright Chair. Workshop themes include disturbance impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, advancements for studying ecological changes, ecological model applications, and conflicts between conservation and production. “[IGCB representatives] will contribute especially to activities in ecological modeling, data analysis, sustainability, and scenario building.”

As part of a planned five-year initiative, the overarching goal of the Collaborative Research and Innovation for Amazon Sustainability (CRIAS) project is to strengthen cooperation between Brazil and the United States in support of collaboration on public policy formulation for the Amazon.

Hello and welcome to the IGCB home page! We have launched several initiatives (e.g., faculty hires, postdoc opportunities, PhD Fellowships, research themes and associated projects involving research among multiple Michigan groups and with outside collaborators, an Exchange Fellows program, a seminar series and several symposia), that you can learn about from the links below. We are excited about the community we are building to help advance science, train the next generation of global change scholars, and find solutions to our global crises. Our web site is constantly under reconstruction, so expect to see more soon illustrating who we are and the work we are doing. Feel free to contact me directly ([email protected]) if you’d like to learn more.

- Peter Reich, IGCB Director

The IGCB's Mission

We seek to enhance understanding of critical knowledge gaps and learn how to do science that has an impact (i.e. help find solutions to our climate and sustainability crises). Our overall research focus is on the interaction of the four main drivers of global environmental change (climate change, biodiversity loss and biotic invasion, land use and transformation, eutrophication) with key natural and human systems and processes.

The IGCB currently focuses on six research areas or themes to meet four interwoven goals; and views these as our current priorities.

In focusing on the research themes below, we aim to advance our mission and meet our goals:

I. Build community and critical mass

II. Train the current and next generation of global change scholars

III. Do good science

IV. Help find solutions to our global crises