Irene P. Ibarra

Faculty Research Associate
Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity
Arizona State University

Research Activites

Irene’s research focuses on the interdisciplinary study of coupled human-natural systems. She is interested in understanding how robust are long-lived social-ecological systems (SES) to global changes, how human cooperation is affected by uncertainty caused by climate change, or what is the role of mental models in the resilience of SES under scenarios of global change. To address these questions she employs a mix of quantitative (surveys, meta-analysis, computational models [agent based models and system dynamics], laboratory experiments) and qualitative methods (interviews, discussion groups). Her ongoing research endeavors are: i) robustness of social-ecological systems under global changes, ii) individual decisions and collective actions under resource uncertainty, iii) common-pool resources management, and iv) human dimension of biodiversity conservation.