Northwestern Launches the Thriving Planet Institute

Earth’s sustainability challenges—from climate change and pollution to food and water insecurity—are emerging faster than ever. Moreover, these issues are intertwined, rarely materializing one at a time but rather reinforcing each other in ways that have begun to impact both daily life and our communities’ long-term resilience. 

To help meet the moment, Northwestern has launched the Thriving Planet Institute (TPI) where researchers can work across disciplines and sectors to design solutions to problems regarding health and well-being, especially for people facing structural barriers and environmental burdens.

“As a collective of scientists, scholars and citizens of this planet, we understand that the quality of our air, water and land is inseparable from human health and well-being,” said Jennifer Dunn, director of TPI. “Yet the systems that shape how we design materials, grow food and build corporations and communities are still too often studied and managed in isolation. When that happens, promising ideas lose momentum, insights fail to cross disciplinary boundaries and solutions fall short of the world's complexity.”

The newest of Northwestern’s University Research Institutes and Centers (URICs), TPI engages with faculty, institutes, departments, schools, and programs across the University to connect knowledge systems and expand impact, from fundamental science and engineering to health, policy, culture, and practice.

To guide its initial work, TPI has set forth four priorities:

• Redesign chemical and material systems to reduce their harm to people and the environment
• Strengthen water and food security in communities facing growing risk
• Restore and enhance the ecosystem services that sustain human life
• Develop open data, modeling and decision-support tools that help communities act on better information

“Jennifer Dunn embodies Northwestern’s interdisciplinary spirit, with a deep appreciation for how collaboration across disciplines—engineering, medicine, social science, business, policy, humanities, and beyond—can lead to meaningful solutions for some of the biggest problems facing our communities,” said Provost Kathleen Hagerty. “With her strong network of relationships across the University and determination to unite our researchers around shared goals, she is well-positioned to guide a new institute dedicated to addressing urgent threats to the health of the planet and its people.”

In the lead-up to TPI’s announcement, Dunn recently hosted a faculty pitch competition in which three teams were awarded a share of $200,000 in seed funding for pilot projects that meet at the intersection of the environment and human health.

“The Office of the Provost and the Office for Research have been tremendous partners in getting this work off to a running start,” Dunn said. “I am always inspired when I speak with colleagues from across the University about their passion and ideas to improve environmental quality and health. The recent seed funding competition demonstrated the range and strength of ideas from our faculty and their ability to design impactful research that crosses traditional boundaries. We are all excited to see what the awarded projects lead to.”

The Thriving Planet Institute will complement Northwestern’s existing efforts to elevate sustainability research and education and collaborate with partners from across the University. TPI reflects the University’s growing momentum to advance the University priority on decarbonization, renewable energy, and sustainability.