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Izabela Delabre

Positions held:
  • Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences
Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    My research examines the intersection of forest and biodiversity loss, sustainable agriculture and supply chains, with a focus on global-local governance interactions. Other areas of聽interest聽include politics of sustainability transformations, anticipatory governance, and critical perspectives on the use of technologies in environmental governance.

    With colleagues, I convene the multidisciplinary working group,鈥淧lantations: Political ecologies of extraction and resistance鈥 supported by 糖心logo入口 Institute for Social Research (BISR).

    Before joining 糖心logo入口 in March 2021, I was a Research Fellow at University of Sussex and prior to that, I worked for the Business and Biodiversity Conservation Programme at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). My PhD in Human Geography drew upon a global political ecology approach to examine participatory social impact assessment practices in the context of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Indonesia and Malaysia.

    Office hours

    Please email me to arrange a meeting.聽

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Programme Director, MSc Global Environment and Sustainability
    • Co-Director, 糖心logo入口 Research Centre for Environment and Sustainability

    Honours and awards

    • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Advance HE,

    ORCID

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Food systems and sustainability (biodiversity, climate change, and inequality/social aspects)
    • How are environmental/sustainability issues governed, by whom, how, and with what effects?
    • Sustainable multifunctional landscapes and land use contestations
    • The role of corporations in defining and enacting sustainability (certification and partnerships)
    • Political ecology of plantations
    • Reparative futures and liberation ecologies

    Research overview

    My research is in political ecology - a field of research and practice that recognises that politics and ecology cannot be separated.

    I am interested in environmental governance, food system sustainability, and the politics and power in discourses of sustainability transformations and futures.

    With the intention of being impact-focused and policy-relevant, my research involves working with sustainability practitioners and communities affected by environmental change.

    Research Centres and Institutes

    Research clusters and groups

    Research projects

    Unlearning, resisting and surviving: Political ecologies of the plantation and its alternatives (internal 糖心logo入口 funding)

    Outcomes

    Film screening "Plantation Ecologies and Liberation Ecologies" held on 13th March 2026. Works brought together聽the past, present and future of plantation worlds through engagement with themes of memory, 鈥渁nthropocene鈥 and future-making. They consider the relationship between climate and ecological change and plantation economies; and reveal how alternative futures for inhabiting the Earth are forged in land and waterscapes.

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions external to 糖心logo入口:
    2

    I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.

    Teaching

    PhD students

    Nareeka Ahir (SOAS): Green transitions: A geopolitical ecology exploration of critical mineral supply chains and sustainable development in Southeast Asia (I am co-supervisor) 

    Nate Palmer (SOAS): Harmony with Nature: Evolving Dimensions of Water Governance in India (co-supervisor). Completed 2026.

    My approach to teaching

    I started teaching in 2013 during my PhD, at the University of Reading. After some time working in international conservation, I joined the University of Sussex, teaching large groups of undergraduate and postgraduate students and supervising MSc projects. Since starting at 糖心logo入口 in 2021, I have contributed to teaching several modules in geography, environment and sustainability and developed a new module, Future Food Systems and Sustainability. I have also supervised over 20 BSc and MSc dissertations at 糖心logo入口. I have developed the University of London online programme, the , which now has over 130 students from over 40 countries examining environmental problems and their possible solutions. 

    As flexibility is so important to our students, my approach to teaching considers the specific context of people studying in the evening or at the weekend (often after a day at work or having caring responsibilities). Through my teaching, I seek to engage students to build on their own ideas and experiences to improve their understanding of academic debates - everyone brings important, rich and diverse perspectives to learning communities.

    I have designed modules using the idea of a that introduces topics and then returns to them several times, introducing more sophisticated ideas at each point. This enables students to make connections between ideas and to process learning more deeply. I centre questions of what 鈥渟ustainability鈥 is, and emphasise the need to unpack its multiple dimensions, and how framings of sustainability, its problems and solutions differ depending on who you are. I combine lecture content, audio/visual media, enquiry-based learning, readings, role-play activities and debates, and break-out groups for students to address questions on the topics. Assessments allow for creativity and critical thinking on sustainable futures and their governance. In an online setting, learning activities are based on the , and using a flipped classroom approach students are at the centre of their own learning.

    I am committed to motivating students to make a difference through how they think and what they do, and how they approach environmental and sustainability issues. Students should feel at ease and enjoy learning, and they should be ambitious to engage with complex topics.

    I recognise the importance of supporting students in their career development and build in employability skills to modules: collaborative group work, sharing their ideas through presentations, giving and responding to peer feedback, thinking critically, active listening and questioning, evaluating evidence for authenticity, and undertaking creative and imaginative work using a range of scenarios.  

    I am committed to providing a supportive space for students and their diverse learning needs, and hope to help them to develop and grow.

    Teaching modules

    • Humans and the Environment
    • Sustainable Business Practice (30 credits)
    • Urban Sustainability
    • Future Food Systems and Sustainability
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Delabre, Izabela and Marshall, F. and King Forbes, V. and Crossley, P. and Quadrianto, N. and Reffin, J. (2026) . Environmental Impact Assessment Review ISSN 0195-9255. (In Press)
    • Panaro, S. and Delabre, Izabela and Marshall, Fiona (2025) . Ecological Economics 230, ISSN 0921-8009.
    • Pasaribu, K. and Gallemore, C. and Jespersen, K. and Delabre, Izabela (2025) . Journal of Cleaner Production ISSN 0959-6526.
    • Slutskaya, N. and Game, A. and Morgan, R. and Delabre, Izabela and Newton, T. (2025) . Sociology ISSN 0038-0385.
    • Smallwood, J. and Delabre, Izabela and Pinheiro Vergara, S. and Rowhani, P. (2023) . Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 25 (1), pp. 103-117. ISSN 1523-908X.
    • Delabre, Izabela and Lyons-White, J. and Melot, C. and Veggeberg, E.I. and Alexander, A. and Schleper, M.C. and Ewers, R.M. and Knight, A.T. (2023) . Business Strategy and the Environment ISSN 1099-0836.
    • Delabre, Izabela and von Hellermann, P. (2023) . Journal of Political Ecology 30 (1), ISSN 1073-0451.
    • Nolan, C. and Delabre, Izabela and Menga, F. and Goodman, M.K. (2022) . Ecology & Society 27 (1), pp. 1. ISSN 1708-3087.
    • Dornelles, A.Z. and Boonstra, W.J. and Delabre, Izabela and Denney, J.M. and Nunes, R.J. and Jentsch, A. and Nicholas, K.A. and Schroter, M. and Seppelt, R. and Settele, J. and Shackelford, N. and Standish, R.J. and Oliver, T.H. (2022) . Sustainability Science 17, pp. 1827-1840. ISSN 1862-4065.
    • Alexander, A. and Walker, H. and Delabre, Izabela (2022) . Journal of Business Ethics 180, pp. 975-995. ISSN 0167-4544.
    • Gallemore, C. and Delabre, Izabela and Jespersen, K. and Liu, T. (2022) . Global Networks 22 (4), pp. 615-630. ISSN 1470-2266.
    • Delabre, Izabela and Rodriguez, L. and Miller Smallwood, J. and Scharlemann, J.P.W. and Alcamo, J. and Antonarakis, A.S. and Rowhani, P. and Hazell, R.J. and Aksnes, D.L. and Balvanera, P. and Lundquist, C. and Gresham, C. and Alexander, A.E. and Stenseth, N.C. (2021) . Science Advances 7 (12), ISSN 2375-2548.
    • Oppenheimer, P. and Clarke, E. and Cupit, O. and Delabre, Izabela and Dodson, A. and Guindon, M. and Hatto, A. and Lam, J. and Lawrence, L. and Melot, C. and Spencer, E. and Wainwright-D茅ri, E. and Freeman, I. and Hoffmann, M. (2021) . Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 3, pp. 100042. ISSN 2666-0490.
    • Delabre, Izabela and Boyd, E. and Brockhaus, M. and Carton, W. and Krause, T. and Newell, P. and Wong, G.Y. and Zelli, F. (2020) . Global Sustainability 3 (e16), ISSN 2059-4798.
    • Delabre, Izabela and Okereke, C. (2020) . Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 3 (3), pp. 642-662. ISSN 2514-8486.
    • Dornelles, A.Z. and Boyd, E. and Nunes, R.J. and Boonstra, W.J. and Delabre, Izabela and Denney, J.M. and Grimm, V. and Jentsch, A. and Nicholas, K.A. and Schr枚ter, M. and Seppelt, R. and Settele, J. and Shackelford, N. and Standish, R.J. and Yengoh, G.T. and Oliver, T.H. (2020) . Global Sustainability 3 (E20), ISSN 2059-4798.
    • Alcamo, J. and Thompson, J. and Alexander, A. and Antoniades, A. and Delabre, Izabela and Dolley, J. and Marshall, F. and Menton, M. and Middleton, J. and Sharlemann, J.P.W. (2020) . Sustainability Science 15, pp. 1561-1572. ISSN 1862-4065.
    • Delabre, Izabela and Alexander, A. and Rodrigues, C. (2019) . Sustainability Science 15, pp. 1637-1651. ISSN 1862-4065.
    • Okereke, C. and Delabre, Izabela (2018) . Society & Natural Resources 31 (11), pp. 1302-1318. ISSN 0894-1920.
    • de Vos, R. and Stacewicz, Izabela (2018) . Geoforum 96, pp. 217-226. ISSN 0016-7185.
    • Boyd, E. and Nykvist, B. and Borgstrom, S. and Stacewicz, Izabela (2015) . Ambio 44, pp. 149-161. ISSN 0044-7447.

    Book review

    • Delabre, Izabela (2021) .

    Book section

    • Delabre, Izabela and Nolan, C. and Jespersen, K. and Gallemore, C. and Alexander, A. (2021) . In: Bali Swain, R. and Sweet, S. (eds.) Sustainable Consumption and Production: Challenges and Development. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 209-226. ISBN 9783030563707.
    • Delabre, Izabela and Nolan, C. (2021) . In: Beckmann, V. (ed.) Transitioning to Sustainable Life on Land. Transitioning to Sustainability. MDPI Books.
    • Alexander, A. and Delabre, Izabela (2019) . In: Yakovleva, N. and Frei, R. and Murthy, S.R. (eds.) Sustainable Development Goals and Sustainable Supply Chains in the Post-global Economy. Greening of Industry Networks Studies. Springer Nature. pp. 95-111. ISBN 9783030150655.
  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Outreach

    Agricultural Voices Syria

    I have worked聽on a project led by Dr. Mirela Barbu, University of Sussex, on a series of case studies and podcasts as part of the 聽project, which aims to聽reconnect Syrian farmers and other actors in agri-food value chains with the country鈥檚 experts,聽supporting Syria鈥檚 long term recovery.

    Agricultural Voices Syria (AVS) started with the creation of a podcast series in 2021, followed by a video series in 2022. It was supported by grants from IDCF and SSRP and was implemented in partnership with Cara, UK (Council for at-risk academics) and SAE, Turkey (Syrian Academic Expertise).

    Drawing on academic literature from environmental studies, global value chains, political ecology and international trade studies,聽we developed a series of聽case studies on successful practices in agri-food value chains, focused on the topics:聽agricultural resource use,聽producer organisations,聽
    food standards,聽by-products and waste, and聽international institutions and trade regulation.

    Connecting Vegetation Management & Cultural Ecosystem Services in Grid Planning

    GINGR and the Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) hosted a webinar, on 1 July 2026鈥痶o explore聽how Cultural Ecosystem Services strengthen the planning and management of electricity infrastructure.

    I discussed the benefits of adopting a deeper and more nuanced framing of cultural ecosystem services in policy and practice, considering the role of ecosystems in supporting human well-being, social relations, place attachment, and community resilience.