SIS Provost Associate Professor Garrett Graddy-Lovelace has been selected to join the international Initiative for Participatory Research in Agroecology as the researcher and author of this year's U.S. national study, which traces how U.S. climate, agriculture, and land policy fosters agroecology, as well as where agroecology is happening at community, academic, and civil society levels.

Supported by the Waverley Street Foundation, this global grant program funds 43 multi-stakeholder collaborations in 12 countries that are participating in this first-of-its-kind global assessment. Graddy-Lovelace is the sole researcher-author for the U.S., which will involve research travel across the U.S. and Puerto Rico this summer.

"This is a large honor and responsibility, and it will be a big part of my sabbatical work," says Graddy-Lovelace. "No doubt, I will be weaving geopolitical ecology into all of my classes in 2027!"

The Agroecology Fund launched the IPA-Global Initiative (IPA stands for Investigación Acción Participativa en Agroecología or Participatory Research on Agroecology) in 2024 to advance agroecology as a climate solution, using participatory action research to generate evidence for advocacy and practice. Through a network of small farmers’ organizations, Indigenous peoples, youth, women, researchers, and climate justice advocates, IPA-Global uses Participatory Action Research (PAR) to connect grassroots innovation with policy transformation. Each collaboration aims to influence national and regional policies that position agroecology as a key solution to the climate crisis, rooted in biodiversity conservation, sustainable food systems, traditional knowledge, and the inclusion of gender and youth perspectives.