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Become a Research Partner.

Learn IIRD's Transdisciplinary & Holistic Approach.

Along with its primary mission of providing world-class education in regenerative design, the Institute of Integrated Regenerative Design (IIRD) also conducts both independent and collaborative research that supports regenerative design practice as scale.

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How We Conduct Regenerative Design Research

A whole-systems approach to research.

IIRD aims to compliment the narrowly-focused, domain-specific approaches to research traditionally taken by most academic institutions through a whole-systems approach to research that breaks out of the disciplinary silos that often limit the ability to address the complex, emergent problems facing modern civilization. The Institute’s research projects are chosen to work on the kinds of problems that require transdisciplinary collaboration, allowing researchers who have often never talked to each other before to partner in new and powerful ways.

Leading Research on the Integrated Regenerative Design Framework.

For research that is directly focused on the development of the Integrated Regenerative Design framework of the Biocompatible Design Standard, IIRD most often either conducts independent research or acts as the lead in a research partnership with universities or other nonprofits. The Institute is set up to appoint its own Principal Investigator (PI) and to handle all accounting and reporting tasks associated with advanced research.

Collaboration Beyond Academic Silos.

For broader research topics, IIRD can flexibly partner with universities and other research institutions, setting up a variety of arrangements to support a PI from another organization or to act as a Co-PI. One typical arrangement is for a research university to ask IIRD to partner with them to conduct research that requires a transdisciplinary team to work together effectively, leveraging IIRD’s expertise in whole-systems approaches and effective collaboration that breaks
out of existing academic silos.

The goal is to advance regenerative design globally.​

Outputs include peer-reviewed papers, professional standards, white papers, books, and formal documentation of applied methodologies.

Beyond producing its own body of work, the Institute seeks to influence the broader research landscape. One of our long-term goals is to help catalyze a shaft within academic and applied research institutions towards more regenerative, whole-systems framing across disciplines. By addressing complex problems by partnering with natural systems instead of trying to work against them, IIRD aims to contribute to a research culture that is better aligned with the realities of ecological limits, social complexity, and the urgent need for regenerative solutions
that scale to meet growing challenges.

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Current Projects

Biocompatible Design Standard Pilot Release

The pilot release of the Biocompatible Design Standard is currently in the final phases of preparation, with the final text of the draft standard having been completed.

The final tasks are completing the literature review so that the list of supporting references can be completed and verified, and finishing the page layout tasks that will allow us to release the standard in an easy-to-read and accessible form.

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Dynamics of Sustainable and Regenerative Holons Book

The Dynamics of Sustainable and Regenerative Holons is an upcoming book by Alan Booker, our founder and Executive Director. This work will lay out the technical foundations for a technically-rigorous way to define the concepts of regenerative and sustainable, allowing for the creation of concrete and measurable metrics of system performance that will help move regenerative design from a poorly-defined concept to a technically precise and measurable approach that can be applied at large scale.

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Observation for Design
Course and Textbook

Another book under development by our team, with Alan Booker as the lead author, is Observation for Design. This textbook, along with the design for the accompanying course, arises from Alan’s experience that many professionals lack the fundamental skills of observation
that enable them to create designs that work with the natural environment instead of against it.

This 14-week course, which is also designed to be offered by universities, centers around daily field work that includes field observations, journaling, mapping, and sketching. Students meet
weekly to practice presenting their observations to their team, helping them learn to turn their observations into actional design intelligence.

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Partnering with IIRD

If your organization is interested in partnering with IIRD for a research project, please contact us directly via the form below.

Foundations

Foundations courses are designed to provide professionals with the foundational knowledge required to effectively work on projects that seek to be regenerative and sustainable. These courses are typically presented at an advanced undergraduate level, with students expected to already have the basic knowledge covered in the first two or
three years of an undergraduate program in their field

Continuing Education

Continuing Education courses are designed to address important and emerging topics, supplementing our standard courses and helping professionals keep up to date. These
courses are all offered online, sometimes as live webinars with Q&A, other times as on- demand courses available through our learning portal.

Lead

Lead courses are designed for graduates of the Professional-level courses who also have at least 10 years of industry experience. These students return to participate in a
Professional course in their track, but this time take on the role of a team lead helping to coordinate the capstone design project being undertaken by transdisciplinary group of
Professional students.

Professional

Professional courses prepare professionals working in a wide range of fields to take on critical roles in regenerative and sustainable design. These courses are presented at a
graduate-school level and expect the student to have already have completed an undergraduate degree in their field or have equivalent experience.

Introductory ​

Introductory courses are open to all learners age 14 and above, offering an introduction and overview of critical topics in regenerative and sustainable design at a level that is broadly accessible to a wide audience.

Introductory courses are typically either online classes taught over several weeks or 2-3 day in-person courses with hands-on and experiential learning.

NOT WORKING

Dr. Nicole Wagner

Agroecology Track Advisory Board

Dr. Nicole Wagner, associate professor at Texas State University, focuses on soil health and horticultural crop production. She is the founder and project director for Texas State University’s Bobcat Farm, a student-run regenerative fruit and vegetable farm that also serves as a research site for exploring regenerative crop production practices, soil amendments, and composting methods.

 

She has won several awards, including the Texas State Presidential Excellence in Teaching, and has been a co-principal or principal investigator for grants and private donations totaling over $6million. After completing her Ph.D., she worked at USDA in Washington D.C. forecasting commodity crop production in South America, developing briefing materials for the Secretary of Agriculture, and organizing senior executive-level meetings in Washington D.C. and internationally.

 

In 2008, she was a member of the U.S. government’s delegation to the United Nations Presidential-Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome. A farmer at heart, she has worked on a large corn-soy farm in Minnesota, as well as an organic vegetable farm and the
largest organic dairy in Montana. Currently, she operates a small biointensive farm in Buda, Texas.

Chase Jones

Agroecology Track Lead Instructor

Chase Jones is a permaculture designer and consultant with a background in anthropology, conservation archaeology, ecology, and geospatial analysis. He is the co-founder of Biodesic Strategies, a design and construction service that offers ecological design and green infrastructure installation. Working throughout northwest Arkansas and surrounding areas, Biodesic Strategies hosts educational and community events that promote the wider adoption of regenerative and sustainable design approaches.


Chase’s undergraduate studies at the University of Arkansas focused on anthropology, with an emphasis on archeological research, using GIS (Geographic Information System) platforms and remote sensing to perform geospatial analysis and model the impacts of modern land use on archeological sites in areas such as the Chicama Valley of Peru. He also acted as a research assistant for a project using dendrochronological study of shortleaf pines to reconstruct historic summer moisture patterns across the central United States.


Chase has extensive experience in the design of perennial polyculture food systems, composting, and soil fertility.  He is certified by the Soil Food Web School as a microscopy technician and also specializes in regenerative earthworks. His practical consulting experience and background in the geospatial sciences allow him to help students understand the tools needed to capture site data, synthesize an accurate site survey, and develop a working understanding of any design site.

Opalyn Brenger

Board of Directors, Agroecology and Community Track Instructor

IIRD is Opalyn’s fifth nonprofit board, after serving on the board of four other nonprofits, including two 501(c)3’s, a 501(c)2, and a 501(c)13, over the past two decades. She continues to hold the role of either secretary or treasurer for all four of these other organizations, overseeing accounts payable, accounts receivable, and various record-keeping tasks.

 

Her three bachelor’s degrees cover fields as diverse as business administration, accounting, economics, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, hydrology, mineralogy, ecology, and biodiversity.

 

Opalyn has extensive hands-on experience with community development, farm management, livestock systems, and natural building, as well as training in sustainable and regenerative design. She has been involved in the critical review and development of both the Integrated Regenerative Design Framework and the Biocompatible Design Standard over the past several
years.

Gary McNay

AIA, LEED AP BD+C, LFA
Board of Directors, O&M Track Lead Instructor

Gary is the Founder and Principal Architect at Vitalplace Design. Working as the principal on numerous major building projects for large research universities, he has served in leadership roles on design teams focused on advancing human health, accelerating scientific research, and creating rich, immersive learning environments. For over 41 years, his work with these teams focused on achieving the highest level of sustainability possible, including 12 LEED (platinum, gold, and silver) certified projects and 2 Living Building Challenge registered projects.

After reflection, and additional training and certifications in Regenerative Design, with lessons from First Peoples’ groups, he is focused on collaborating with networks, people, and projects
that are striving to achieve truly regenerative outcomes in education, research, and practice. 


Gary has led many professional development workshops, panels, and conference presentations on sustainability and regeneration for organizations such as the US Green Building Council,
The Society for College and University Planning, the Biophilic Leadership Summit, and the International Living Futures Institute.

Matt Stone

Ecosystem Regeneration Track Instructor

Matt has a BS in Biological Systems Engineering from Kansas State University, where his studies focused on the confluence of environmental, agricultural, and bioprocess engineering, and the interrelationships between those fields. He has worked in both a soil water research lab and an agricultural engineering research lab studying how changes in long-term weather patterns affect soil hydrology and agricultural yields.


His recent professional experience includes landscape construction, where he has worked for the last 5 years. Currently, he works as a project manager executing the construction of more than a dozen concurrent multi-million dollar commercial and state installations in Northern Colorado. 

 

Matt has been a part of the IIRD team since 2022, combining his background in engineering with his practical experience in construction to provide a grounded and execution-focused eye to the

IIRD curriculum. Since joining the team, he has been involved in the development of all of its current courses and the Biocompatible Design Standards. 


Matt is an active volunteer for a number of environmental restoration and fire mitigation projects in the front range of Colorado.

Rachel Harris

Community Track Instructor

Rachel has a BS in Psychology from Capella University, where her studies focused on building regenerative relationships between humans and the rest of the natural world.  She brings her connection skills and Level 1 Internal Family Systems Practitioner certification to domestic violence shelters and low-income families who often deal with substance abuse and trauma. She co-wrote curriculum called “Go Feel Yourself” geared towards women, helping them grow beyond societal limitations, expanding their emotional range, and regaining connection with their emotional power.


Since joining the team, Rachel has been involved in developing curriculum for IIRD’s Community Track, as well developing grief tending training for the core team. 


When she’s not working with IIRD, she leads community grief groups and participates in local grief tending ceremonies. Her love of textiles and art has led her to creating digital art including logos and healing artwork.

Brent Lawson

Board of Directors, Ecosystemic Finance Track Lead Instructor

Brent holds an MBA in Finance, with almost 30 years of experience in large financial organizations, working in a variety of roles ranging from business analysis and risk management to product management. His risk management roles have included managing credit risk and fraud
strategies on multi-billion-dollar financial portfolios.

 

Product management roles have included building big-data cloud-based solutions on multi-billion-dollar credit acquisitions portfolios and other technical product development.

 

Brent’s current interests include scaling integrated regenerative design and regenerative finance methods that provide sustainable development practices for regenerative communities. His research includes assisting in the further development of the IRD Framework’s Ecosystemic Economics and Finance model.

Alan Booker

Executive Director, 
Lead Instructor

Alan is the Founding Executive Director and Lead Instructor of the Institute of IntegratedRegenerative Design® (IIRD). He is the creator of the Integrated Regenerative Design® framework and the author of the Biocompatible Design® Standard.

After completing a degree in Electrical Engineering, Alan moved into systems engineering roles that started his exploration of large-scale sustainability. He currently has over 35 years’ experience in engineering and 25 years in sustainable and regenerative design.

With decades of hands-on experience designing large-scale, sustainable systems, Alan is a LEED AP™ BD+C, holds Living Futures Accreditation (LFA) for working with Living Building Challenge and Living Community Challenge projects.

Alan is a frequent guest lecturer and guest speaker for many colleges and professional conferences, and has developed the core curriculum for IIRD.