Brian Dowd-Uribe

Dr. Dowd-Uribe is an interdisciplinary social scientist with core scholarly interests including sustainable agriculture, international development, food systems, climate adaptation, water security, and agroecology, with a principal geographic focus in Africa (Burkina Faso and Togo), and Latin America (Costa Rica and Colombia). He executes these interests through applied interdisciplinary research that seeks to understand the potential and actual social impacts of novel technologies and innovative policies, primarily for small and marginalized farmers. Most recently, the focus of his scholarly pursuits has been on the knowledge politics of new breeding technologies in Africa.

• Science and technology studies
• Food systems
• Political ecology
• Agroecology
• Water security

• Department Chair, International Studies
• Program Director, MA in International Studies
• Co-founder and Executive Editor, Globus
• Member, Faculty Advisory Board on Internationalization

• UC Santa Cruz, PhD in Environmental Studies, 2011
• UC Santa Cruz, MA in Environmental Studies, 2008

• Assistant Professor and Department Chair, University for Peace, Costa Rica
• Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Earth Institute, Columbia University
• Lecturer, Environmental Studies Institute, Santa Clara University

• Visiting Scientist, Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions, 2022-2023
• Awardee, Jesuit Foundation Grant, 2019

• Dowd-Uribe, B., Blundo-Canto, G., Fischer K., Glover D., Kikulwe E.M., Louafi S., Rock J.S., Shilomboleni H., and Joly, P-B, 2024. “Socio-economic assessment and genetically engineered crops in Africa: Building knowledge for development?” Global Food Security, 42, p.100782.

• Dowd‐Uribe, B., Rock, J.S., Spreadbury, T., Chiril, P. and Uminsky, D., 2024. Bridging the gap? Public–private partnerships and genetically modified crop development for smallholder farmers in Africa. Plants, People, Planet. 6(2), 437-451.

• Dowd-Uribe B., 2023. Just agricultural science: The green revolution, biotechnologies, and marginalized farmers in Africa. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 11(1).  

• Schnurr, M. A., & Dowd-Uribe, B. (2021). Anticipating farmer outcomes of three genetically modified staple crops in sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from farming systems research. Journal of Rural Studies, 88, 377-387.
• Fletcher, R., Dowd-Uribe, B., and G. Aistara (eds), (2020). “The Eco-Laboratory: Environmental Governance and Economic Development in Costa Rica.” University of Arizona Press