research overview
- We apply cutting-edge statistics and data science to solve problems in development for a better and fairer planet. You can find out more about our work here https://betterplanetlab.com/
- Contact Info
Mehrabi, Zia
Positions
- Faculty Fellow, Research & Innovation Office
- Assistant Professor, College of Engineering and Applied Science
- Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies
Research Areas
Research
Publications
selected publications
-
journal article
-
Bearing the costs of a climate-safe food transition..
Nature Food.
11-12.
2026
-
Different places, different challenges: mapping global variations in agrifood-system burdens.
Environmental Research Letters.
124051-124051.
2025
-
Exposure of global agricultural lands to extreme weather using CMIP6 projections of future climate.
Environmental Research Letters.
124077-124077.
2025
-
High-resolution wall-to-wall time series of seasonal maize area and yield for Rwanda over 2019–2023.
Environmental Research: Food Systems.
045003-045003.
2025
-
Global inequality in environmental conditions underpinning human rights.
Environmental Research Communications.
2025
-
Global agricultural lands in the year 2015.
Earth System Science Data.
3473-3496.
2025
-
Asset stranding could open new pathways to food systems transformation.
Nature Food.
440-445.
2025
-
Exploring the role of a social carrier in advancing agroecology and territorial autonomy.
Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
587-612.
2025
-
Incorporate climate injustice into carbon labels.
Nature Human Behaviour.
237-239.
2025
-
Current food trade helps mitigate future climate change impacts in lower-income nations.
PLoS ONE.
2025
-
Nutrition-sensitive climate risk across food production systems.
Environmental Research Letters.
2025
-
A modelled estimate of food access within countries shows that inequality within countries has increased despite rising equality between countries.
Global Food Security.
2024
-
Landscape and management influences on smallholder agroforestry yields show shifts during a climate shock.
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.
2024
-
Larger nations benefit more than smaller nations from the stabilizing effects of crop diversity.
Nature Food.
2024
-
Higher yields and more biodiversity on smaller farms (vol 4, pg pages651, 2021).
Nature Sustainability.
682-682.
2024
-
Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture.
Science.
87-93.
2024
-
Biodiversity-production feedback effects lead to intensification traps in agricultural landscapes.
Nature Ecology and Evolution.
2024
-
Assessing the Performance of Satellite-Based Models for Crop Yield Estimation in the Canadian Prairies.
Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing.
2023
-
Likely decline in the number of farms globally by the middle of the century.
Nature Sustainability.
949-954.
2023
-
Against the odds: Network and institutional pathways enabling agricultural diversification.
One Earth.
479-491.
2023
-
Sims-style ‘digital twin’ models can tell us if food systems will weather crises.
Nature.
189-189.
2023
-
How can machine learning help in understanding the impact of climate change on crop yields?.
Environmental Research Letters.
2023
-
Matches and mismatches between the global distribution of major food crops and climate suitability.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences.
2022
-
Food security: embed equity in new targets.
Nature.
472-472.
2022
-
Research priorities for global food security under extreme events.
One Earth.
756-+.
2022
-
On the relative importance of climatic and non-climatic factors in crop yield models.
Climatic Change.
2022
-
Functional connectivity of the world's protected areas.
Science.
1101-+.
2022
-
Shifting baselines and biodiversity success stories.
Nature.
E17-E18.
2022
-
How to buffer against an urban food shortage.
Nature.
175-176.
2021
-
Digital technology helps remove gender bias in academia.
Scientometrics.
4073-4081.
2021
-
More farms, less specialized landscapes, and higher crop diversity stabilize food supplies.
Environmental Research Letters.
055015-055015.
2021
-
Higher yields and more biodiversity on smaller farms.
Nature Sustainability.
651-657.
2021
-
Working landscapes need at least 20% native habitat.
Conservation Letters.
2021
-
The global divide in data-driven farming.
Nature Sustainability.
154-160.
2020
-
Hunger in Africa: get the costing right.
Nature.
500-500.
2020
-
A scoping review of research funding for small-scale farmers in water scarce regions.
Nature Sustainability.
836-844.
2020
-
Livestock policy for sustainable development.
Nature Food.
160-165.
2020
-
Food system collapse.
Nature Climate Change.
16-17.
2020
-
TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access.
Global Change Biology.
119-188.
2020
-
Synchronized failure of global crop production..
Nature Ecology and Evolution.
780-786.
2019
-
Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable.
Science.
341-+.
2019
-
The challenge of feeding the world while conserving half the planet.
Nature Sustainability.
409-412.
2018
-
Smallholders need access to big-data agronomy too.
Nature.
30-30.
2018
-
Protecting the origins of coffee to safeguard its future.
Nature Plants.
2017
-
Restoration: avoid arbitrary baselines.
Nature.
469-469.
2016
-
Bearing the costs of a climate-safe food transition..
Nature Food.
11-12.
2026
Teaching
courses taught
-
ENVS 1000 - Introduction to Environmental Studies
Primary Instructor - Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
This course provides students with an introduction to natural science topics and skill sets necessary to address multi-dimensional human-environment interactions. Students will survey biological and physical science aspects of environmental change, examining ecological, biological, chemical, and technological factors that influence the quality of life on Earth. The focus of the class is on developing a stronger science-based understanding of Earth�s environmental systems and how they are altered by human activity. Required for ENVS majors. -
ENVS 4800 - Capstone: Critical Thinking in Environmental Studies
Primary Instructor - Fall 2021 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024 / Fall 2025
Examines a specific environmental topic in depth, synthesizing information from complex and controversial issues. Different course sections present different topics. Fulfills capstone requirement for Environmental Studies major. Recommended prerequisites: ENVS 1000 and ENVS 3020 and ENVS students should have already taken a cornerstone class (ENVS 3520, ENVS 3525, ENVS 3555, or ENVS 3621). -
ENVS 5100 - Special Topics in Environmental Studies
Primary Instructor - Spring 2025
A variety of topics not currently offered in curriculum; offered depending on instructor availability and student demand. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours, provided the topics vary.
Background
education and training
- Ph.D., Oxford Univ (England) 2016
- B.A., Oxford Univ (England) 2011