Centers & Institutes
A thriving research center or institute is a powerful force for new ideas and beneficial change. At UNC-Chapel Hill, these units work on some of the biggest, most pressing societal issues through cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Faculty members affiliated with research centers and institutes typically retain their appointments in discipline-based departments, continuing to teach students and mentor graduate students. The ability of research centers and institutes to address real-world problems in a comprehensive manner attracts external funding and helps North Carolina compete for economic development opportunities.
OVCR Centers & Institutes
- Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research (Sheps)
- Center for Galapagos Studies (CGS)
- Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP)
- Center for Natural Hazards Resilience
- Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC)
- Injury Prevention Research Center (IPRC)
- Institute for the Environment (IE)
- Nutrition Research Institute (NRI)
- Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI)
- Winston National Center on Technology Use, Brain, and Psychological Development
Health
Blood Research Center
The UNC Blood Research Center (BRC) was established to promote interdisciplinary research in non-malignant blood disorders across UNC.
Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies (BCAS)
Our mission is to conduct, coordinate, and promote basic and clinical research on the causes, prevention, and treatment of alcoholism and alcoholic disease.
Carolina Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI)
Our mission is to create an enabling environment, at the community, state, national and global levels, in which every mother is supported to achieve optimal infant and young child feeding and care, and every child achieves its full potential through the best start on life.
Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (C-CCNE)
C-CCNE focuses on improving cancer disease control and management with exciting new and cutting edge nanotechnologies to enhance treatment and early detection of cancer.
Education
Carolina Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI)
Our mission is to create an enabling environment, at the community, state, national and global levels, in which every mother is supported to achieve optimal infant and young child feeding and care, and every child achieves its full potential through the best start on life.
Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD)
The Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities is a comprehensive program for services, research, and training relevant to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families., the Carolina Institute provides a continuum of clinical services from complex, interdisciplinary evaluations on-site to more limited and selected clinical services and training in all 100 counties in North Carolina.
Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP)
The UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention addresses pressing health problems by collaborating with communities to conduct research, provide training, and translate research findings into policy and practice. The Center seeks to reduce health disparities through an emphasis on community-engaged research.
Business
Center for Decision Research (C4DR)
The UNC Behavioral Lab was founded in 2005 to help support and promote research on judgment and decision making, as well as other work related to individual, group and organizational phenomena.
Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)
The Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) helps students, educators and companies develop the tools to build critical trust and business across boundaries.
Environmental Finance Center (EFC)
The EFC at UNC is dedicated to enhancing the ability of governments to provide environmental programs and services in fair, effective and financially sustainable ways.
Institute for Private Capital
The Institute for Private Capital improves public understanding of the role of private capital in the global economy. Academic and industry experts work together to generate new knowledge about private capital markets based on objective academic research.
Technology
Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (C-CCNE)
C-CCNE focuses on improving cancer disease control and management with exciting new and cutting edge nanotechnologies to enhance treatment and early detection of cancer.
Center for Bioinformatics
The staff at the Center for Bioinformatics promote the use of computational tools for molecular biology, genetics, protein chemistry, and biochemistry research at the University of North Carolina.
Center for Innovation in Health Disparities Research
Through their research, faculty seek to understand and eliminate health disparities in those populations that bear the greatest burden of illness: the poor, African Americans, Latinos, and those living in rural areas
Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery (CNDD)
Our focus in the CNDD is to safely and effectively translate new drug and imaging discoveries into clinical trials using nanotechnology with the goal to improve human health.
Environment
Center for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Economics (CE3)
The UNC School of Law Center for Climate, Energy, Environment and Economics (CE3) exists to provide advanced student education and policy and legal examination of issues surrounding the law of climate, energy, environment, and economic development, with particular attention to the intersection of these issues.
Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology (CEMALB)
The Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology (CEMALB) is broadly concerned with environmental impacts on human health and on cardiopulmonary health in particular.
Center for Galapagos Studies (CGS)
To address the current challenges facing the Galapagos Islands such as population growth, resource conflict, and economic development, a collaborative partnership has been created between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. The partnership is designed to foster research, education, and outreach programs in the islands, with the larger goals of advancing conservation efforts in the Galapagos and promoting better understanding of ecologically sensitive and protected areas worldwide.
International
Carolina Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI)
Our mission is to create an enabling environment, at the community, state, national and global levels, in which every mother is supported to achieve optimal infant and young child feeding and care, and every child achieves its full potential through the best start on life.
Transportation & Infrastructure
Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC)
For over 40 years, the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center has conducted interdisciplinary research aimed at reducing deaths, injuries and related societal costs of roadway crashes.
Social/Humanities
African Studies Center (ASC)
The staff and programs of the African Studies Center work to provide the University and the people of North Carolina with a campus hub for interdisciplinary inquiry and communication on Africa, including the sponsorship of a wide variety of activities that bring together interested faculty and students from a large number of academic disciplines, focusing on the interconnected issues of democratization, development, health, and gender.
American Indian Center (AIC)
The mission of the American Indian Center is to bridge the richness of North Carolina’s American Indian cultures with the strengths of Carolina’s research, education, and teaching.
Ancient World Mapping Center (AWMC)
The Ancient World Mapping Center promotes cartography, historical geography and geographic information science as essential disciplines within the field of ancient studies through innovative and collaborative research, teaching, and community outreach activities.
Asian American Center (AAC)
The Asian American Center’s mission is to cultivate a critical understanding of Asian American peoples, cultures, and histories.