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Janelle Knox-Hayes is the Lister Brothers Professor of Economic Geography and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she directs the Resilient Communities Lab and heads the Environmental Policy and Planning Group. She holds a visiting research fellowship at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University. Knox-Hayes received her PhD in Geography and Environment from the University of Oxford in 2009, MSc with Distinction in Nature, Society, and Environmental Policy from Oxford in 2006, and BA with Distinction (Summa Cum Laude) in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, with specializations in International Affairs and Japanese Language and Civilizations, from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2004. Her career includes serving as Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 2009 to 2015, Senior Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University from 2009 to 2013, Energy Analyst at New Energy Finance in 2006, and Energy Analyst at the United States Government Accountability Office in 2005.
Knox-Hayes's research focuses on the political economy of environmental management, including market mechanisms to govern climate change in the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, resource valuation emphasizing spatial and temporal materiality, and the influence of social and cultural values on environmental policy and sustainable development. Her projects examine governance of social and environmental systems under globalization, decision-making under socio-economic uncertainty, and sustainable development at the interface of culture and political economy, such as in the Arctic via fieldwork in Iceland. She has authored key publications including "The Politics of Carbon Disclosure as Climate Governance" (2011, Strategic Organization), "The Time and Space of Materiality in Organizations and the Natural Environment" (2013, Organization & Environment), "Sharing Economies: Moving Beyond Binaries in a Digital Age" (2017, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society), and "Saving for Retirement: Intention, Context, and Behavior" (2012, Oxford University Press). Awards include the Fulbright Fellowship, SSRC Abe Fellowship, Truman National Security Fellowship (2009), Georgia Tech Class of 1969 Teaching Scholar (2010), and Visiting Fellowship at the Smith School (2013). She serves as editor of the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, leads the MIT Climate Consortium Climate Policy Working Group, and holds roles in faculty diversity and indigenous initiatives, contributing to Social Science at MIT.