CIES has several active research projects being undertaken by staff members and students at the Graduate Institute. The Centre gives priority to projects at the frontier of academic research on environmental issues, with an emphasis on international dimensions.

Outputs are disseminated via multiple channels including lectures, seminars and practitioner briefings; succinct in-house publications targeting specific audiences; academic journal articles; longer contributions in its Studies in Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding book series (Routledge); online databases; and curriculum development for training modules.

The CCDP systematically seeks to promote knowledge transfer between research and practice, and between the global North and South.

CCDP projects apply research methods that consciously depart from a purely problem-solving and policy-oriented approach in order to deliver focused, rigorous and substantive contributions to both academic and practitioner debates. With a team of faculty members and researchers spanning all of the disciplines at the Graduate Institute and offering a wealth of practical field experience, the CCDP’s comparative advantage lies in the multi-disciplinary perspective adopted for each research initiative.
 
Research at the CCDP is conducted with a variety of partners and sponsors across the globe, operating at the Swiss, international and field levels. These include private and public foundations, donor governments, international organisations, international and local NGOs, think tanks and university departments. Emphasis is placed on providing opportunities for researchers from the Global South to be actively involved in CCDP work streams.