 Includes research on environmental economics, energy, business and sustainable development, direct investment and market governance, focusing on building an independent market that is based on the skills of the people and resources at hand to ensure the growth of the society at whole.IIED's founding director Barbara Ward died in 1981.She was succeeded by William Clark, Brian Walker, Richard Sandbrook, Nigel Cross, Camilla Toulmin and, currently, Andrew Norton, who took over in late June 2015.