[1] The Institute occupies three buildings surrounding a central plaza located at the southern edge Brown's campus on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island.

The center was formed to explore solutions to the major global issues of the day, foremost of which was the possibility of a nuclear encounter between the United States and the Soviet Union.

[7] Originally housed in five separate locations on campus, the institute's programs moved into a single building at 111 Thayer Street, designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, in January 2002.

[1] This initiative aims to enhance research and education on global economic, political, and policy issues, serving both undergraduate and graduate students.

Each summer, BIARI brings promising young faculty from the Global South together with leading scholars in their fields for two-week intensive residential institutes.

The program's mission is "to equip young people with the skills, habits, and knowledge necessary to be engaged citizens who are capable of addressing international issues with thoughtful public discourse and informed decision making.

[23] The project comprises a team of economists, anthropologists, political scientists, legal experts, and physicians, and seeks to calculate the economic costs, human casualties, and impact on civil liberties of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan since 2001.

Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke[26] and former deputy secretary-general of the OECD and 11th Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, J. Brian Atwood.

[30] Other fellows and faculty of note include the 12th president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim; former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and Secretary of Labor, Tom Perez; 7th lieutenant governor of Maryland, Michael Steele;[31] Kenyan activist Kakenya Ntaiya; and 16th Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Arvind Subramanian.