The Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC) is currently home to three Research Chairs, these being the SARChI Chair in Global Change and Social Learning Systems, the Chair of Environment & Sustainability Education, and the Chair of Monitoring & Evaluation in a SETA environment under the leadership of Distinguished Professor Heila Lotz Sisitka and Professor Eureta Rosenberg.
The Environmental Learning Research Centre serves as the Makana and Rural Eastern Cape Sustainable Development Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE). This is a worldwide network of such centres connected through the United Nations University.