ECONOVO is headed by a core group consisting of Center Director, Professor Jens-Christian Svenning, two additional senior core members from Aarhus University: Professor Felix Riede and Professor Michael Møller Hansen and four junior core group members: Head of Archaeology Trine Kellberg Nielsen from Moesgaard Museum and Associate Professor Alejandro Ordonez, Assistant Professors Elizabeth Le Roux, and Robert Buitenwerf from Aarhus University.

All activities in ECONOVO are centered on four main research themes (RTs): Diversity dynamics, Complexity restoration, Resilience and functioning, and Biosphere upscaling. Each RT is led by teams of four core group members with relevant expertise, with two members being RT leads (to facilitate mentorship) and the other two co-leads. RT leads and coleads supervise PhD students and postdocs associated with this RT. ECONOVO has 9 international associates, who will act as advisory board, collaborate on research, and take part in bidirectional exchanges of senior staff and early-career researchers.  The center is supported by a group of administrative, research and technical staff members.