Claire Ewing graduated from the RES program with an MSc in 2021, under the co-supervision of Drs. David Boyd and Amanda Giang.
While at IRES, she created a new, publicly available dataset of air pollution enforcement actions in Canada, which required numerous Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) requests. She is now a Senior Policy and Planning Analyst at Metro Vancouver, contributing to the development and implementation of Vancouver’s Climate 2050 Strategy and Clean Air Plan, with a particular focus on greenhouse gas reductions for buildings, transportation, and industry.
Read on to find out what brought Claire to IRES, and how her experiences helped her find her current role.
Question: What values do you remember being in the air at IRES?
Answer: I remember actionable research being a core value at IRES— most people were doing work that can be used for actual, on-the-ground change. This was a key reason I chose to come to IRES; I wanted to substantively contribute to “sustainability” through my studies. I also remember well-roundedness being valued at IRES. Students learn about a broad spectrum of sustainability/environmental topics through the IRES course requirements, which many students leverage in doing interdisciplinary research.
Question: In what ways did your experiences at IRES help prepare you for what you do now?
Answer: My Master’s research at IRES was about air pollution policy and enforcement in Canada, which prepared me well to work on climate policy in a Canadian government. I developed skills through my research and courses I took while at IRES, such as using qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. Perhaps most importantly, it helped me learn what I wanted (and didn’t) from my future career and what sectors within the ever-broadening field of ‘sustainability’ I was interested in joining.
Question: How did you find your current position?
Answer: I did a Sustainability Scholars internship at Metro Vancouver (my current employer) the summer before I graduated from IRES. During my internship, I networked with people around Metro Vancouver and beyond. When the job posting for my position was posted online, my former Sustainability Scholars mentor sent it to me and encouraged me to apply.
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