February 6, 2020: IRES Faculty Seminar with Mark Harris

February 6, 2020: IRES Faculty Seminar with Mark Harris

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

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*** VIEW SEMINAR RECORDING (Audio begins at 4:55min)***

Dancing for Country (towards Reconciliation?) – A non-Indigenous Australian perspective

On December 1, 2019, for the first time in history, Indigenous communities from across Australia danced in unison at the same time, dancing for Country, for ancestors and for healing. For the first time in over 150 years, Corroboree took place on Gundungurra Country (in south-eastern New South Wales). In this presentation I want to juxtapose this moment with the recent history of moves to achieve Reconciliation in Australia that began with the establishment of a Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1991 and was followed by the attempts to comprehend Australia’s history of forced removal of Aboriginal children from the 1900s through to the 1970s (dubbed the Stolen Generations). This presentation will consider this historical context and the question of whether Reconciliation is possible in a settler-colonial society such as Australia and what lessons (if any) might be drawn for non-Indigenous peoples seeking to achieve Reconciliation.

Mark Harris

Associate Professor, Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice

Bio:

Dr. Mark Harris is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice where he teaches courses on Globalization and Social Justice and Gender, Race, Law and Social Justice. His research focuses primarily on social justice issues with an emphasis on Indigenous rights in relation to cultural heritage, land claims, the stolen generations, intellectual property and criminal justice issues in both Australia and globally. He has worked as a lawyer giving advice on native title (land) claims for Indigenous communities in South-Eastern Australia.

Website: https://grsj.arts.ubc.ca/person/mark-harris/

January 30, 2020: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Steve Chignell, Erika Luna Perez, Leonora Crema, and Stephanie Savage

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

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Scholarly publishing and the knowledge economy: how did we get here, where are we going, and what can we do about it?

Scholarly publishing is in crisis. A handful of corporations own most of the world’s top academic journals, making as much as 37% profit from library subscriptions, paywalls, and the volunteered time of researchers. Publishers have also found new ways of monetizing open access, as scholars seeking to make their results open to the public pay thousands of dollars for each paper published without a paywall. Meanwhile, companies have developed a suite of metrics that are now being sold to universities as a way to ‘track impact’ and boost rankings. This increases the pressure to publish, spurring the proliferation of hundreds of new journals of varying quality. This seminar will describe how we got here and how you, as scholars and authors, can navigate this complex system. It will then open into a discussion exploring potential alternatives and challenges to realizing them.

Stephen Chignell

IRES PhD Program

Bio:

Stephen Chignell is a Ph.D. Student in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability supervised by Dr. Mark Johnson. He is interested in both the physical and social aspects of environmental and sustainability issues, and enjoys finding creative ways to understand their intersection. Prior to UBC, he completed a M.S. studying the relationships among water development, land change, and urban growth in Ethiopia. He also worked to reconstruct the history of Antarctic science with the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research project. He is passionate about making scholarly research and its outcomes more open and collaborative.

Leonora Crema

Scholarly Communications and Copyright Services Librarian, University of British Columbia

Bio:

As a UBC Scholarly Communications Librarian, Leonora advises researchers about making works open access, managing one’s scholarly identity, and navigating the changing landscape of academic publishing. She administers the UBC Scholarly Publications Fund, has been instrumental in recent open textbook projects, and is UBC’s contact person for the Canadian ORCID consortium.

Erika Luna

IRES MSc Program

Bio:

Erika Luna is an MSc student at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability supervised by Dr. Navin Ramankutty and Dr. Amanda Giang. Her current research interests are food security and international development. She holds a BSc in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Erika gained research experience from working at different universities across North America where she studied a variety of socio-environmental problems. This past research experience contributed to build her passion on data science and GIS as tools to think critically and holistically about the interactions between humans and the environment.

Stephanie Savage

Scholarly Communications and Copyright Services Librarian, University of British Columbia

Bio:

Stephanie Savage is a Scholarly Communications and Copyright Services Librarian at UBC Library. In this role Stephanie educates the UBC community in matters of copyright law and policy and advises researchers on open access publishing and author rights. Stephanie is also the campus administrator for Open Journal Systems, an open publishing platform that hosts over 40 journals published out of UBC.

January 23, 2020: IRES Faculty Seminar with Lenore Newman

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

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*** VIEW SEMINAR RECORDING (Audio begins at 4:18min)***

Farm in a Bottle: Implications of the Coming Future of Dairy

The global environmental impact of rising consumption of animal products presents serious environmental challenges. One alternative is cellular agriculture: the production of animal products in-vitro. Such “clean meat” technologies promise improvements in environmental metrics, animal welfare, and human health. This discussion highlights research into the potential impact of cellular agriculture on the dairy industry; though cellular dairy could offer significant ecological benefits, these could be countered by intensification of agricultural activity in equatorial regions for the production of feedstocks for cellular agriculture. Using the concept of telecoupling, an umbrella concept that refers to socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances, this talk examines the policy landscape needed to prevent unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of alternatives to animal products.

Lenore Newman

Associate Professor, University of the Fraser Valley
Director, Food and Agriculture Institute Canada Research Chair 

Bio:

Lenore Newman is the director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Food Security. Lenore is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s New College. Lenore researches agricultural land use policy, bioengineering in the food system, and the role of food and agriculture in the creation of place. Her first book, Speaking in Cod Tongues, was published to wide acclaim in January, 2017. Her second book, Lost Feast, was published by ECW Press in 2019. She holds a PhD in Environmental Studies from York University.

Website: http://lenorenewman.com/

Faculty Profile: https://www.ufv.ca/geography/faculty-and-staff/faculty-members/newman-lenore.htm

January 16, 2020: IRES Student Seminar with Bronwyn McIlroy-Young and Harold Eyster

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

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*** CLICK HERE TO VIEW RECORDING (Harold 04:08-31:36 ) (Bronwyn 32:38-1:02:06)***

Chemical controversy: exploring scientific disagreements about the assessment of endocrine disrupting chemicals

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) pose a wicked dilemma for science and regulation. EDCs interact with the endocrine (hormonal) system effecting development and reproduction. They are constitutive of numerous products that promote health, nutrition and beauty; however, EDCs also pose a potential threat to human and environmental health. Globally, scientists lack consensus over how to assess EDC risk: some advocate for a precautionary, hazard categorization approach; others for a more permissive risk assessment approach. Each side accuses the other of being unscientific and biased. This controversy has exacerbated difficulties in developing EDC regulation. Our study employed focus groups with scientists supporting a hazard and risk approach. The findings reveal fundamental differences in the framing of the challenge posed by EDCs, including the nature of the EDC problem, influences on chemical policymaking, and the roles of scientists in supporting or impeding effective regulation.

Bronwyn McIlroy-Young

IRES MA Program

Bio:

Bronwyn is a second year Masters student at UBC working with Dr Gunilla Oberg at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. She received her Bachelors in Knowledge Integration from the University of Waterloo in 2018 with her honour’s thesis on weather and climate change communication. Bronwyn’s research interests include risk perception, environmental justice, and values in post-normal science. Her Masters research explores scientific controversy around endocrine disrupting chemicals. She hopes her work will help to improve the conduct and communication of science for environmental policy.

January 9, 2020: IRES Faculty Seminar with Rashid Sumaila

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

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*** VIEW SEMINAR RECORDING (Audio begins at 8:30)***

The Global Struggle to Discipline Overfishing Subsidies

The World Trade Organization (WTO) was tasked with eliminating overfishing fisheries subsidies way back in 2001. This is yet to be accomplished. To support the ongoing WTO negotiations, the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at UBC has been providing fisheries subsidies data and analysis to the global community since the early 2000s. Dr. Rashid Sumaila will present his latest findings and describe the state of play in the struggle to discipline harmful subsidies.

Rashid Sumaila

Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Canada Research Chair (t1, Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics)

Bio:

Dr. Rashid Sumaila is Professor and Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit, University of British Columbia. He specializes in bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues, e.g., fisheries subsidies, illegal fishing, climate change and oil spills. Dr. Sumaila is widely published including in journals such as Science, Nature and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. He has won a number of awards, including, the 2017 Volvo Environment Prize and the 2017 Benchley Oceans Award in Science. Dr. Sumaila is a FRSC; named a Hokkaido University Ambassador in 2016 and serves on the Board of Oceana. He is also a Faculty Associate in IRES.

IOF Profile: https://oceans.ubc.ca/rashid-sumaila/

Don’t demonise farmers

Balsher Singh Sidhu, a PhD student at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, wrote an article about agricultural burning and air pollution in North India.

IRES Seminar Series resumes January 9, 2020 with IRES Faculty Associate Rashid Sumaila

The IRES Seminar Series will resume on January 9, 2020 with speaker Rashid Sumaila.

2019/2020 Canada Graduate Scholarships-Doctoral (CGS D) Program Award Recipient: Jo Fitzgibbons

 

Congratulations to Jo Fitzgibbons, a 2019/2020 recipient of the Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral (CGS D) program!

 

About the Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral  (CGS D) Program:

The objective of the Canada Graduate Scholarships-Doctoral (CGS D) Program is to promote continued excellence in Canadian research by rewarding and retaining high-calibre doctoral students at Canadian institutions. By providing support for a high-quality research training experience to awardees, the CGS D program strives to foster impacts within and beyond the research environment.

Jo Fitzgibbons, IRES PhD Student

 

Research Summary:

Jo’s PhD research will expand on her previous work on participatory processes, exploring how relational values can be harnessed to enhance the inclusiveness, communication, and effectiveness of conservation efforts. Specifically, during her PhD, Jo hopes to design and pilot an experimental platform for multi-stakeholder collaboration to advance net-positive sustainability in BC’s Lower Mainland region. The project will test key hypotheses about value-based engagement with the goal of producing an adaptable template for advancing net-positive sustainability at a regional scale. The project will be situated within “CoSphere“, a CHANS Lab initiative that strives to create transformative change in supply chains, conservation, and community-building efforts.”

 

Bio:

Jo Fitzgibbons is a PhD student in CHANS Lab at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). With a background in urban planning, geography and international development, her work has always been oriented to issues of inclusion and participation in co-creative processes surrounding sustainability and community resilience.

During her undergraduate studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, NS, Jo gained experience facilitating citizen science and community-based research both locally and abroad, on topics ranging from water quality to local economic development. These experiences sparked an interest in issues of equity and representation in participatory processes, which she explored further in her Honours and Masters theses. In 2019, Jo completed a Master’s of Environmental Studies in Planning at the University of Waterloo, where her research examined issues of justice and inclusion in the processes of planning for urban resilience.

IRES Graduate Students on the Global Climate Strike

On September 27th, 2019, students, staff, and faculty members from the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) participated in the Global Climate Strike. The department’s Statement of Support for the Global Climate Strike can be found here. UBC IRES Students began the day by making posters out of reused pizza boxes, attending the UBC Climate Strike and then marched in the Vancouver Climate Strike downtown.

 

Photo Credit: Rocio Lopez de la Lama

 

Photo Credit: Bri Della Savia

 

IRES students share their thoughts on the Global Climate Strike:

Stephen Chignell (PhD student) Erika Gavenus (PhD student) Narayan Gopinathan (MA student)

What does the climate strike mean to you?

Stephen: It’s embarrassing for me to admit, but the climate strike was the first time I’ve participated in a big public march for something I really care about.  I have strong opinions about a lot of issues, but I wasn’t raised to voice them in an overtly political way, so going out there with a sign and chanting demands for action was a new experience for me.  I found it very empowering to walk around the city with so many people, and I’m excited to do more things like that.

Erika: For me the Climate Strike was a demonstration of our collective understanding that the path we are on now isn’t tenable, and was a commitment to disrupt business as usual.

Narayan: The climate strike means that citizens around the world are uniting to speak up for climate action, and demand an end to business as usual.

What message are you hoping to share with others by participating in the climate strike?

Stephen: The world feels very heavy these days, and climate change looms over all of the other issues in a way that makes me feel very powerless at times.  I guess I want people–myself included–to feel like they have some agency to change things for the better.

Erika: Participating made me think about the many processes, like land dispossession and oppression, and systems, like patriarchy, that are all tied up together in “business as usual”. In marching I wanted to highlight the need to disrupt these aspects of the system as much as we need to transform our energy system.

Narayan: I am hoping to share with the world the message that we must unite in favor of climate solutions. We must phase out fossil fuels and decarbonize our energy systems as rapidly as possible, and we must do so in a way that brings everyone along.

 

Photo Credit: Rocio Lopez de la Lama

 

Photo Credit: Alejandra Echeverri

Kai Chan Named One of Canada’s Clean50 for 2020

Kai Chan is a Clean16 Honouree for 2020. The 2020 Clean16 are truly the leaders of the leaders in sustainability in Canada. www.clean50.com.

Kai coordinated an international team of experts on a ground-breaking analysis of the ways forward, culminating in the “Pathways” chapter of the UN Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report. Within four weeks of publication, the report was covered in 49 languages and 165 nations, with an aggregate circulation of 20.1 billion. He also helped launch, as a Lead Editor, a new journal—People and Nature—which is providing an open-access venue for high-quality interdisciplinary socio-ecological research. Additionally, Dr. Chan’s research has been cited over 13,000 times, including 110 journal articles.