November 27, 2025: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Alex Tavasoli
Using the example of solar-driven carbon dioxide capture and conversion, this talk will explore this problem, and discuss novel, community-led implementation strategies for new technology deployment.
November 20, 2025: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Larissa Darc
As careers beyond academia become more common for science graduates, this seminar explores the transition into applied biology and environmental consulting—highlighting one scientist’s journey, the projects involved, and how research training both supports and challenges the move into industry.
November 13, 2025: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Valerie Zimmermann and Clare Price
1. Assessing the Impacts of Organic Farming Practices on Farm Economics and Climate Resilience in British Columbia 2. The City’s Symphony: Linking Nature’s Fading Notes, Rising Urban Noise, and Connection to Nature
October 23, 2025: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Shaochen Yuan
In this talk, Shaochen will discuss how Schneider Electric has become a leader in sustainability through corporate strategies and professional topics/solutions on decarbonization & sustainability
October 16, 2025: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Andrew Jorgenson
This talk explores how militarization, as a form of coercive power, contributes to global carbon emissions. Drawing on collaborative research, it examines the short- and long-term impacts of militarization on national emissions, its influence on the carbon intensity of economic growth, and its role in enabling Global North nations to outsource pollution to the Global South. The talk also highlights findings that show how even modest cuts to U.S. military spending could significantly reduce fossil fuel use by the Department of Defense.
October 9, 2025: IRES Student Seminar with Mauricio Carvallo
Coastal communities like the City of Surrey face growing risks from sea level rise and more intense storms due to climate change. This research applies the Adaptation Pathways methodology to evaluate flexible, cost-effective strategies for protecting agricultural lands, infrastructure, and residential areas.
September 18, 2025: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Kate Harriden and Dr. Katie O’Bryan
Exploring aqua nullius—the systemic exclusion of Indigenous water rights and science—this talk examines how it functions as a critical tool of colonisation, how it impacts Indigenous women's water rights, and how, through this focus, it aims to reassert the possibilities for reforming settler-state legal and governance systems to ensure Indigenous women’s sovereignty, water rights, and obligations.
September 25, 2025: IRES Professional Development Seminar with Nivretta Thatra
Help improve the reach of your research and your skills! Communicating your work to a wider audience can help inform policy and society, and gets you hired. Join Nivi Thatra for this free workshop covering how to write a lay abstract, a graphical abstract, and refining your online presence.
September 11, 2025: IRES Student Seminar with Victor Cardenas (First Seminar in Term 1)
Exploring how climate change impacts the lending capacity of microfinance institutions (MFIs) to smallholder farmers (SHFs), this talk will analyze global trends in physical climate risk—particularly tropical storms and floods—and their effects on 4,500 MFIs under various climate scenarios.As the World Confronts Climate Change, the US Leaves Our Future Behind
July 2025 was a powerful month for climate justice, responding to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory opinion, Dr. David Boyd is featured in the Nation for the need for this advisory to include a direct call fora broad fossil fuel phaseout
UBC Micro-certificate in Climate Action Planning | Info session Aug 19 12pm
Learn how this new part-time program provides a basic understanding of climate science, impacts and policies, and helps you identify key stakeholders related to specific aspects and locations that interest you.
3 PhD & 2 Postdoc positions at UCLouvain with former IRES visiting prof Patrick Meyfroidt
Announcing positions at UCLouvain in collab with IRES's Navin Ramankutty! Examining land use and democratic backsliding via cross-country studies + cases in Europe, Canada (northern BC & AB, YT & NT), Mozambique.
World’s top court paves way for climate reparations
"The court's clear and detailed articulation of state obligations will be a catalyst for accelerated climate action and unprecedented accountability," Dr. David Boyd responds to the International Court of Justice's historic statement that climate change is an urgent and existential threat and countries have a legal duty to prevent harm from their planet-warming pollution in France 24.
Want a Carbon Fix? It’s Closer than You Think
Carbon sequestration solutions like kelp and forests do more than just capture carbon. Dr. Kai Chan is featured in the Tyee for his advice on the benefits carbon sequestration can have on both animals and overall ecosystems
Jiaying Zhao helps people enjoy protecting the planet
Can we make meaningful climate action feel happy instead of miserable? Dr. Jiaying Zhao answers this and more in the American Psychological Association.
How a lottery-style refund system could boost recycling
Dr. Jiaying Zhao and Jade Radke are featured in the Conversation for their innovative study to increase recycling rates through a green lottery. If done right, offering a chance to win a higher amount of money for recycling can meaningfully increase recycling rates, contribute to a circular economy and allow people to choose the refund option that works best for them.
Two global Frontiers Planet Prize winners call for a future of diversified farming
For James and Klassen, who were PhD students at IRES while contributing to the award-winning study, what matters most is what comes next. Will the world be willing to do the hard work of supporting farmers diversify their practices?
Rethinking agricultural data through a justice lens
Governments are increasingly asking farmers to share more data, especially around environmental concerns like nutrient management. And the private sector is racing ahead with new digital tools. But the question remains: who benefits?
Climate Conversations UBC Botanical Garden | May 22, 8:45am to 4:45pm
IRES's Dr. Kai Chan will be one of the expert panelists speaking alongside Keynote Speaker Lisa Brideau, author of Adrift (winner of the 2024 Evergreen Award) and senior sustainability specialist with the City of Vancouver.
This is a climate election
Dr. Simon Donner is featured in the analysis of the main party platforms on climate change seems to suggest that emissions would continue a gradual decline under a Mark Carney government, but not under one run by Pierre Poilievre.