Stephanie Chang

Professor, IRES
Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning

Contact Details

West Mall Annex Room 241
1933 West Mall
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada

stephanie.chang[at]ubc.ca

Personal website:
https://sites.google.com/site/stephanieechang1/home

Google scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=eyT7IMIAAAAJ

Research Interests

Adaptation, Climate change, Economic evaluation/analysis, Infrastructure systems, Natural hazards, Policy and Decision-making, Resilience, Vulnerability and risk

Bio

At UBC, Dr. Stephanie Chang is a professor with joint appointments in the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) and IRES. She currently serves as co-director of the Master of Engineering Leadership (MEL) in Urban Systems program.

Dr. Chang held a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Disaster Management and Urban Sustainability from 2004 to 2013. Much of her work aims to bridge engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences in addressing the complex issues of hazards and disasters. Her research has ranged from empirical investigation of major urban disasters to computer modeling and economic analysis of risk reduction strategies. She is particularly interested in issues of urban risk dynamics, disaster recovery and resilience, infrastructure systems, climate change adaptation, and coastal cities.

Dr. Chang was awarded the 2001 Shah Family Innovation Prize by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), was EERI’s 2011 Distinguished Lecturer, and received the 2018 Distinguished Research Award from the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Society (IDRiM). She has served on the editorial boards of Earthquake Spectra, Environmental Hazards, and Natural Hazards. She was a member of the U.S. National Research Council’s Committee on Disaster Research in the Social Sciences, as well as its Committee on Earthquake Resilience – Research, Implementation, and Outreach. From 2021-2022 she served on the Council of Canadian Academies’ expert panel on Disaster Resilience in a Changing Climate, whose final report identified opportunities to better integrate climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts to enhance resilience.

Projects

Supporting Business Preparation for Future Shocks: International Cases to Understand How Recovery Programs Can Facilitate Adaptation (BRIDGE)
This study investigates the effectiveness of government policies in supporting business recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with an international research team, Dr. Chang and her students are conducting coordinated data collection across 10~15 cities around the world. They seek to understand how businesses were impacted by the pandemic, how government policies influenced their recovery, and how policies can best support businesses’ capacity to withstand future crises, including climate-related disasters. This study is a collaboration with researchers in the U.S., Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

BC Local Government Actions to Address Coastal Flooding, Sea-Level Rise, and Tsunami Hazard
This project examines how coastal municipalities and other communities in British Columbia are currently addressing coastal flooding risks, including sea-level rise and tsunami inundation. Building on the Resilient Coasts Canada project, Dr. Chang and her students are developing an overview of the state of coastal adaptation across BC in 2023.

Living with Water
Dr. Chang and her students are participating in this project to help communities on BC’s South Coast prepare and adapt for sea level rise and flooding.

Reducing the Catastrophic Risk of a Cascadia Megathrust Earthquake
A major earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) could cause devastating impacts across the Cascadia region, including British Columbia. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers to address the following objectives: (1) to quantify expected ground shaking associated with M8-9 earthquakes in the CSZ; (2) to understand how the built environment will perform; and (3) to identify community risk reduction and resilience strategies. The study is a collaboration with Carlos Molina Hutt at UBC (structural engineering) and Sheri Molnar and Katsuichiro Goda at Western University (seismology). Dr. Chang and her students are focused on understanding socio-economic vulnerability in Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood.

Courses

PLAN 531 Planning for Disaster-Resilient Communities

PLAN 506 Information and Analysis in Planning (restricted to MCRP students)

Prospective Students/Colleagues

Dr. Chang welcomes applicants from a variety of academic backgrounds including geography, urban planning, civil engineering, and environmental sciences, for example. Since her current projects have a focus on urban disaster risk and resilience, her group is especially looking for colleagues and scholars who bring skills in quantitative analysis (e.g., GIS and urban modeling), a demonstrated interest in hazards and disasters, and an orientation towards interdisciplinary, applied research.

Hadi Dowlatabadi

Professor Emeritus, Canada Research Chair (T1, Applied Mathematics of Global Change)

Contact Details

AERL Room 422
2202 Main Mall
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

hadi.d@ubc.ca

http://blogs.ubc.ca/dowlatabadi/welcome/

Research Interests

Energy, Policy and Decision-making, Resource governance and management

Bio

Hadi Dowlatabadi’s research is at the nexus of humans, technology and the environment. He has studied climate change and its related response strategies since 1986. His projects are solution oriented and usually fall outside familiar disciplinary grounds. He sees the world as a dynamic non-equilibrium heterogeneous system where the search for complexity leads to paralysis and over-simplification spells trouble.

Hadi has a wide range of publications from books on how to choose electricity generation technologies to different determinants of malaria around the world. He has over 150 peer-reviewed papers and has supervised almost three-dozen PhDs. He serves on the editorial boards of five journals. Hadi is a co-founder of half a dozen companies attempting to refine and market technologies that pave the way to a zero carbon economy. He is a University Fellow at Resources for the Future, a Washington DC think-tank. He is also Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Engineering & Public Policy.

Website: http://blogs.ubc.ca/dowlatabadi/welcome/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=9pMu_28AAAAJ&hl=en

Prospective Students/Colleagues

Hadi retired in July 2022 and will no longer be accepting new advisees. However, he advises that you can find many potential supervisors at UBC using the Graduate School’s Supervisors Search Tool.

Hadi encourages the use of keywords to search on the site above for topics that match your interests. Having found a few suitable supervisors, one should then search for their publications on Google Scholar and read at least three papers from each potential supervisor. Applicants can use supervisors’ websites to contact some of their current and past students. These students can advise if the university and researcher have been supportive and met their needs — or at least highlight some of the challenges that will need to be addressed should one get into that program. Having completed all this research, one can decide who to work with and can proceed with contacting them. When writing to professors, mention their work explicitly. This step to the search for a position in academia is critical to finding a supportive mentor.

Projects

Energy & Climate Change

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Hadi is interested in energy poverty and carbon footprints. When it comes to decarbonizing the built environment, the dysfunction in management of transition at various levels of government needs to be addressed. There is a need for realistic multisector responses that include many other elements of global change beyond climate.

Environmental Protection & Development

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Environmental protection is only meaningful when total exposure to harm can be held below an acceptable level of impact. New projects should only be possible if there is room to pollute without violating that threshold. Guiding questions include: How are criteria for evaluating new projects set? How are these monitored and are violations punished? Should we be rethinking what cumulative effects assessment means?

Carsharing

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Hadi and his students examine whether one-way carsharing reduces car ownership; if one-way carsharing improves access to public transit or if serves as a substitute for public transit; and how carsharing can reduce GHG emissions.

The Built Environment

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High performance buildings perform so poorly; Hadi and team ask why this is the case. They also ask whether Integrated Project Delivery provides a better platform for building better buildings. Research also focusses on how the City of Vancouver can reduce the barriers to existing buildings for meeting their zero emissions target.

Assuming responsibility for intergenerational transfers

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Our physical, cultural, legal and ecological environment is a cumulative legacy of past generations. Our actions modify these and pass them on to future generations. Most people living in richer countries have no appreciation of how they came to be so fortunate, at the cost to those living poorly in their own vicinity and beyond. Colonialism, climate change and cultural tsunamis are all such legacies. Do we recognize what led to our good fortunes? Are we willing to redress impacts from past actions?

Courses

RMES 507 Human and Technological Systems

RMES 520 Climate change: science, technology and sustainable development

RMES 542 Intro to Integrated Assessment

Featured Publications

Mark Johnson

Professor, IRES
Professor, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Canada Research Chair (T2, Ecohydrology)

Contact Details

AERL Room 421
2202 Main Mall
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

mark.johnson@ubc.ca

http://ecohydro.ires.ubc.ca/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=KfQwll4AAAAJ&hl=en

Bio

Dr. Mark Johnson is working to understand how land use practices influence interactions between hydrological and ecological processes, and how these ecohydrological processes further affect ecosystem services including carbon sequestration. Unraveling interactions between the water cycle and the carbon cycle is essential for improving the sustainability of land and water management, especially under changing climatic conditions. Dr. Johnson’s research in ecohydrology demonstrates that soil carbon processes are also integrally important to the health of freshwater ecosystems and drinking water supplies. Dr. Johnson and his team are testing carbon and water cycle interactions to address questions such as: How much carbon does water transport from the land into freshwater systems? His research can also help to answer very applied questions related to soil fertility and water use such as: How much food can be produced in urban environments, and how much water would that require? To address these and other related questions, Johnson is developing innovative approaches to ecohydrological research in partnership with communities, natural resource management agencies and organizations, and industry.

Projects

AgWIT

http://ecohydro.ires.ubc.ca/agwit

Agricultural Water Innovations in the Tropics

Carbon Drainage

http://ecohydro.ires.ubc.ca/carbon-drainage

Ecohydrological controls on carbon drainage fluxes in natural and human-impacted watersheds

Courses

RES 500A Global aspects of Ecohydrology

RES 510 Social-Ecological Systems

ENVR 420 Ecohydrology of Watersheds and Water Systems

ENVR 200 Introduction to Environmental Sciences

SCIE 113 First Year Seminar in Science

Featured Publications

Full publication list (including papers accepted or in press) at http://ecohydro.ires.ubc.ca/publications.

Publications sorted by most recent: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?hl=en&user=KfQwll4AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

Gunilla Öberg

Professor, IRES

Contact Details

gunilla.oberg[at]ubc.ca

EGESTA lab group site:
https://www.egesta-ubc.ca/

Google Scholar

AERL Room 447
2202 Main Mall
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Research Interests

Chemicals management, Science for policy, Perceived expertise, Decolonization of chemicals management and formal education

Bio

Dr. Gunilla Öberg is inspired by her experience as a leader of complex interdisciplinary research and education and her in-depth knowledge of chlorine biogeochemistry, environment and sustainability.

In the Egesta Lab, Öberg’s group focuses on the production of science for policy and the notion of expertise in complex areas where science is uncertain and disputed. At present her projects deal with chemicals management and how to teach science students about the context dependence and ethical implications of science.

We are very excited about our new large-scale interdisciplinary project Transforming chemicals management with Indigenous expertise funded by the New Frontiers Research Fund. This Indigenous-led, inter-institutional initiative brings together Indigenous research methods and visions of environmental justice to profoundly transform how pollution and chemical risk are managed in Indigenous communities, university labs, classrooms, regulatory practices, and policy development. The lead PI for the overall project is Professor M. Murphy (Red River Métis) at the University of Toronto, along with Professor Susan Chiblow (Garden River First Nation) of Guelph University, and Professor Gunilla Öberg (recent settler from Sweden) of UBC.

The subproject hosted by the Egesta Lab reimagines the training of the next generation of chemical risk assessment professionals, in collaboration with our partners at the University of Toronty, the University of Guelph, both in Canada, and the University of Auckland, Aotearora (New Zealand) as well as governmental departments in both countries.

Prospective Students

Click to expand

In IRES, we receive an overwhelming number of emails from students worldwide. Many are of mass-mail type. This is not a wise approach if you wish a recipient to respond to your email. Like most of my colleagues, I will not respond to this type of email. It is not sufficient to say that you are interested in ‘sustainability’ or ‘interdisciplinarity’– you need to be more specific, and it is wise to read up on your potential supervisors’ websites before emailing them. Note: it is wise to go to the professor’s website to check their preferred pronoun before sending an email starting with the greeting ‘Dear Sir.’

You can find many potential supervisors at UBC here.

I encourage you to use keywords to search on the site for topics that match your interests. Having found a few suitable supervisors, search for their publications and read at least three papers from each potential supervisor. If you are not affiliated with a university, you can access most papers via SciHub. Then, use their website to contact some of their current and past students. These students can tell you if the university and researcher have been supportive and met their needs — or at least highlight some of the challenges you will need to address if you get into that program. Once you have completed all this research, decide who you would like to work with and contact them. When you write to the professors, mention their work explicitly to show that you understand what they do and that you are not just writing to them randomly. How you approach this step in your search for a position is critical to finding a supportive mentor. Also, do seek peer support or guidance on this process from your current school’s program advisors/ professors/ teachers.

Many students apply to the RES program, so competition is fierce. Please check your eligibility here

It is important that you check that you meet our minimum criteria. If you are eligible, the admission committee will review your academic background and your proposal. We also require a CV, and we assess funding options. It is not required to bring your own funding (and having funding does not guarantee that an applicant is accepted). The funding situation for international students in Canada is, unfortunately, rather disappointing. Hence, if you write a strong proposal and you have secured funding from elsewhere, your chances of getting accepted increase. Details regarding the formalities are found on IRES website and if you still have further questions on such issues, please contact our graduate program manager.

Publications

2021-present:

Kaluyk-Klyuchareva, Dasha., Davy, Emma, Nadybska, Oksana, and Öberg, Gunilla, Ethics of Chemistry: The Design, Delivery, and Assessment of a Third-year Course. Journal of Chemical Education. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c01415

Ataria, James; Parata, Te Kaurinui; Moores, Audrey; Iti, Huia; Hill, Christopher; Chiblow, Susan; Murphy, Michelle; Hikuroa, Daniel; McGregor, Deborah; Moggridge, Bradley; Tremblay, Louis; Oberg, Gunilla; Demers, Marc; Brooks, Bryan. (2024) Towards the sustainable management of chemicals and waste: Weaving Indigenous knowledge with green and sustainable chemistry. Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c08902

Achar, J., Cronin, M.T. D, Firman, J. W., & Öberg, G. (2024) A framework for categorizing sources of uncertainty in in silico toxicology methods: considerations for chemical toxicity predictions. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2024.105737

Achar, J., Cronin, M.T. D, Firman, J. W., & Öberg, G. (2024) Analysis of implicit and explicit uncertainties in QSAR prediction of chemical toxicity: a case study of neurotoxicity. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 154 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2024.105716

Achar, J., Firman, J. W., Tran, C., Kim, D., Cronin, M. T. D., & Öberg, G. (2024). A problem formulation framework for the application of in silico toxicology methods in chemical risk assessment. Archives of Toxicology, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-024-03721-6

Öberg, G., Eronen, E., Chiblow, S., Smiles, D. (2024). Considerations for supporting Indigenous Data Justice and Data Sovereignty in Chemical Risk Assessment. Report to the Existing Substances Risk Assessment Bureau (ESRAB), Health Canada.

Öberg, G. and Scheringer, M. (2024), “Everyone has interests”: A red herring. Integr Environ Assess Manag.

Schaeffer, Andreas; Groh, Ksenia; Sigmund, Gabriel; …; Oberg, Gunilla; … (2023) Conflicts of Interest in the Assessment of Chemicals, Waste and Pollution Environmental Science & Technology 57(48): 19066–19077

Ataria, James; Murphy, Michelle; McGregor, Deborah; Chiblow, Susan; Moggridge, Bradley; Hikuroa, Daniel; Tremblay, Louis; Oberg, Gunilla; Baker, Virginia; Brooks, Bryan. (2023) Orienting the sustainable management of chemicals and waste towards Indigenous knowledge Environmental Science & Technology 57(30): 10901–10903

Juan José Alava,* Annika Jahnke, Melanie Bergmann, … Gunilla Öberg,… (2023) A call to include plastic pollution in the global environment in the class of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT). Environmental Science & Technology 57(22): 8185–8188

Aishwarya Ramachandran, Isobel Mouat and Gunilla Öberg (2022) Incorporating equity, diversity, and inclusion in science – lessons learned from an undergraduate seminar. Science Education. 107(1): 180-202. DOI: 10.1002/sce.21768

Aishwarya Ramachandran, Jerry Achar, Georgia Green, Brynley Hanson-Wright, Sophie Leiter, Gunilla Öberg (2022) Changing debates and shifting landscapes in Science Studies: exploring how graduate students with varied backgrounds think about the role of value-judgments in Science. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society (ESTS) 8(2)

Gunilla Öberg, Alice Campbell, Joanne Fox, Marcia Graves, Tara Ivanochko, Linda Matsuchi, Isobel Mouat & Ashley Welsh (2022) Teaching Science as a Process, Not a Set of Facts. Science & Education, 1-31.

Bronwyn McIlroy, Annegaaike Leopold and Gunilla Öberg (2021) The manufacturing of consensus: a struggle for epistemic authority in chemical risk evaluation. Environmental Science and Policy Volume 122, August 2021, Pages 25-34

Bronwyn McIlroy-Young, Annegaaike Leopold, Gunilla Öberg 2021 Science, Consensus and Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Re-thinking Disagreement in Expert Deliberations Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4385

Marco Vazquez, Bronwyn McIlroy-Young, Amanda Giang, Daniel Steel, Gunilla Öberg 2021 Exploring scientists’ values by analyzing how they frame nature and uncertainty. Risk Analysis Volume 41 (11): 2094- 2111 DOI: 10.1111/risa.13701

1989-2020

Gunilla Öberg, Geneviève S. Metson, Yusuke Kuwayama and Steven Conrad. 2020. Conventional Sewer Systems are too Time-Consuming, Costly and Inflexible to meet the Challenges of the 21st Century. Sustainability 2020,12, 6518

Robin Harder, Rosanne Wielemaker, Sverker Molander, Gunilla Öberg 2020 Reframing human excreta management as part of food and farming systems. Water Research 175: 115601

Gunilla Öberg, Kevin Elliot and Annegaaike Leopold 2019 Science is Political But should Not be Partisan. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 16: 6-7.

Gunilla Oberg and Annegaaike Leopold 2019 On the role of review papers in the face of escalating publication rates – a case study of research on contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Environment International 131: 104960

Robin Harder, Rosanne Wielemaker, Tove A. Larsen, Grietje Zeeman and Gunilla Öberg 2019 Recycling nutrients contained in human excreta to agriculture: Pathways, processes, and products. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 49(8): 695-743

Sarah A. Mason-Renton, Marco Vazquez, Connor Robinson, Gunilla Öberg 2019 Science for policy: A case-study of scientific polarization, values, and the framing of risk and uncertainty. Risk Analysis 39 (6): 1229-1242

Gunilla Oberg and Alice Campell 2019 Navigating the divide between scientific practice and science studies to support undergraduate teaching of epistemic knowledge. International Journal of Science Education 41(2):230-247

Noureddine Elouazizi, Gunilla Oberg, and Gulnur Birol 2018 Learning technology-enabled (meta)-cognitive scaffolding to support learning aspects of written argumentation. PALE 2018 http://adenu.ia.uned.es/workshops/pale2018/

Bajracharya, S., Carenini, G., Chamberlain, B., Chen, K. D., Klein, D., Poole, D., & Oberg, G. 2018. Interactive Visualization for Group Decision-Analysis. International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making 17(6): 1839–1864. DOI: 10.1142/S0219622018500384

Gunilla Öberg and Sarah A. Mason-Renton . 2018. On the limitation of evidence-based policy: Regulatory narratives and land application of biosolids/sewage sludge in BC, Canada and Sweden. Environmental Science & Policy 84: 88-96.

Genevieve S. Metson, Steve M. Powers, Rebecca L. Hale, Jesse s. Sayles, Gunilla Öberg, G., Graham K. MacDonald, , … & Alexander F. Bowman 2018. Socio-environmental consideration of phosphorus flows in the urban sanitation chain of contrasting cities. Regional environmental change, 8:1 387–1401

Klein, D. R., & Öberg, G. 2017. Using Existing Municipal Water Data to Support Conservation Efforts. Journal‐American Water Works Association, 109(7), E313-E319.

Gunilla Öberg and Margaret del Carmen Morales 2016. Biosolids are wicked to manage: Land application regulations in Sweden and B.C. Canada. WEF Residuals and Biosolids Conference, April 3-6, 2016, Milwuakee, Wisconsin

Susanne Rostmark, Manuel Colombo, Sven Knutsson, and Gunilla Öberg 2016. Removal and re-use of tar-contaminated sediments by freeze-dredging: a case study of a coking plant in northern Sweden. Water Environment Research 88(9):847-851

Daniel R. Klein, Ghazal Ebrahimi, Lucas Navilloz, Boris Thurm, and Gunilla Öberg 2014. Water Management at UBC. Background report for the project: Would it make sense to develop an integrated resource management strategy for UBC, using a water lens? Vancouver, BC: Program on Water Governance. Click here for a web-based version of the report.

Margaret del Carmen Morales*, Leila Harris and Gunilla Öberg. 2014. Citizenshit – The Right to Flush and the UrbanSanitation Imaginary. Environment and Planning A 46: 2816 – 2833

Gunilla Öberg, M. Gabriela Merlinsky, Alicia LaValle, Margaret Morales, and M. Melina Tobias. 2014. The Notion of Sewage as Waste – On Institutional Inertia and Infrastructure Change in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Vancouver, Canada. Ecology and Society 19(2)19

Per Bengtsson, David Bastviken and Gunilla Öberg. 2013. Possible roles of reactive chlorine II: Assessing biotic chlorination as a way for organisms to handle oxygen stress. Environmental Microbiology and Environmental Microbiology 15 (4): 991-1000

Brent C. Chamberlain, Giuseppe Carenini, David Poole, Gunilla Öberg, and Hamed Taheri 2013. A Decision Support System for the Design and Evaluation of Sustainable Wastewater Solutions. IEEE Transactions on Computer Science. Special issue on Computational Sustainability pp. 129-141

Gunilla Öberg, Louise Fortmann and Tim Gray 2013 Is interdisciplinary research a mashup? IRES Working Paper Series; No. 2013-2

Lauren Pickering, T. Andrew Black, Chanelle Gilbert^,Matthew Jeronimo, Zoran Nesic, Juergen Pilz, Teresia Svensson, and Gunilla Öber., 2013. A Portable Chamber System for Measuring Chloroform Fluxes from Terrestrial Environments – Methodological Challenges. Enviromental Science and Technology 47 (24): 14298–14305

Jacqueline A. Belzile, and Gunilla Öberg 2012. Focus Groups. In: Measurements, Indicators, and Research Methods for Sustainability. Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability 6/10.

Jacqueline A. Belzile and Gunilla Öberg 2012 Where to begin? Grappling with how to use participant interaction in focus group design. Qualitative Research 12 (4): 459-472

Malin Gustavsson, Susanne K. Karlsson, Gunilla Öberg, Per Sandén, Teresia Svensson, Valinia, S., Ives Thiry, David Bastviken, 2012. Organic matter chlorination rates in different boreal soils — the role of soil organic matter content. Environmental Science and Technology 46 (3): 1504–1510.

Margaret Morales and Gunilla Öberg, 2012.The Idea of Sewage as a Resource. An Introductory Study of Knowledge and Decision Making in Liquid Waste Management in Metro Vancouver, BC. Canada. UBC’s Program of Water Governance Report.

Gunilla Öberg, 2012. Qualitative and quantitative studies. In: Measurements, Indicators, and Research Methods for Sustainability. Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability 6/10.

Öberg, G. and Bastviken, D. 2012. Transformation of chloride to organic chlorine in terrestrial environments: variability, extent and implications. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 42:2526-2545

Gunilla Öberg, Louise Fortmann and Tim Gray 201X Is interdisciplinary research a mashup? In: Interdisciplinary progress in environmental science and management. (ed. Nicholas V.C. Polunin) Cambridge University Press. (accepted)

Molodovskaya, M., Warland, J., Richards, B.K., Öberg, G. and Steenhuis, T. 2011. Nitrous oxide emission from heterogeneous agricultural landscape: analysis of source contribution by eddy covariance and static chambers. Soil Science Society of America Journal 75: 5: 1829-1838

de Boer, W., Folman, L., Bastviken, D., Svensson, T., Öberg, G., del Rio, J. and Boddy, L. 2010. Mechanism of antibacterial activity of the white-rot fungus Hypholoma fasciculare colonizing wood. Canadian Journal of Microbiology Volume 56, Number 5, 1 May 2010 , pp. 380-388.

Öberg, Gunilla, 2011. Interdisicplinary environmental studies – a primer. Blackwell & Wiley.

Wibeck, V., Abrandt Dahlgren, M. and Öberg, G. 2010 Learning in focus groups: an analytical dimension for enhancing focus group research. In “Data Collection” W. Paul Vogt (Ed) SAGE Benchmarks in Social Research Methods. SAGE Publications.

David Bastviken, Teresia Svensson, Susanne Karlsson and Gunilla Öberg. 2009. Temperature sensitivity indicates that chlorination of organic matter in forest soil is primarily biotic. Environmental Science and Technology 43, 3569–3573.

Per Bengtson, David Bastviken, Wietse de Boer and Gunilla Öberg. 2009. Possible role of reactive chlorine in microbial antagonism and organic matter chlorination in terrestrial environments. Environmental Microbiology 11: 1330–1339,(published on line doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.01915.x)

Kai Chan and Gunilla Öberg with Emily Anderson, Brent Chamberlain, Erin Empey, Carys Evans, Sarah Klain, Jordan Levine, Megan Mach, Rebecca Martone, Cathryn Clarke Murray, Julia Reckermann, Jordan Tam, Natasha Sihota, Gerald Singh 2009 An Ecosystem Services Approach to Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Report to UBC Sustainability Office.

Öberg, G. 2009. Facilitating interdisciplinary work: using quality assessment to create common ground. Higher Education 57, no. 4, pp. 405-415

Bastviken, D., Thomsen, F., Svensson, T., Karlsson, S., Sandèn, P., Shaw, G., Matucha, M. and Öberg, G. 2007. Chloride retention in forest soil by microbial uptake and by natural chlorination of organic matter. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71:3182-3192

Öberg, G. 2007. Praktisk tvärvetenskap – tankar om och för gränsöverskridande projekt (Interdisciplinarity in practice – thoughts concerning cross-boundary projects). Studentlitteratur.

Svensson T., Laturnus F., Sandén P., Öberg G. 2007 Chloroform in run-off water – a two-year study in a small catchment in south-east Sweden. Biogeochemistry 82: 139-151

Svensson, T., Sandén, P., Bastviken, B. and Öberg, G. 2007 Chlorine transport in a small catchment in southeast Sweden during two years. Biogeochemistry 82:181-199

Wibeck, V., Abrandt Dahlgren, M. and Öberg, G. 2007 Learning in focus groups: an analytical dimension for enhancing focus group research. Qualitative Research 7 (2): 249-267

Bastviken, D., Sandén, P., Svensson,T., Ståhlberg, C., Magounakis,M. and Öberg, G. 2006 Chloride retention and release in a boreal forest soil – effects of soil water residence time, nitrogen and chloride loads. Environmental Science and Technology 40:2977-2982

Lahsen, M. and Öberg, G. 2006. The role of unstated mistrust and disparities in scientific capacity – examples from Brazil. CSPR Reports. ISBN 91-25523-42-9

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Wibeck, V., Johansson, M., Larsson, A. and Öberg, G. 2005 Communicative aspects of environmental management by objectives – examples from the Swedish context. Env. Managment 37 (4):461-469

Lövbrand, E. and Öberg, G. 2005 Towards reflexive scientization of environmental policy. Environmental Science and Policy. 8(2):195-197

Öberg G, Holm, M. Parikka, M. Sandén, P. and Svensson, T. 2005. The role of organic-matter-bound chlorine in the chlorine cycle: a case study of the Stubbetorp catchment, Sweden. Biogeochemistry 75: 173–201

Öberg, G. and Sandén, P. 2005 Retention of chloride in soil. Hydrol Proc 19:2123-2136

Johansson, E., Xin, Z.B., Zhengyi, H., Sandén, P. and Öberg, G. 2004. Turn-over of organic chlorine in submerged paddy soil. Soil Use and Management 20:144-149.

Laturnus, L., Svensson, T. Wiencke, C. and Öberg, G. 2004. Ultraviolet Radiation Affects Emission of Ozone-Depleting Substances by Marine Macroalgae – Results From a Laboratory Incubation Study. Environmental Science and Technology 38: 6605-6609

do Nascimento, N.R, Nicola, S.M.C. Rezende, M.O.O. Oliviera, T.A. and Öberg, G. 2004. Pollution by hexachlorobenzene and pentachlorophenol in the coastal plain of São Paulo state, Brazil. Geoderma 121:221-232

Johansson, E., Sandén, P. and Öberg, G. 2003. Organic chlorine in deciduous and coniferous forest soil in southern Sweden. Soil Science 168:347-355.

Johansson, E., Sandén, P and Öberg, G. 2003. Spatial patterns of organic chlorine and chloride in Swedish forest soil. Chemosphere 52:391-397.

Karlsson, S.A. and Öberg, G. 2003. UV-light induced mineralization of organic matter bound chlorine in Lake Bjän, Sweden – a laboratory study. Chemosphere 52:463-469.

Rodstedth, M., Ståhlberg, C., Sandén, P. and Öberg, G. 2003. Chloride imbalances in soil lysimeters. Chemoshere 52:381-389.

Öberg, G. 2003. The biogeochemistry of chlorine in soil. In: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry Vol. 3, part P. The Natural Production of Organohalogen Compounds (ed Gribble, G.), Springer-Verlag, pp 43-62.

Öberg, G. 2002. Old news about the chlorine cycle in soil. Science dEbate feb 21, 2002. (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/295/5557/985?ck=nck)

Öberg, G. 2002. The natural chlorine cycle – fitting the scattered pieces. Requisitioned review. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 58 (5): 565-581.

Abrandt-Dahlgren, M. and Öberg, G. 2001. Questioning to learn and learning to question: Structure and function of PBL scenarios in environmental science education. Higher Education 41:263-282.

Johansson, E., Ebenå, G., Sandén, P., Svensson, T. and Öberg, G. 2001. Organic and inorganic chlorine in Swedish spruce forest soil: Influence of nitrogen. Geoderma 10: 1-13.

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Johansson, E., Krantz-Rülcker, T., Zhang, B.X. and Öberg, G. 2000. Chlorination and biodegradation of lignin. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 32:1029-1032.

Neidan, V., Pavasars, I., and Öberg, G. 2000. Chloroperoxidase-mediated chlorination of aromatic groups in fulvic acid. Chemosphere 41: 779-785.

Abrandt-Dahlgren, M. and Öberg, G. 1999. Structure and function of PBL scenarios in environmental science and education. In: Här och Nu! Hård af Segerstad, H. (ed). CUP rapport 5. ISBN 91-7219-625-4.

Abrandt-Dahlgren, M. and Öberg, G. 1999. Brief scenarios instead of authentic cases in environmental science education – does it work? Presented at AuDes 5e conference on environmental education. Zürich, Schweiz, april 15-17, 1999.

Hjelm, O., Johansson, E. and Öberg, G. 1999. Production of organically bound halogens by the litter-degrading fungus Lepista nuda. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 31:1509-1515.

Kokalj, S. and Öberg, G. 1999. Miljö till salu. I: Medier och modernisering. En antologi om utbildningsprogram och samhällsförändring (red. Bengt Sandin). Etermedierna i Sverige. pp 281-296.

Svensson, T., Bastviken, D., Fredriksson, A. and Öberg, G. 1999. Problem-oriented laboratory work in environmental education: Experiences from a new master’s programme at Linköping University, Sweden. Presented at AuDes 5e conference on environmental education. Zürich, Schweiz, april 15-17, 1999. http://www.uns.umnw.ethz.ch/auDes/

Öberg, G. 1998. Chloride and organic chlorine in soil. Acta hydrochimica et hydrobiolobiologica 26:137-144.

Öberg, G., Johansen, C., and Grön, C. 1998. Organic halogens in spruce forest throughfall. Chemosphere 36:1689-1701.

Öberg, G. and Grön, C. 1998. Sources of organic halogens in spruce forest soil. Environ. Sci. Technol. 32:1573-1579.

Öberg, G, Brunberg, H. and Hjelm, O. 1997. Production of organically bound halogens during degradation of birch wood by common white-rot fungi. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 29:191-197.

Öberg, G. and Bäckstrand, K. 1997. Praktik och ideal i svensk försurningsforskning. VEST- tidsskrift för vetenskapsstudier-Journal for Science Technology Studies 1: 23-39.

Hjelm, O., Borén, H. and Öberg, G. 1996. Detection of halogenated organic compounds in soil from a Lepista nuda (wood blewitt) fairy ring. Chemosphere 32:1719-1728.

Öberg, G. and Bäckstrand, K. 1996. Conceptualization of the acidification theory in Swedish environmental research. Environmental Reviews 4:123-132.

Öberg, G., Nordlund, E. and Berg, B. 1996. In situ formation of organically bound halogens during decomposition of Norway spruce needles – effects of fertilization. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 26:1040-1048.

Öberg, G., Börjesson, I. and Samuelsson, B. 1996. Production and mineralisation of organically bound halogens in relation to soil pH. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 89:351-361.

(Change of surname from Asplund to Öberg in 1996)

Asplund, G. 1995. Origin and occurrence of halogenated organic matter in soil. In: Grimvall, A. and deLeer, E.W.B. (Eds.) Naturally-Produced Organohalogens. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dortrecht. pp. 35-48.

Hjelm, O. and Asplund, G. 1995. Chemical characterization of organohalogens in a coniferous forest soil. In: Grimvall, A and deLeer, E.W.B (Eds.). Naturally-Produced Organohalogens. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dortrecht, the Netherlands. pp. 105-111.

Hjelm, O., Johansson, M-B. and Öberg-Asplund, G. 1995. An analysis of the sources and distribution pattern of organically bound halogens in soil from a coniferous forest soil. Chemosphere 30:2353-2364.

Asplund, G. and Grimvall, A. 1994. Organohalogen compounds in nature. Environ. Sci. Technol. 28:402A.

Asplund, G., Grimvall, A. and Jonsson, S. 1994. Determination of the total and leachable amounts of organohalogens in soil. Chemosphere 28:1467-1475.

Asplund, G., Christiansen, J.V. and Grimvall, A. 1993. A chloroperoxidase-like catalyst in soil: detection and characterization of some properties. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 25:41-46.

Asplund. G. 1992. On the origin of organohalogens found in the environment. Ph. D. Thesis. Linköpings universitet studies in Arts and Science, nr 177. ISBN

Hedrén, J. and Asplund, G. 1992. Den politiska ekologin – en granskning av dess överdeologiska funktion och förutsättningar VEST- tidsskrift för vetenskapsstudier 4/1992: 4-12.

Asplund, G. and Grimvall, A. 1991. Organohalogens in nature, more widespread than previously assumed. Environ. Sci. Technol. 25:1346-1350.

Grimvall, A and Asplund, G. 1991. Natural halogenation of organic macromolecules. Finnish Humus News. 3:41-51.

Lassen, P., Christiansen, J.V., Carlsen, L., Asplund, G. and Grimvall, A. 1991. Halogen lability of halogenated humic acids. Finnish Humus News. 3:53-58.

Asplund, G., Grimvall, A. and Pettersson, C. 1989. Naturally produced adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) in humic substances from soil and water. Sci. Tot. Environ. 81/82:239-248.

Supervision

Current supervision

Dafne Lemus (PhD, University in Bergen, Norway) The idea of evidence-based policies and unresolved scientific controversies: the BPA case.

Anaïs Pronovost-Morgan (MA) How might government employees’ emotions be mobilized to facilitate the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) in chemicals management?

Salma Taqui-Gulam (MSc) How might regulatory frameworks in Canada be leveraged to minimize the adverse impacts of ‘forever chemicals’?

Josh Travis (MA) Reconceptualizing Plastic Waste: Economic Opportunity or Toxic Burden

Previous supervision

PhD

Jerry Achar (PhD) 2024 Analyzing and accounting for uncertainty in quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) prediction of chemical toxicity

Matt Dolf (PhD) 2017 A life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of small to medium sports events. Co-cupervised with Robert Sparks, Human Kinetics, UBC

Tashi Tsering (PhD) 2014. Social Inequality and Resource Management: Gender, Caste and Class in the Rural Himalayas. Main supervisor: Shakya Tsering, UBC.

Svensson, Teresia (PhD) 2006. Chlorine transport in a small catchment. Linköping Studies in Arts and Science, nr 352. Linköpings universitet. ISBN 91-85523-85-2.

Alkan Olsson, Johanna (PhD). 2003. Setting Limits in Nature and the Metabolism of Knowledge – the Case of the Critical Load concept. Linköping Studies in Arts and Science nr Linköpings Universitet. ISBN 91

Johansson, Emma (PhD). 2000. Organic chlorine and chloride in soil. Linköping Studies in Arts and Science nr 210, Linköpings Universitet. ISBN 91-7219-724-2

Hjelm, Olof (PhD). 1996. Organohalogens in coniferous forest soil. Linköping Studies in Arts and Science nr 139, Linköpings Universitet. ISBN 91-7871-702-7
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Masters

Dayna Rachkowski (MA) 2024 Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act: The Right to a Healthy Environment & Accountability in Chemicals Management

Elina Eronen (MA) 2023 How can we begin decolonizing the management of chemical risk? : identifying barriers towards achieving data justice and indigenous data sovereignty in Canada’s chemical management process

Diana Bedolla Lopez 2022 (MA) The challenge of assessing effective science communication training

Georgia Green (MSc) 2022 Characterizing arguments about endocrine disruptors and human health

Jack Durant 2022 (MA) Uncertainty and epistemic cultures in the endocrine disruptor expert deliberation

Brianne Della Savia 2021 (MA) Investigating local preparedness for managing endocrine disruptors

Bronwyn McIlroy-Young 2020 (MA) Chemical controversy: exploring scientific disagreement around endocrine disrupting chemicals

Connor Robinson 2020 (MSc) Sustainability assessment of biosolids vs biochar for land application. A case study of CRD, BC, Canada

MarcoVazquez Perez 2019 (MSc) Science and values in a wastewater treatment controversy

Daniel Klein (MSc) 2017 Supporting the implementation of effective urban water conservation and demand management strategies

Hamed Taheri (MSc) 2015 Interactive Visualization to Facilitate Group Deliberations in Decision Making Processes. Co-supervised with Dr. Giuseppe Carenini, Computer Science, UBC.

Alicia LaValle (MSc Forestry, UBC) 2015 Eco-Industrial Network Planning in the Face of Climate Change: An Exploratory Study Using Landscape Planning Approaches. Co-supervised with Dr. Stephen Sheppard, Landscape Architecture and Forestry, UBC.

Sanjana Bajracharya 2014 (MSc Computer Science) Interactive Visualization for Group-Decision-Making. Co-supervised with Dr. David Poole, Computer Science, UBC

Boris Thurm (MSc) 2014 Exploring the possibility of an Integrated Resource Management Strategy for the University of British Columbia – Focus on the Water-Energy Nexus. Ecole Polytechnique Férédale de Lausanne (EPFL).

Liz Ferris (MSc) 2013 Implementing climate mitigation policy at a subnational level: lessons from British Columbia. Present occupation: Climate Action Coordinator, Capital Regional District, Victoria, B.C. Canada.

Hana Sherin Galal (MA) 2013 Integrating sustainability in municipal wastewater infrastructure decision-analysis using the analytical hierarchy process.

Margaret Morales (MA) 2012 Citizenshit- The Right to Flush: Sewage management and its Meanings in Villa Lamadrid, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jacqueline A. Belzile (MA) 2011 Lessons from Oz to the Okanagan: water policy and structural reform in a changing climate. Present occupation: Director & Sustainability Consultant at Blue Currents Consulting Inc.

Beaulieu, Mathieu (MSc) 2010 Climate change impact in a coastal community watershed: investigating the summer streamflow response to a shifting hydrological regime Present occupation: Hydrologist (GIT)

Empey, Erin 2010 (Master of Journalism) Integrated resource recovery: energy potential in Vancouver’s wastewater

Ahl, Helga. 2005. Theory and practice. A study of the Swedish forestry administration board and its procedures for protecting land. (In Swedish). LiU Norrköping. Environmental Science Programme.

Larsson, Emma. 2004. Science and policy in the framing of international negotiations on climate change. LiU Norrköping. Environmental Science Programme. LIU-ITUF/MV-D–04/11—SE

Larsson, Anna. 2004. Environmental goal assessment – not as simple as it sounds. A study of roles and communication in the Swedish environmental administration. (In Swedish). LiU Norrköping, Environmental Science Programme. LIU-ITUF/MV-D–03/31—SE

Madelaine Johansson, 2003. Environmental goal assessment in the county of Östergötland – a study of areas of conflict within the frame of regional environmental assessment work. (In Swedish). LiU Norrköping. Environmental Science Programme,. LIU-ITUF/MV-D–03/10—SE

Maria Eriksson, 2002. Indirect environmental aspects at SMHI. Identification and handling. (In Swedish). LiU Norrköping Environmental Science Programme.

Marita Lachan, 2002. Levande skogar – ett svenskt miljökvalitetsmål. Living forests – a Swedish environmental goal. (In Swedish). LiU Norrköping. Environmental Science Programme.

Malin Rodhstedt, 2002. Risk assessment and naturally produced dioxins. LiU Norrköping. Environmental Science Programme. LIU-ITUF/MV-D–02/16–SE

Gustaf Ebenå, 1997. Influence of nitrogen on the net formation of organic halogen during degradation of soil. LiU Linköping. Department of Biology.

Carsten Johansen. 1995. Organically bound halogens in spruce forest through fall – occurrence, deposition and chemical characterization (in Danish). DTH, Kopenhaven. Institution of Geology and Geotechnology.

Helena Nord. 1994. Do white-rot fungi produce chloro-organic compounds during lignin degradation? (in Swedish). LiU Linköping. Department of Biology,

Ingela Börjesson. 1991. Net production of halogenated organic compounds in soil at different pH (in Swedish). LiU Linköping. Department of Biology.

C.J.M. van den Biggenlaar. 1990. The use of sum-parameter measurements of anthropogenic organic halogens compounds in the Netherlands and Germany and the influence of naturally produced organohalogens. University of Agriculture, Wageningen.
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Bachelor theses

Milka Nilsson. 2005. Influence of chloride and nitrogen on formation and leaching of chlorinated organic matter in soil. LiU Norrköping. Environmental Science Programme.

Tora Strandberg. 2003. Inventorying humans in the forest – a study of coastal forest owners’ understanding of the political shift in focus within Swedish forestry. LiU Norrköping. Environmental Science Programme.

Daniel Stenman, 2002. The scientific basis of Swedish climate policy (In Swedish). Environmental Science Programme, Department of Thematic Studies. Linköpings Universitet. LIU-ITUF/MV-C–02/14–SE

Marita Lachan, 2001. Health and the environment – conflicts in the management of waste products? (In Swedish) Environmental Science Programme, Department of Thematic Studies. Linköpings Universitet.

Mårten Sundin, 2001. towards closed cycles – the precautionary principle, the hierarchy of waste and the risk society (In Swedish). Environmental Science Programme, Department of Thematic Studies. Linköpings Universitet.

Gustav Ebenå. 1995. Development of a method for studies on the influence of reactive chlorine on the degradability of lignin (in Swedish). Department of Biology, LiU.

Pia Kersna. 1992. A studie of the content of TOX in plants and its contribution to such compounds in soil (in Swedish). Department of Biology, LiU. (10 p)

Karin Persson. 1992. Detection of chloroperoxidase activity in fungal mycel isolated from spruce forest soil (In Swedish). Department of Biology, LiU.

Olof Hjelm. 1991. Occurrence of chlororganic compounds in lichen (in Swedish). Department of Chemistry, LiU.

Pia Kersna. 1991. An attempt to detect chlorperoxidase activity in needles of Norwegian Spruce (Picea abies, L.). Department of Biology, LiU. (5 p)

Susanne Karlsson. 1989. Studies of naturally produced chlorogenic compounds (in Swedish) Kemiavdelningen, LiU.

Eva Siljeholm. 1989. Chloro-organic compounds in an acidified spruce forest in Swedish). Department of Biology, LiU.

John Robinson

Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs Professor, School of the Environment
Adjunct Professor, Copenhagen Business School

Contact Details

Room 202315 Bloor St W
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3K7
Canada

johnb.robinson@utoronto.ca

http://www.johnrobinson.ires.ubc.ca/

Research Interests

Climate change, Corporate social responsibility, Economic evaluation/analysis, Energy, Environmental and cultural values, Life cycle analysis, Policy and Decision-making, Political ecology, Public policy and analysis, Resource governance and management, Social ecological systems, Technology, Urban Sustainbility

Bio

John Robinson is a Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs, and the School of the Environment, at the University of Toronto; an Honorary Professor with the Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability at The University of British Columbia; and an Adjunct Professor with the Copenhagen Business School, where he is leading the sustainability component of their campus redevelopment process. Prof. Robinson’s research focuses on the intersection of climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainability; the use of visualization, modeling, and citizen engagement to explore sustainable futures; sustainable buildings and urban design; creating partnerships for sustainability with non-academic partners; and, generally, the intersection of sustainability, social and technological change, behaviour change, and community engagement processes.

Featured Publications

Munro, A., Marcus, J., Wahl, J., Dolling, K., Robinson, J., (2016) “Combining Forces: Fostering Sustainability Collaboration between the City of Vancouver and The University of British Columbia”, forthcoming in International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 17(4)

Fedoruk, L., Cole, R., Robinson, J., Cayuela, A., (2015) “Learning from failure: understanding the anticipated-achieved building energy performance gap”, Building Research & Information, 43(6): 750-763.

Burch, S., Shaw, A., Kristensen, F., Robinson, J., and Dale, A. (2015) Urban Climate Governance through a Sustainability Lens: Exploring the Integration of Adaptation and Mitigation in Four British Columbian Cities, in Johnson, C., Toly, N., and Schroeder, H. (eds.) The Urban Climate Challenge: Rethinking the Role of Cities in the Global Climate Regime: Routledge.

Coops, N., Marcus, J.,Construt, I., Frank, E., Kellett, R., Mazzi, E., Munro, A., Nesbit, S., Riseman, A., Robinson, J., Schultz, A., and Sipos, Y., (2015) “How an entry-level, interdisciplinary sustainability course revealed the benefits and challenges of a university-wide initiative for sustainability education”, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 16 (5): 729 – 747

Marcus, J., Coops, N., Ellis, S. and Robinson, J., (2015) “Embedding sustainability learning pathways across the university” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 16:7–13.

Robinson, J. and R. Cole, (2014) “Theoretical Underpinnings of Regenerative Sustainability’” Building Research and Information 43(2): 133-143.

Antle, A.N., J. Tanenbaum, A. Macaranas, and J. Robinson, (2014) Games for change: Looking at models of persuasion through the lens of design. (Nijholt, A. ed.) Playful User Interfaces: Interfaces that Invite Social and Physical Interaction, Singapore: Springer.

Robinson, J., T. Berkhout, A. Cayuela, and A. Campbell (2013) Next Generation Sustainability at The University of British Columbia: The University as Societal Test-Bed for Sustainability. Ariane König (ed), Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities: the role of living laboratories, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Hannah Wittman

Professor, IRES
Professor, Land and Food Systems

Contact Details

AERL Room 441
2202 Main Mall
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

hannah.wittman@ubc.ca

LFS profile: https://www.landfood.ubc.ca/hannah-wittman/

Research Interests

Food security, Political economy

Bio

Dr. Hannah Wittman’s research examines the ways that the rights to produce and consume food are contested and transformed through struggles for agrarian reform, food sovereignty, and agrarian citizenship. Her projects include community-based research on farmland access, transition to organic agriculture, and seed sovereignty in British Columbia, agroecological transition and the role of institutional procurement in the transition to food sovereignty in Ecuador and Brazil, and the role that urban agriculture and farm-to-school nutrition initiatives play in food literacy education.

LiteFarm project: www.litefarm.org
Website: http://www.landfood.ubc.ca/person/hannah-wittman/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=JxF8aw0AAAAJ&hl=en

Projects

Diversified Agroecosystems Research Cluster (Wittman is the PI of this cluster)

Advancing Agroecological Transitions Through Visual Methodologies

Exploring Ethical Data Governance for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation in Canadian Agriculture 2023 – present

Agroecological Transitions in Latin America

Indigenous Foodlands Conservation Areas 2023 – present

Tech For Nature: GHG and Livestock Modules for Litefarm 2022 – present

Measuring Progress Towards Food Sovereignty: The effect of mediated markets on re-defining socio-ecological value in the food system 2015 – 2019

Unconventional Tenures: A Comparative Analysis of Community-Based Land Reform and Agrarian Citizenship in Brazil, Guatemala and Canada 2011 – 2014

Courses

LFS 500 Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems Seminar

ASIC 220 Introduction to Sustainability

Featured Publications

H Wittman Food sovereignty: An inclusive model for feeding the world and cooling the planet One Earth 6 (5), 474-478 2023

J Blesh, Z Mehrabi, H Wittman, RB Kerr, D James, S Madsen, OM Smith, … Against the odds: Network and institutional pathways enabling agricultural diversification One Earth 6 (5), 479-491 2023

S Klassen, F Migrante, H Wittman Sharing the struggle for fairness: Exploring possibilities for solidarity & just labour in organic agriculture Canadian Food Studies 2022

A Heckelman, MJ Chappell, H Wittman A polycentric food sovereignty approach to climate resilience in the Philippines Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 10 (1), 1-21 2022

E Bowness, H Wittman Bringing the city to the country? Responsibility, privilege and urban agrarianism in Metro Vancouver The journal of peasant studies 48 (6), 1141-1166 2021

V Ricciardi, Z Mehrabi, H Wittman, D James, N Ramankutty Higher yields and more biodiversity on smaller farms Nature Sustainability 2021

H Wittman, D James, Z Mehrabi Advancing food sovereignty through farmer-driven digital agroecology International Journal of Agriculture and Natural Resources 47 (3), 235-248 2020

W Valley, H Wittman, N Jordan, S Ahmed, R Galt An emerging signature pedagogy for sustainable food systems education Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 33 (5), 467-480 2018

H Wittman, J Blesh Food sovereignty and Fome Zero: connecting public food procurement programmes to sustainable rural development in Brazil Journal of Agrarian Change 2017

LJ Powell, H Wittman Farm to school in British Columbia: mobilizing food literacy for food sovereignty Agriculture and Human Values 35 (1), 193-206 2018

BE Graeub, MJ Chappell, H Wittman, S Ledermann, RB Kerr, … The State of Family Farms in the World World Development 2015

AA Desmarais, H Wittman Farmers, foodies and First Nations: getting to food sovereignty in Canada Journal of Peasant Studies 2014

Mike Brauer

Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Faculty Associate, UBC Division of Respiratory Medicine
Affiliate Professor, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington

Bio

Mike Brauer is appointed in SPPH, not at IRES, and instead is a Faculty Associate of our unit. He may supervise students in our RES graduate program.

http://spph.ubc.ca/person/michael-brauer/

https://depts.washington.edu/healthms/people/michael-brauer/

Simon Donner

Professor, IRES
Professor, Department of Geography
Director, UBC Climate Solutions Research Collective
Graduate Advisor, IRES

Contact Details

www.simondonner.com

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/persons/simon-donner

https://oceans.ubc.ca/simon-donner/

Bio

Simon Donner is a climate scientist focused on helping the world prevent and prepare for climate change. His research program lies primarily at the intersection of climate change science, marine science, and policy. The specific research areas evolve over time in response to advances in climate change knowledge and to real-world events. Prospective students and post-doctoral researchers should check his web site for current and planned areas of work, as well as for guidance for applicants.

Donner takes his privileged position as a professor seriously, and spends a lot of his time translating the science of climate change to different audiences in hopes of helping people make better decisions about the future. He was a lead author on the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment and serves as an appointed member of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body, which advises the federal government on achieving net-zero emissions.

Featured Publications

Google Scholar

2019
FINDLATER, K. M., SATTERFIELD, T., KANDLIKAR, M. and DONNER, S. D. 2019 ‘Weather and climate variability may be poor proxies for climate change in farmer risk perceptions’ Weather, Climate, and Society 11(4), 697-711 https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-19-0040.1

CANNON, S. E., DONNER, S. D., FENNER, D. and BEGER, M. 2019 ‘The relationship between macro algae taxa and human disturbance on central Pacific coral reefs’ Marine Pollution Bulletin 145(August 2019), 161-173 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.05.024

WYNES, S., DONNER, S. D., TANNASON, S. and NABORS, N. 2019 ‘Academic air travel has a limited influence on professional success’ Journal of Cleaner Production 226(July 2019), 959-967 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.109

MEHRABI, Z., DONNER, S. D., RIOS, P., GUHA-SAPIR, D., ROWHANI, P., KANDLIKAR, M. and RAMANKUTTY, N. 2019 ‘Can we sustain success in reducing deaths to extreme weather in a hotter world?’ World Development Perspectives 14(June 2019), 100107 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2019.02.018

DONNER, S. D. and CARILLI, J. 2019 ‘Resilience of Central Pacific coral reefs subject to frequent heat stress and human disturbance’ Scientific Reports 9(3484)

TSURUTA, K., HASSAN, M. A., DONNER, S. D. and ALILA, Y. 2019 ‘Modelling the effects of climatic and hydrological regime changes on the sediment dynamics of the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada’ Hydrological Processes 33(2), 244-260 https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13321

2018
TSURUTA, K., HASSAN, M. A., DONNER, S. D. and ALILA, Y. 2018 ‘Development and Application of a Large‐Scale, Physically Based, Distributed Suspended Sediment Transport Model on the Fraser River Basin, British Columbia, Canada’ JGR Earth Surface 123(10), 2481-2508 https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JF004578

WYNES, S., NICHOLAS, K. A., ZHAO, J. and DONNER, S. D. 2018 ‘Measuring what works: quantifying greenhouse gas emission reductions of behavioural interventions to reduce driving, meat consumption, and household energy use’ Environmental Research Letters 13(11), 113002 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aae5d7

FINDLATER, K. M., SATTERFIELD, T., KANDLIKAR, M. and DONNER, S. D. 2018 ‘Six languages for a risky climate: how farmers react to weather and climate change’ Climatic Change 148(4), 451-465 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-018-2217-z#citeas

FINDLATER, K. M., DONNER, S. D., SATTERFIELD, T. and KANDLIKAR, M. 2018 ‘Integration anxiety: The cognitive isolation of climate change’ Global Environmental Change 50, 178-189 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.02.010

2017
HASSAN, M. A., DONNER, S. D., CHURCH, M. A., ROBERGE, L., MORE, M., LEACH, J., and ALI, F. 2017 ‘What are the sources of sediment into the Mississippi River?’ Geophysical Research Letters 44, 8919-8924 doi: 10.1002/2017GL074046

DONNER, S. D., RICKBEIL, G. J. M., and HERON, S. F. 2017 ‘A new, high-resolution global mass coral bleaching database’ PLoS-One 12(4), e0175490

DONNER, S. D. 2017 ‘Publicity or Perish: Finding the balance in science communication’ Biogeochemistry DOI 10.1007/s10533-017-0344-7

DONNER, S. D. 2017 ‘Risk and Responsibility in Public Engagement by Climate Scientists: Reconsidering Advocacy During the Trump Era’ Environmental Communication 1–4, DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2017.1291101

MOTEW, M., CHEN, X., BOOTH, E. G., CARPENTER, S. R., PINKAS, P., ZIPPER, S. C., LOHEIDE II, S. P., DONNER, S. D. et al. 2017 ‘The Influence of Legacy P on Lake Water Quality in a Midwestern Agricultural Watershed’ Ecosystems 1–15 DOI:10.1007/s10021-017-0125-0

WEBBER, S. and DONNER, S. D. 2017 ‘Climate service warnings: cautions about commercializing climate science for adaptation in the developing world’ WIREs Climate Change 8(1) DOI: 10.1002/wcc.424

2016
DONNER, S. D., KANDLIKAR, M., and WEBBER, S. 2016 ‘Measuring and tracking the flow of climate change adaptation aid to the developing world’ Environmental Research Letters 11(5) 054006, DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/5/054006

LEONG, D. N. S. and DONNER, S. D. 2016 ‘Future Water Supply and Demand Management Options in the Athabasca Oil Sands’ River Research and Applications 32(9), 1853-1861 DOI: 10.1002/rra.3033

BUGLASS, S., DONNER, S. D., and ALEMU, J. B. (2016) ‘A study on the recovery of Tobago’s coral reefs following the 2010 mass bleaching event’ Marine Pollution Bulletin 104(1-2), 198-206 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.01.038

Philippe Le Billon

Professor, Department of Geography
Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

Research Interests

Political economy, Resource governance and management

Bio

Philippe Le Billon is appointed in Geography and SPPGA, not at IRES, and instead is a Faculty Associate of our unit. He may supervise students in our RES graduate program.

https://www.geog.ubc.ca/persons/philippe-le-billon

https://sppga.ubc.ca/profile/philippe-le-billon/

http://blogs.ubc.ca/lebillon/

Rashid Sumaila

Professor, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

Bio

Rashid Sumaila is appointed in IoF and SPPGA, not at IRES, and instead is a Faculty Associate of our unit. He may supervise students in our RES graduate program.

http://oceans.ubc.ca/rashid-sumaila/https://sppga.ubc.ca/profile/rashid-sumaila