Sarah-Louise Ruder

PhD with Terre Satterfield & Hannah Wittman, 2024
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Ottawa
Researcher, Food and Agricultural Institute, University of the Fraser Valley

UBC Public Scholar, UBC Four Year Doctoral Fellow, SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship Recipient

Contact Details

sarah.louise.ruder@ubc.ca

sruder@uottawa.ca

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

LinkedIn

Research Interests

Food security, Gender, Perceived risk and new technology, Political ecology, Political economy, Resource governance and management, Social ecological systems, Sustainability, Technology

Bio

Sarah-Louise Ruder is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies and a Researcher at the University of the Fraser Valley in the Food and Agriculture Institute. Her interdisciplinary research and public scholarship focus on the social, political-economic, and environmental dimensions of agriculture and novel technologies in the food system.

Sarah-Louise completed her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability in 2023. Her supervisors were Professor Terre Satterfield and Professor Hannah Wittman. Her dissertation research investigated the evidence of surveillance capitalism in agriculture, with a policy and document analysis of farm management platforms; challenges and opportunities for data governance and data justice vis-à-vis increasing digitalization of the food system; farmer experiences and imaginaries of technological change in Canada, focusing on digital technologies; and the enactment of responsible research and innovation in the food system, with a study of agricultural genomics experts. This research was funded a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, the UBC Four Year Doctoral Fellowship, Genome BC, and the UBC Public Scholars Initiative.

While at UBC, Sarah-Louise coordinated a SSHRC Connection project with Hannah Wittman at IRES and Shauna MacKinnon at the British Columbia Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network (BC ACARN). Building on her community-engaged research and UBC Public Scholars project, she led the development of a an open-access “toolkit” for ethical data governance in agriculture available in multiple languages (see: https://www.bcacarn.ca/projects-2/ethical-data-governance/).

Featured Publications

Ruder, S. L., Bowness, E., McIntyre, A., Grant, A.M., & Newman, L. (2023). Tasting the ‘Future of Food’ on a Bay Area Cellular Agriculture Tour. Gastronomica, 23(2): 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2023.23.2.37

Ruder, S. L. & Kandlikar, M. (2023). Governing Gene-Edited Crops: Risks, Regulations, and Responsibilities as Perceived by Agricultural Genomics Experts in Canada. Journal for Responsible Innovation, 1(10), 1–29. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23299460.2023.2167572

Reimer, C., Ruder, S. L., Koppes, M., & Sundberg, J. (2023). A Pedagogy of Unbecoming for Geosciences Otherwise. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Special Issue: Race, Nature, and the Environment, 113(7), 1711–1727. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2022.2151406 || Equal authors

Ruder, S. L.,* James, D.,* Bowness, E.,* Robin, T., & Dale, B. (2022). Canada’s Corporate Food Regime and the Prospects for a Just Transition. In J. Antony, W. Antony, & L. Samuelson (Eds.), Power and Resistance: Critical Thinking about Canadian Social Issues. Fernwood. https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/power-and-resistance-7th-ed || *Co-Lead authors

Clapp, J. & Ruder, S. L. (2020). Precision Technologies for Agriculture: Digital Farming, Gene-Edited Crops, and the Politics of Sustainability. Global Environmental Politics, 20(3), 49–69. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00566 Ruder, S. L. & Sanniti, S.R. (2019). Transcending Learned Ignorance of Predatory Ontologies: research agenda for an ecofeminist-informed Ecological Economics. Sustainability, 11(5), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00566 || Equal authors

Last updated: May 21, 2024

Kyoko Adachi

MA Student

Contact Details

Research Interests

Behavioral change, Climate change, Environmental and cultural values

Bio

I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, and came to Canada for my undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto. I majored in Environmental Ethics and double minored in History and Anthropology there. Currently at IRES, I am working with Dr. Hadi Dowlatabadi and Dr. Jiaying Zhao on people’s sense of responsibility for intergenerational transfers including climate impacts. Outside school, I enjoy swimming, volleyball, piano, and exploring different brunch places.

Projects

Courses

Featured Publications

Annegaaike Leopold

Adjunct Professor

Contact Details

aleopold@calidrisenvironment.com

Bio

Annegaaike Leopold Msc, has joined the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, working as Co-PI with Dr. Gunilla Oberg, on a research program aimed at building transparency into the regulatory process of risk assessment and management of organic chemicals, specifically in the face of scientific controversies. This builds seamlessly on her background as EUROTOX registered applied environmental toxicologist with 30 years of experience in the field of regulatory ecotoxicology and environmental fate. Over the past 20 years she has focused on endocrine ecotoxicology, evaluating effects of potential endocrine disruptors in birds and amphibians as well as fish. Working on the hazard and risk assessment of potentially endocrine disruptive chemicals, has allowed her to work closely with scientists representing different opinions in the scientific debate on endocrine disruptors. This has led her to science for policy research program she currently working on at EGESTA. As President of the European branch of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), she is also contributing to shaping the future of science and risk communication of environmental research in SETAC.

A significant portion of career Annegaaike has worked as an executive manager in the contract laboratory world. This has allowed her to develop skills as project manager, working in a planned and systematic way, directing and executing business development, expanding and deepening client relationships, leading and developing multidisciplinary teams. She is also a keen scientific organiser of workshops and conferences on cutting edge environmental topics. Annegaaike had an international childhood and she is bilingual (Dutch-English).

Narayan Gopinathan

MSc Student

Contact Details

narayansgopi@gmail.com

phone: 8584494482

Research Interests

Climate change, Energy

Bio

Originally from San Diego, California, Narayan graduated with his BS in environmental economics and policy from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2016. During his undergraduate studies, he completed research internships at the University of California, San Diego, blueEnergy (an NGO that does water and sanitation work in Nicaragua), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the California Environmental Protection Agency. He has also published peer-reviewed work in Climate Policy, on the political economy of mid-century strategies for decarbonization.

He is currently pursuing his masters’ degree in IRES under the supervision of Milind Kandlikar. For his thesis, he is comparing the life-cycle greenhouse gas footprint of conventional and electric cars in the context of India’s coal fired power grid.

Projects

Courses

Featured Publications

Rapichan Phurisamban

(they/them or she/her)

PhD Candidate, Vanier Scholar, Public Scholar, 2023 IBioS Student Fellow

Contact Details

rapichan.phurisamban@ires.ubc.ca

Research Interests

Biodiversity conservation, Environmental and cultural values, Management of biodiversity, Policy and Decision-making, Political ecology, Resource governance and management, Science-policy interface, Water governance

Bio

Returning to UBC where I received a bachelor’s degree in economics, I find the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES) to be an intellectual home for problem-based, interdisciplinary researchers with deep social and ecological concerns. I started my PhD journey in the fall of 2019, working under the supervision of Dr. Terre Satterfield. My current project draws on political ontology, decolonial studies, Indigenous studies, and ethnographic methods to study river relations, lived realities of river dwellers, and knowledge politics in Mekong River science-policy-management interfaces. I’m interested in understanding the conditions for which the Mekong River is recognized as a living being, and how locally representative ways of knowing and living with the river can inform our terms of engagement beyond modern freshwater and biodiversity governance. To this end, I have been working with riparian community members on a Mekong River and Fish Monitoring Project.

Prior to my journey back to academia, I was a researcher and water policy analyst at the Pacific Institute in California. I have worked on topics including water rights and access, cost evaluations of water supply and demand management options, drought impacts on agriculture and salmon fisheries, and water infrastructures and public health. I hold a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a specialized master’s degree in human geography from the University of Zurich, where I studied the use of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and downstream communities’ response to impacts from large-scale Mekong River development.

Outside of work, you can find me hiking, rock climbing, sketching/painting, and trying out new vegan recipes.

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rapichan-Phurisamban

Carly McGregor

MSc with Claire Kremen, 2022
Lab Manager, UBC Plant-Insect Ecology & Evolution Lab

Contact Details

carly.mcgregor@ubc.ca

https://piee-lab.landfood.ubc.ca/people/

Research Interests

Biodiversity conservation, Ecosystem services, Environment, Management of biodiversity, Social ecological systems, Sustainability

Bio

Carly is an ecologist driven by solutions-based interdisciplinary environmental research, with special interests in agroecological farming and biodiversity conservation. She completed her MSc in the WoRCS lab with Dr. Claire Kremen in May of 2022. Her thesis research involved evaluating the pollinator conservation potential of farm hedgerows and grassland set-aside fields in the agricultural landscapes of Delta, BC.

She is now a lab manager in the Plant-Insect Ecology & Evolution (PIEE) Lab with Dr. Juli Carrillo in Land & Food Systems. In this role, she is continuing to work with on-farm habitat enhancements, with a focus on their influence on crop pest and natural enemy insect communities. Outside of research, she enjoys hiking, climbing rocks, and baking desserts.

Last updated August 2022

Rudri Bhatt

PhD Student

Contact Details

rudrib@alumni.ubc.ca

Research Interests

Energy, Improved air quality and clean energy

Bio

Rudri is a Ph.D. student at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. She completed her BSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Technion- Israel Institute of Technology. During her bachelor’s degree, Rudri was an active member of Engineers without Borders (EwB) – Technion chapter for 3 years where she worked towards developing a water filtration system and household insulation for small off-grid communities. She further pursued a Master of Science at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC, working on farmers’ perspectives on alternatives to agricultural waste burning and its policy solutions in Punjab, India. Rudri is interested in working towards improved air quality and its intersection with energy security in Canada and developing countries.

Bassam Javed

PhD Student

Contact Details

bassam@alumni.ubc.ca

Research Interests

Energy, Sustainability

Bio

Bassam is a PhD student at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability. His research focuses on electric vehicle policy in India with Dr. Amanda Giang and Dr. Milind Kandlikar. His methods include quantitative modelling and interviews/surveys, and he uses data analytics tools. Bassam’s professional career included technical and leadership roles in the mining sector. After completing his M. Eng. in Clean Energy Engineering at UBC, Bassam worked at a school district, providing energy management for its facilities and engaging students in environmental sustainability initiatives. Currently, Bassam is an energy & sustainability consultant for a Vancouver-based firm. He enjoys volunteerism, which has included program development and board governance in social services, mental health, and environmental sustainability non-profits. In his spare time, Bassam enjoys swimming, reading philosophy, and practicing martial arts.

Alberto Campos

PhD Candidate

Contact Details

alberto@aquasis.org

Research Interests

Biodiversity conservation, Ecosystem services

Bio

Alberto is a PhD Candidate in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, supervised by Dr. Kai Chan, and Ocean Leaders graduate fellow. His research seeks to understand the cascades triggered by defaunation – including species extinctions, local extirpations and severe population reductions – and their ecological consequences, in order to propose management and rewilding practices that could recover environmental services for the benefit of all beings.

As a conservation biologist, Alberto co-founded the NGO Aquasis (www.aquasis.org) and worked as its principal Director for nearly 20 years, promoting endangered species and habitat conservation in Brazil. He has received three Conservation Leadership Awards and the prestigious Future for Nature Award. In 2017 Aquasis received the Brazilian National Biodiversity Award for downlisting endangered species in the Brazilian and IUCN red lists, and for the long-term commitment with biodiversity conservation and community engagement.

Allison Cutting

MSc with Terre Satterfield & Rashid Sumaila, 2022
Research Analyst, UBC IOF

Contact Details

acutting@mail.ubc.ca

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-cutting/

Research Interests

Food and Livelihood Security, Small Scale Fisheries Management, Social ecological systems

Bio

Allison Cutting was a Master of Science student at the Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability (IRES), co-supervised by Dr. Terre Satterfield and Dr. Rashid Sumaila. Raised on the Salish Sea, she was captivated by the relationship between human and ocean health. She now considers herself a social ecologist who investigates the connectedness between coastal communities and marine environments, particularly with a focus on fisheries. To embrace the complexity of fishery systems, Allison draws on interdisciplinary approaches from conservation biology, environmental economics, and human-centered design.

Prior to joining IRES, Allison lived in five coastal communities around the world, worked alongside commercial fishers as an observer, interned at the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions to research the implementation of rights-based governance, and served as a field ecologist for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She received a Bachelor of Science in ecology and a minor in sociology from Seattle Pacific University. She has been a grantee of The Explorers Club, UBC Ocean Leaders, National Geographic Society, and the National Science Foundation.

Projects

Sea Turtles and Paper Parks in a Nicaraguan Small Scale Fishery

Allison’s thesis centers on the sustainability of small-scale fisheries and the tradeoffs between conservation and livelihoods, drawing on a case study from the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. This work stems directly from voiced concerns of Nicaraguan fishers regarding sea turtle bycatch. In response, she partnered with fishers of a coastal community, called El Astillero, and a local non-governmental organization, called Casa Congo, to conduct research and fill knowledge gaps on turtle bycatch, fish catch, and the governance that influences both. This project is supported by a 2019 National Geographic Early Career Explorer grant and Casa Congo.

Infinity Fish: Economics and the Future of Fish and Fisheries

Allison served as the coordinator of the book project, titled Infinity Fish, authored by Dr. Rashid Sumaila, and published by Elsevier in October 2021. The content centers on marine ecosystem valuation and understanding costs and benefits of fishery management systems. It explains Rashid’s novel economic approach to ensure future generations have access to natural resources for food and livelihood security, known as “intergenerational discounting.”