Abdulateef Gafar

Kristen Hopewell

Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

Bio

Kristen Hopewell is appointed in SPPGA, not at IRES, and instead is a Faculty Associate of our unit. She may supervise students in our graduate program.

Kristen Hopewell is Canada Research Chair in Global Policy in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. Her research specializes in international trade, global governance, industrial policy, environment and development, with a focus on emerging powers.

She is a Wilson China Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC.

Dr. Hopewell is the author of Clash of Powers: US-China Rivalry in Global Trade Governance (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and Breaking the WTO: How Emerging Powers Disrupted the Neoliberal Project (Stanford University Press, 2016).

Her academic research has appeared in journals such as Review of International Political Economy, Regulation & Governance, International Affairs, Global Environmental Politics and New Political Economy.

Her policy writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, South China Morning Post, The Globe and Mail and Global Policy, and her analysis has featured in venues such as the BBC, CNN, CGTN, Bloomberg, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, The Chicago Tribune, East Asia Forum, The Indian Express, Latin America Advisor and Foreign Policy.

Dr. Hopewell’s research has been supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, a UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Future Research Leaders Grant, the UK Global Research Challenges Fund, US National Science Foundation (NSF), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

https://sppga.ubc.ca/profile/kristen-hopewell/

Grace Schaan

MA with Kathryn Harrison, 2023

IRES Student Society Social Coordinator, 2022-2023

Research Interests

Climate change, Environmental Law and Policy, Policy and Decision-making

Bio

Grace Schaan was a masters (M.A.) student in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and was supervised by Dr. Kathryn Harrison. Her thesis research bridged carbon tax politics with political communication on social media and the spread of misinformation. She is broadly interested in policy for climate change.

Grace completed a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies at the University of Regina in 2020. Prior to joining IRES, she worked for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in the National Agroclimate Information Service.

Last updated May 2024.

John Reganold

Previous Visiting Professor

Bio

Dr. John Reganold has shaped his career by his interest in soil science and agriculture, receiving his Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of California at Davis. He is currently Regents Professor of Soil Science and Agroecology at Washington State University. He has spent 30-plus years bringing a blend of innovative teaching and research on soil quality and sustainable farming systems into the mainstream of higher education and food production. He has had the privilege of teaching more than 4000 students in the classroom. He has published extensively in scientific journals, magazines, and books, including ScienceNature, and Scientific American.

Dr. Reganold is an International Visiting Research Scholar supported by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC.

IRES Visiting Professor Term: August 2021 – December 2021.

Jessica Koski

PhD Student
Indigenous Graduate Fellow

Contact Details

jessica[dot]koski[at]ubc.ca

Research Interests

Natural resource governance, Indigenous resurgence, Indigenous peoples & sustainability, Global Indigenous rights & politics, Indigenous-State relations, Indigenous methodologies, Indigenous peoples & higher education

Bio

Jessica L. Koski (Anishinaabe-Ojibwe) is a PhD student at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (UBC) co-supervised by Professors David R. Boyd and Terre Satterfield. She is interested in Indigenous resurgence and the realization of Indigenous rights to land and resources. Her doctoral research will apply Indigenous theory and methodology to examine multi-level governance challenges and possibilities for protecting Indigenous territories in the eastern Amazon region of Brazil in the states of Maranhão and northern Tocantins.

Jessica has a B.S. Degree in Social Sciences from Michigan Tech and a Master of Environmental Management Degree from Yale. Her background includes advocacy and technical support for community-based concerns associated with metallic sulfide mining near Lake Superior. She’s served on the Steering Committee of the Western Mining Action Network (an NGO supporting over 400 communities across Canada and the U.S.), the U.S. National Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Indigenous Peoples Work Group, and co-chaired the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Annex 10 Science Subcommittee Traditional Ecological Knowledge Task Team. Between 2015-2021, she served as a Program Manager and Branch Chief with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Midwest Region supporting more than 30 Tribes in multiple areas of natural resource management.

Brittney Wong

MA Student, graduated 2023

Contract and Special Projects Coordinator, York Region (The Regional Municipality of York)

Contact Details

brittney.wong@ubc.ca brittneywong18@gmail.com

Research Interests

Adaptation, Behavioral change, Climate change, Climate Migration, Disaster Risk Reduction, Environmental and cultural values, Natural hazards, risk communication

Bio

Brittney was a MA student in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability supervised by Dr. Stephanie Chang. She was part of the Hazards Lab and her research interests revolved around disaster risk reduction, floods, and waste management. Her research at UBC focused on post-flood waste management systems and the challenges and barriers for effective flood debris to be removed from residential households. Brittney’s undergraduate degree was completed at the University of Waterloo and she did some research on government-sponsored home buyout programs during her time there.

During her undergrad, she also participated in an Arctic field course. She spent 10 days in the Canadian High Arctic and Greenland learning about physical and human geography. In her spare time, Brittney likes to take advantage of Vancouver’s warm winters and beautiful summers by going on hikes and gardening.

Last updated May 2024.

Shuoqi Ren

PhD Student

Research Interests

Data science, Environment, Environmental Law and Policy, Geosciences, Policy and Decision-making, Science-policy interface, Sustainability

Bio

Shuoqi Ren is a Ph.D. student in IRES supervised by Dr. Amanda Giang in the Lab for Environmental Assessment and Policy (LEAP). Her research focused on urban environmental quality and justice assessment using digital tools like GIS techniques. Her broader interests include understanding and characterizing the impacts and outcomes of human-environmental interactions using tools like modelling, and how these tools can contribute to urban environmental planning and policymaking.

Shuoqi was at IRES in LEAP as an MSc student prior to her Ph.D. study and decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree here motivated by her interests. She received an Honours bachelor’s degree in forestry from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada and a joint bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Northeast Forestry University (NEFU) in China. After her undergraduate studies, she interned at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) China Amur-Heilong Ecoregion Complex Program, where she actively participated in and promoted environmental and species protection initiatives.

Brian Wang

MSc with Mark Johnson, 2024
IRES Student Society Trip Coordinator, 2022-2023

Research Interests

Climate change, Geosciences

Bio

Brian was a MSc student in the UBC Ecohydrology Lab supervised by Dr. Mark Johnson. His research focused on identifying physical (evasion transport) and chemical (carbonate system) controls on CO₂ emissions from a forested stream in UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest. He was developing a dissolved CO₂measurement method, with improved sampling frequency and accuracy, to analyze water-air carbon interactions in finer detail. Evaluating physicochemical controls on carbon evasion helps to determine if these fluxes scale along with the accelerating hydrological cycle.

Brian graduated from UBC with a BSc in Environmental Sciences specializing in atmospheric science and hydrology. During this time, he was a part of the UBC Biometeorology and Soil Physics group working on projects characterizing energy, water and GHG (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) exchange over various agricultural fields. As a passion project, he compared the effectiveness of machine learning techniques (Bayesian neural network, regressions) in forcing energy balance closure. He then joined UBC Ecohydrology Lab to worked on the “Living laboratory for water sustainability in UBC Farm” project, investigating agricultural water use and crop water demand by deploying lab-made low-cost sensor systems. In his spare time, he enjoys training for his next rock climbing project.

Jessica Mukiri

PhD Student, Four Year Doctoral Fellowship Recipient

Contact Details

jmukiri@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests

Climate change, Data science, Ecology, Ecosystem services, Food security, Food Systems, Gender, Geosciences, Social ecological systems, Wicked Problem

Bio

Jessica is a PhD student in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) working under the supervision of Dr. Navin Ramankutty. Her research is aimed at understanding the environmental and socio-economic impacts of livestock production and consumption.

Jessica has over seven years work experience in agricultural and environmental research in the development sector in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and South America. Prior to starting her PhD program, she worked with the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), a research and development organization part of the CGIAR whose mission is to transform food systems that build on agrobiodiversity and improve resilience and livelihoods.

Jessica holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Kenyatta University, Kenya. She completed her Honours Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya.

Research Gate| LinkedIn | Google scholar

Emily Edwards

PhD Student, Four Year Doctoral Fellow, Seminar Series Coordinator, 2022-23
IRES Student Society’s co-president, 2023-24

Contact Details

ecedward@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests

Cities, Infrastructure systems, Resource governance and management, Sustainability, Urban Sustainbility, Water governance, Water security

Research Bio

Emily Edwards is a PhD student at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability supervised by Professor Leila Harris. As a member of the EDGES Research Collaborative, Emily’s research focuses on claims concerning water governance shifts associated with increased use of decentralized water infrastructure in cities, using household rainwater harvesting as a focal point to explore the relationships between municipal government, urban residents, and water infrastructure.

Emily holds a MSc degree in Hydrologic Sciences from the University of California, Davis, and a BSc degree in Earth Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her experiences studying water in California during an extended drought and working as a groundwater remediation hydrogeologist at a Superfund site led to a desire to contextualize water quality and quantity concerns beyond what was prescribed through a physical science lens. By building a foundation in qualitative methods and grounding her perspective in urban political ecology and critical infrastructure studies, Emily hopes to understand current and future water issues within their political, cultural, and environmental contexts.

In her free time, Emily enjoys being outdoors (hiking, climbing, and playing soccer), reading and writing fiction, and hanging out with her two dogs.

IRES Student Society Bio

Emily (she/her) is a third year PhD student and served as the IRES Student Society’s co-president alongside Dana. The co-presidents support the other Student Society teams with their events, trips, seminars and socials, and act as liaisons between students and faculty and staff. Emily hoped to foster the open, inclusive, and supportive community already present within IRES, and is always available to answer questions or chat about concerns over email or in the office. In her free time, Emily likes to play soccer, write novels she never finishes, and hang out with her two dogs.

Featured Publications

Edwards, E.C., Nelson, C., Harter, T., Bowles, C., Li, X., Lock, B., Fogg, G.E., & Washburn, B.S. (2022). Potential effects on groundwater quality associated with infiltrating stormwater through dry wells for aquifer recharge. J Contam Hydrol, 246. doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2022.103964

Edwards, E. C., Harter, T., Fogg, G. E., Washburn, B., & Hamad, H. (2016). Assessing the effectiveness of drywells as tools for stormwater management and aquifer recharge and their groundwater contamination potential. Journal of Hydrology, 539, 539-553. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.05.059