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

Kristen Eredics

Finance and Administrative Assistant

Contact Details

AERL Building (Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory), Room 428
2202 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Kristen.Eredics@ubc.ca

work phone: 6048222165

Bio

Processes travel and expense reports on behalf of faculty and students
Performs various finance tasks including preparing journals, invoices, and purchase requisitions, and pulling and analyzing reports
Manages student appointment tracking and processing
Coordinates Faculty Associateship invitation and renewal letters
Monitors IRES email inboxes and responds to general program and admissions queries

Sarah Hartley

Previous Visiting Professor

Bio

Sarah Hartley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Exeter Business School where she researches science and technology governance. She is a qualitative social scientist studying efforts to open up governance to new actors through case studies involving global health, sustainable agriculture and conservation. Current research explores the governance of gene drive technology and she has several projects funded by the British Academy and Wellcome exploring collaboration in gene drive development and risk governance in Africa, North America, Australia and Europe.

She publishes in a wide variety of journals including Environmental Science and Policy, Social Science and Medicine, Science, Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences, Science, Technology, & Human Values, and Journal of European Public Policy. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Responsible Innovation (ranked 3/55 in Ethics and 2/48 in History & Philosophy of Science) and has a PhD in Politics and Environmental Studies (University of Toronto).

IRES Visiting Professor Term: Jan 2022 to Aug 2022.

Joakim Jeppson

Adjunct Professor

Contact Details

Research Interests

Bio

Dr. Joakim Jeppsson has joined the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability as an Adjunct Professor and is collaborating with IRES Professor Dr.Gunilla Öberg. He is working on a research project regarding knowledge needs in a circular construction industry. The research is funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (https://strategiska.se/en/). He holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from Lund University (Sweden) and a MSc in Civil Engineering from Luleå University of Technology (Sweden).

Dr Jeppsson is currently the head of research and development at Skanska Sweden, the largest business unit in the Skanska group. Skanska is a world leader in construction and project development in select markets throughout the Nordic region, Europe and USA.

Circular solutions are likely a future necessity from an industry with a massive material flow. Mechanisms to fast identify the knowledge needed for a more circular construction industry is of great importance for the sectors’ sustainability transformation.

The question of needed knowledge has been one core aspect for Dr. Jeppsson in choosing research and development projects over the last decade and has fostered his personal interest to learn more.

Projects

Courses

Featured Publications

Yoshitaka Sakata

Previous Visiting Professor

Contact Details

Bio

Dr. Yoshitaka Sakata is an expert in hydrogeology and groundwater engineering with over 17 years of professional experience. After receiving his PhD in Science in March 2013 at Hokkaido University (Japan), he engaged in the university’s Faculty of Engineering for a national research project regarding shallow geothermal energy utilization based on heat pump technology.

Dr. Sakata is currently an Associate Professor in the College of Science and Engineering at Kanazawa University (Japan) since October 2021. During his 10 year research career, Dr. Sakata has delivered approximately 100 scientific papers and conference proceeding., He has also received numerous awards from the Japan Society of Civil Engineering, the Geothermal Research Society of Japan, Asia Oceania Geosciences Society, and other associations.

Dr. Sakata is a Visiting Scholar for international research collaboration with IRES Professor Hadi Dowlatabadi. His research at UBC is supported by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (19KK0370).

IRES Visiting Professor Term: December 1, 2021 to March 2, 2022. July 23, 2022 to September 24, 2022.

Sophia Murphy

PhD with Hannah Wittman, 2021
Executive Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Contact Details

sophia[at]foodresilience[dot]net

https://www.iatp.org/about/staff/sophia-murphy https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-murphy-phd-54852b14/ https://twitter.com/foodresilience

Bio

Sophia is the Executive Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She came to IRES to do a PhD with Dr. Hannah Wittman. In her research, she developed a new framework for assessing public food security policies from the perspective of adaptive governance. She calls her framework resilient global food security. She has 30 years of professional experience as a policy expert and advocate, focused on resilient food systems, agriculture and international trade. Sophia has worked primarily with civil society organizations, but also has also worked with governments, intergovernmental organizations and universities.

Last updated January 2022

Sara Nawaz

Adjunct Professor

Contact Details

sara.a.nawaz [AT] gmail [DOT] com

sara.nawaz [AT] ires [DOT] ubc [DOT] ca

snawaz[AT]american[DOT]edu)

https://sara-nawaz.github.io/

Bio

Sara is the Director of Research at American University’s Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy and an adjunct professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia (UBC IRES). She is an environmental social scientist who studies social dimensions of emerging climate and environmental technologies, particularly carbon removal. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, she investigates how these technologies and related policies might be designed in just, equitable and responsible ways, including how to involve societal groups (e.g., local groups, Indigenous communities, experts, the public) in these processes. Her research sits at the intersection of science and technology studies, perceived risk, and decision sciences, and she is particularly interested in understanding how political economic contexts and conditions shape judgment on novel technologies. Sara completed her PhD at UBC IRES, and postdoctoral work at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society at the University of Oxford. Prior to her PhD, she worked at Environmental Resources Management and the World Resources Institute. She also holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in economics from Swarthmore College.

Last updated January, 2024.