Graham McDowell

IRES Adjunct Professor

Director of Science and Knowledge, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

Founder and Leader, Canadian Mountain Assessment

PhD in IRES with Leila Harris and Michele Koppes, 2020 (Vanier Scholar)

Contact Details

graham[dot]mcdowell[at]ubc[dot]ca

grahammcdowellresearch.com

Google Scholar Profile

Bio

Dr. Graham McDowell is the Director of Science and Knowledge at the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y). He specializes in climate change impacts and adaptation in mountain regions, as well as knowledge co-creation activities, particularly with Indigenous Peoples. He has led community-engaged projects in the Nepal Himalaya, Peruvian Andes, Rocky Mountains, Greenland, and the Canadian Arctic, and was the founder and leader of the Canadian Mountain Assessment. In addition, he is a two-time Contributing Author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an Editorial Board member for the journal Mountain Research and Development, and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Dr. McDowell holds numerous advisory roles related to climate change in cold regions, including with the UN International Year of Glacier Preservation, the Canada in a Changing Climate assessment report, and the Science and Knowledge Advisory Committee of UN Mountain Partnership.

Dr. McDowell completed a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Zurich and holds degrees from the University of British Columbia (PhD, Vanier Scholar), the University of Oxford (MSc with Distinction), and McGill University (BA Honours 1st class).

David Righter

MSc with Stephanie Chang, 2021
Climate Action Planner, Introba

Contact Details

righter[dot]david[at]gmail[dot]com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrighter/

Bio

David graduated from IRES in May 2021, where he studied climate change adaptation and hazard risk reduction. His master’s research focused on the implementation of Municipal Climate Change Action Plans in coastal communities of Nova Scotia. While at IRES, David worked as a Research Assistant on the Resilient-C Project with Dr. Stephanie Chang and also held a Work Learn position as an Environmental Impact Specialist for UBC’s Green Labs Program. David now works as an Environmental Planner in his home state of Massachusetts, where he supports municipal efforts on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience.

Last updated January 2022

Harold Eyster

PhD with Kai Chan, 2021
Gund Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Vermont

Contact Details

hneyster[at]alumni[dot]ubc[dot]ca

http://eyster.com/ https://twitter.com/haroldeyster https://www.instagram.com/eysterart

Bio

Harold is currently a Gund Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Vermont, where he works with Rachelle Gould and Brian Beckage. He is studying relationships between birds, trees, and people in cities. In Summer 2021, Harold completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Kai Chan. Before coming to UBC, he received a BA from Harvard University in Environmental Science and Public Policy.

Last updated September 2022

Sara Elder

Adjunct Professor, Senior Policy Advisor, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Contact Details

sara[dot]elder[at]ubc[dot]ca

https://www.iisd.org/people/sara-elder https://www.linkedin.com/in/eldersara/ https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=VMK93AEAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Interests

Bio

Sara Elder is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC. She specializes in interdisciplinary research related to the local social and environmental impacts of global supply chain governance, with a focus on agricultural producers and workers in the global South. She currently works as a Senior Policy Advisor with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), leading research and policy initiatives related to the impact of voluntary sustainability standards.

Sara holds a Ph.D. from UBC, where she was recognized for her work bridging private governance and development studies theory with on-the-ground outcomes for smallholder commodity producers. She has 15 years of experience in policy-relevant research and analysis, having managed global research projects, led extensive fieldwork in Rwanda and Nicaragua, and worked with communities in Bolivia, South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania.

She is active in publishing and presenting her scholarly contributions, and is dedicated to mobilizing scientific knowledge in policy, in her current work as well as in her past positions as a Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellow with the BC Ministry of Agriculture and as a Technical Officer with the International Labour Organization. She is committed to effective teaching and mentoring, and recently designed a new course at UBC (SCIE 320) in socio-ecological systems research for undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience conducting interdisciplinary research.

Sara can be reached by email at sara[dot]elder[at]ubc[dot]ca

Projects

Courses

Featured Publications

Lea M. Anderson

MA with Kai Chan, 2023
DPhil student of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

Contact Details

leamand@student.ubc.ca

Research Interests

Environmental and cultural values, Environmental justice, Qualitative Research Method, Social ecological systems, Sustainability

Bio

Lea (she/ they) is currently a doctoral student in the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment, where she is supervised by Dr. Jasper Montana. In Summer 2023, Lea completed her MA at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Kai Chan. She previously received a BA from the University of British Columbia in English Literature

Evan Bowness

PhD with Hannah Wittman, 2021
Canada Research Chair in Sustainability and Equity and Assistant Professor, Western University

Contact Details

ebowness[at]uwo[dot]ca

EvanBowness.ca

Bio

Bowness is a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability and Equity and an Assistant Professor at Western University’s Department of Geography and Environment where he teaches in the Climate Change and Society program. His research group, the Towards Equitable Sustainability Transitions (TEST) Lab, focuses on two key streams: one that critiques and challenges political and economic ‘sustainability’ proposals complicit in perpetuating the overconsumption and inequities that define modernity, and another that supports “Community-Directed Adaptation Research” (C-DAR) with communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Before joining Western, Bowness was an Assistant Professor of Community Food Systems at the Trent School of the Environment.

Last updated December 2024

Sameer Shah

PhD with Leila Harris, 2021, Assistant Professor of Climate Adaptation, University of Washington

Contact Details

Shs89@uw.edu

https://www.sameerhshah.com https://twitter.com/SameerHShah

Bio

Dr. Sameer Shah (he / him) is a John C. Garcia Professor and Assistant Professor of Climate Adaptation in the School of Environmental & Forest Sciences (SEFS) at the University of Washington. He is also an Affiliate with the UW Center for Studies in Demography in Ecology, Center for Environmental Politics, and Clean Energy Institute. Dr. Shah holds expertise in the human dimensions of climate change vulnerability and adaptation. He aims to understand how systemic marginalization, and climate-related change and disasters interact to create and amplify uneven water, food, and energy insecurities for communities on the frontlines of climate change. In particular, his research develops theoretical, conceptual, and empirical analyses of the equity, justice, and sustainability outcomes of climate adaptation and disaster response at multiple scales. Through research in South/Southeast Asia, the contiguous U.S., and Puerto Rico, he and his collaborators seek to advance interventions that reduce the disproportionately larger climate risks experienced by marginalized groups, and to shape long-term policy strategies that transform the underlying systems that heighten these impacts. At SEFS, Dr. Shah directs the WATERS Research Collaborative (Water, Adaptation & Transformation: Equity, Resilience and Sustainability). He is also a co-founder of the SOLVER (Social Vulnerability and Resilience) Research Laboratory.

Current research

Publications

Last updated September 2023

Featured Publications

Beyond Local Case Studies in Political Ecology: Spatializing Agricultural Water Infrastructure in Maharashtra Using a Critical, Multimethods, and Multiscalar Approach (Annals of the American Association of Geographers)

How do farmers adapt to agricultural risks in northern India? An agent-based exploration of alternate theories of decision-making (Journal of Environmental Management)

A “drought-free” Maharashtra? Politicising water conservation for rain-dependent agriculture (Water Alternatives)

Erika Luna Perez

MSc with Navin Ramankutty & Amanda Giang, 2022
Policy Analyst, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Contact Details

https://www.erikalunaperez.com/ https://www.iisd.org/people/erika-luna-perez www.linkedin.com/in/erika-luna-perez https://twitter.com/erikalunap

Bio

Erika completed her master’s at IRES under the co-supervision of Dr. Navin Ramankutty and Dr. Amanda Giang. During her time at IRES, Erika explored multiple topics around food systems, from gender in agriculture to crop species diversity. The former inspired her to co-found an organization (DAMUSA) promoting the visualization of gender data in food systems. The latter, crop species diversity with a focus on Mexico’s agriculture, became the topic of her master’s thesis. Erika is currently a Policy Analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), working on Voluntary Sustainability Standards in Agriculture.

Last updated February 2022

Myriam Khalfallah

PhD w/ Daniel Pauly, 2020
Postdoctoral Fellow, UBC IOF

Contact Details

Myriam[dot]Khalfallah[at]gmail[dot]com

https://www.MyriamKhalfallah.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/myriamkhalfallah

Bio

Myriam Khalfallah completed her Ph.D. in March 2020 in Resource Management and Environmental Studies with Professor Daniel Pauly. Her research focused on the environmental, political, and socio-economic scopes of marine fisheries within the countries of the Southern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula. Myriam is currently working on her postdoc at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at UBC.

Last updated February 2022

Giulia Belotti

MA Student, graduated 2024
Community Engagement Coordinator, 2022-2023

Contact Details

gbelotti[at]student.ubc.ca

https://www.linkedin.com/in/giulia-belotti-596572206/

Research Interests

Cities, Collaborative Governance, Energy policy, Environmental Law and Policy, Public policy and analysis, Urban Sustainbility

Bio

Giulia Belotti (she/her) was an MA student in the Institute of Resources, Environment and Sustainability, supervised by Dr. Milind Kandlikar. Her research interests include multilevel governance of renewable energy policy and the identification of political factors enhancing or hampering clean energy transitions. During her MA, she explored various opportunities for overcoming political barriers to decarbonization efforts by adopting a multilevel governance approach.

She completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Trento, Italy, with two exchange semesters at Technical University of Munich and University of Calgary. Giulia has been involved in climate activism, being an active member of ThinkOcean Society, an environmental NGO. In 2018, she founded the Italian network of the organization and worked with local communities to tackle climate-related issues through a bottom-up approach.

Giulia believes in the possibility of achieving structural, transformative change within our political systems by adopting coordinated, comprehensive and inclusive policies on various levels of governance and ensuring community participation.

Last updated May 2024.