Talk summary:

Transitioning the materials economy to sustainable operations requires the use of emerging manufacturing processes that employ alternative or recycled feedstocks and low-carbon energy. While advantageous from a climate adaptation and resilience perspective,  these novel processes possess several inherent physical traits that limit their economic competitiveness against conventional, linear manufacturing systems that employ virgin feedstocks and fossil fuel energy. This fact has been a persistent barrier to the widespread adoption and implementation of these sustainable manufacturing systems. Using the example of solar-driven carbon dioxide capture and conversion, this talk will explore this problem, and discuss novel, community-led implementation strategies for new technology deployment.

Bio:

Alex Tavasoli is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UBC. Her research group, the Laboratory of Future Industry, LoFI, studies the design and implementation of emerging sustainable manufacturing processes that make use of alternative or waste feedstocks and low-carbon energy. Prior to joining UBC, the bulk of Alex’s work in this area was focussed on passive systems that use solar energy to drive the capture and conversion of carbon dioxide into commodity chemicals. Since joining UBC, she has expanded her work to study battery recycling, and sustainable textile production. 

Talk summary:

Careers outside of academia are becoming an increasingly common path for science graduates, but many students receive limited exposure to what those roles in industry involve. This seminar will focus on the transition from academic research into applied biology and environmental consulting. The presentation will outline the speaker’s career path, motivations behind leaving academia, the types of projects undertaken in consulting, and how academic research training can support (and sometimes complicate) the shift into industry.

Bio:

Larissa Darc is a Project Biologist at ISL Engineering and Land Services (ISL). In her role she provides environmental consulting services for infrastructure projects across BC, with a specialization in wildlife biology and associated environmental assessment and impact assessment. Larissa holds a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Biology (Animal Behaviour) and is Registered Professional Biologist with the BC College of Applied Biology. Prior to joining ISL, Larissa worked on long-term research projects in Canada and abroad, with species including birds, bats, canids, ground squirrels, and meerkats.

Talk summary:

Agriculture in British Columbia both drives climate change with greenhouse gas emissions and is impacted by climate change-related shifts in weather and ecosystems. Farmers must use the limited information available to make rapid decisions about their farm that can hold wide-ranging implications. A central concern for B.C. farmers is farm profitability year-to-year and feasible longevity over generations. Organic farmers are leading change in B.C. by working with research institutions such as UBC to adapt to changing physical, social, and economic climates. We are assessing the impacts of organic nutrient management activities, including cover cropping and targeted compost use, on farm profits year-to-year and farm resilience in the long term. We use quantitative cost-benefit analysis methods to assess the impacts of varying activities on crop yields and farm profits and to compare farmer benefits between multiple possible actions.

Bio:

Valerie Zimmermann (she/her) is an MA student in the IRES faculty supervised by Dr. Hannah Wittman. Her research focusses on the barriers and opportunities that B.C. farmers face as they make decisions that will shape their business, community, and planet. In particular, Valerie is assessing the ways that organic nutrient management activities affect farm economics and farm resilience to the impacts of climate change. Valerie previously completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Governance at the University of Guelph. She grew up in Northern Ontario and continues to be inspired by the natural beauty of wild places.

Talk summary:

Urban soundscapes are shifting as human-made noise increasingly drowns out natural sounds like birdsong. This transformation has wide-reaching implications, not only for biodiversity, but also for how people connect with nature, experience well-being, and engage with the environment.

My research explores the impacts of urban noise on human perception, psychological well-being, and environmental relationality. Using experimental soundscapes, surveys, and literature review, I investigate how changes in everyday sound shape people’s experience of urban nature and may contribute to declining kinship with nature (or, foster it!).

Findings reveal inequities in exposure to restorative soundscapes and connect noise pollution to stress, cognitive strain, and environmental injustice. I propose strategies to restore acoustic biodiversity through urban design (from lower speed limits to sound-conscious green spaces) as a pathway to healthier, more equitable, and ecologically vibrant cities.

Bio:

Clare is a MA student in the Connected Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) Lab at
UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, studying urban
soundscapes. Her research explores the relationships between birdsong, anthropogenic
noise, and perceptions of nature. She aims to understand how our sonic and built environments interact, shaping our sense of kinship with nature and more-than-human others.

Talk summary:

How does the most sustainable company act for sustainability? Schneider Electric has frequently been recognized as a leader in sustainability—including being named the world’s most sustainable company by Time Magazine and Statista in 2024 and by Corporate Knights for the second time in January 2025. During my career at Schneider Electric, I’m enriching the understanding on sustainability in industrial segments by practicing and learning the corporate strategies and latest professional topics/solutions on decarbonization & sustainability. Our commitment is to deliver customer-valued sustainable performance. Through our sustainability programs, we want to ensure environmental performance is embedded in all our offers and accelerate our ability to deliver sustainable value propositions to our customers. Sustainability is hardwired into our business strategy. We accelerate at every stage: eco design of our products, sourcing of green materials and packaging, differentiation with innovation and innovation with circular business models.

Bio:

I’m Shaochen Yuan, a graduate of the University of British Columbia. I currently serve as the Eco-Referent Sustainability Design Engineer in the Energy Management division at Schneider Electric. My primary professional focus includes environmental footprint disclosure through life cycle assessment (LCA) and the creation of environmental data (such as environmental footprints, recycling potential, etc.). I also ensure compliance with directives and regulations related to electrical and electronic equipment at the product level. Another growing area of my work involves introducing and integrating eco-design methodologies into R&D activities. Our goal is to accelerate sustainability improvements—such as decarbonization and energy optimization—across all products throughout their lifecycle.

Talk summary:

In this talk I will provide an overview of collaborative research concerning the ways in which militarization, as a form of coercive power, contributes to anthropogenic carbon emissions for nations throughout the world. First, I will summarize research on the short-run and long-run effects of militarization on national carbon emissions. Second, I will describe research that focuses on how militarization shapes the effect of economic growth on nations’ carbon emissions. Third, I will summarize research on militarization facilitating and supporting transnational capital in Global North nations outsourcing their carbon pollution to Global South nations. Finally, I will summarize research which shows that very modest reductions in US Military Spending Could Lead to substantial reductions in the amount of Fossil Fuels consumed directly by the US Department of Defense.  

Bio:

Andrew Jorgenson is a Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of the Climate & Society Lab at UBC. As an environmental sociologist trained in global political economy, he conducts research on the human dimensions of global and regional environmental change, with a focus on the societal causes and consequences of the climate crisis. His work appears in various disciplinary and interdisciplinary journals, including American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Problems, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications, and Environmental Research Letters. He is coauthor of Super Polluters: Tackling the World’s Largest Sites of Climate-Disrupting Emissions, published by Columbia University Press.

Talk summary:

Coastal communities face increased risks from climate change impacts such as sea level rise and increased intensity of storms. Planning approaches that address climate uncertainties include those focused on flexibility, such as the Adaptation Pathways methodology, which aim to develop plans that can be adjusted as new information becomes available. Using the City of Surrey as a case-study, this research analyses how the preferred sequences of adaptation projects vary based on the adaptation goals, the implementation costs, and climate scenarios. For agricultural lands, infrastructure and residential areas, critical thresholds and metrics were developed in consultation with City officials to assess the performance of adaptation projects. The SFINCS coastal flood model was then used to test a large number of scenarios to identify under which circumstances the City’s adaptation plans might need to change to ensure its adaptation objectives are met. This methodology will hopefully help the City decide which projects to prioritize in the short term.

Bio:

Mauricio joined IRES in 2020 as a PhD student supervised by Dr. Stephanie Chang. Having lived in big cities all his life, he quickly became interested in sustainable urban development, ultimately pursuing an undergraduate degree in civil engineering. His graduate studies focused on sustainable stormwater management, incorporating aspects such as social perception and acceptance, environmental impacts/benefits, and economic costs. After his graduate studies, he worked for 4 years as a municipal engineer in the Montreal area, developing long-term drainage master plans. He is interested in science communication and has recently served as media contact with Radio Canada in Vancouver.

Bio:

A wiradyuri woman and research fellow (Indigenous water), kate’s research focusses on water from an Indigenous rights and sciences perspective.  Introduced to Indigenous sciences during her Master of Arts (Asian Studies), the local Indigenous science exposed storm water as a ‘western’ science construct.  Her PhD investigated the capacity of Indigenous sciences frameworks and methods to transform settler-state water governance and management through the prism of storm water systems.  Acutely aware that expertise is not held solely by ‘experts’, kate works collaboratively in a transdisciplinary context, contributing to decolonizing the academy and streams.

Bio:

Katie O’Bryan is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Monash University of settler origins whose research expertise includes the systemic disregard of First Nations water rights by all levels of settler government in Australia. It is Katie’s experiences as a native title lawyer prior to becoming an academic that drives her work in First Nations water rights. Her publications include Indigenous Rights and Water Resource Management: Not Just Another Stakeholder (Routledge, 2019) and the article ‘Hear Their Voices: Australia’s First Nations Women and the Legal Recognition of Their Rights to Water’ (2023) coauthored with kate harriden.

Talk summary:

Help improve the reach of your research and your skills! Communicating your work to a wider audience can help inform policy and society, and gets you hired. Join Nivi Thatra for this free workshop covering how to

1. write a lay abstract/summary of your research, which is a requirement for all UBC grad students when submitting your dissertation,
2. create a graphical abstract, and
3. get started with or refine your professional online presence

Bio:

Nivi is a communicator with a scientific sense of curiosity. After 10 years learning about and working in neuroscience, Nivi now broadens the reach of academic research at IRES by writing, posting, and sharing the department’s interdisciplinary efforts towards a more sustainable future.

Talk summary:

Climate change may exacerbate the finance challenges faced by smallholder farmers (SHFs) due to increased capital costs affecting agricultural operations. Microfinance institutions (MFIs), as financial providers, may restrict their lending capacity to smallholder farmers (SHFs) affected by disasters, which might halt output or increase economic costs. The research on the effects of climate change on MFI lending capacity and SHF financing is still in its early stages. Since the establishment of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) by developed economies in 2016, climate change and financial institutions have garnered scholarly interest; yet, research on microfinance institutions for smallholder farmer research remains unexamined. My study investigates worldwide trends in physical risk assessments for microfinance institutions to smallholder farmers. I evaluate catastrophic tropical storms and floods that impact MFI lending ability. I analyze the effects of climate change on 4,500 microfinance institutions (MFIs) based on climatic scenarios (RCP).

Bio:

Victor is a 3rd-year PhD student at IRES, Climate and Costal Ecosystems Lab member, and Large Language Model Climate Solution Scholar. He has 22 years of public and private practice in disaster risk and climate risk financing and experience in the field in 30 developing economies. He advises multilateral financial organizations and UN agencies; he is member of the UNFCCC expert group for the Warsaw mechanism for Loss and Damages. He has a B.A. in Economics from ITAM in Mexico and a master’s in finance from IE Business School in Spain. He is passionate in extreme risk modeling using data science and AI.