Climate Researcher Database

With over 500 faculty members investigating climate-related topics 
across two UBC campuses, it can be hard to know where to start. 

This page provides a searchable list of UBC faculty members conducting climate and climate-related research across the university. 

The database allows you to filter by campus, faculty or school, and research theme, or you can search by keywords.

If you are you a UBC research associate or faculty member who wish to be added to the tool, or to adjust an existing entry, please complete this Qualtrics survey or email us at climate.collective@ubc.ca.

Name Campus Research Interests Faculty Department, School, Affiliations Research Theme(s)
Enda Murphy UBC Vancouver Understanding and modelling coastal systems and coastal hazards (flooding, erosion, and debris) and risk; Nature-based solutions for coastal hazard risk management; Transdisciplinary collaboration. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Civil Engineering; Disaster Resilience Research Network Weather and Climate Extremes, Oceans and Coastal Systems, Natural Hazards and Disaster Response, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Climate Risk Management, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis
Srinivas Murthy UBC Vancouver Blood; Sepsis; Vaccines & treatment; Global public health, including outbreaks, emerging infections, and novel respiratory pathogens; Climate justice. Faculty of Medicine Department of Pediactics; Centre for Climate Justice; Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes; BC Children's Hospital Research Institute Climate Justice
Isla Myers-Smith UBC Vancouver Global change drivers and impacts with a focus on tundra ecosystems; How tundra ecosystems beyond the latitudinal and elevational treeline are responding to climate change; How an accelerating warming is leading to a ‘greening’ of the Arctic including an increase in shrubs, shifts in the timing of plant growth and altered tundra biodiversity. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences; Team Shrub Alpine, Arctic and Antarctic, Rural and Northern Communities, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Biodiversity, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation
Ryozo Nagamune UBC Vancouver Robust control; System identification; Optimization; Hard disk drives servo; Automotive engine control; Machine tool servo control; Analytic interpolation; Spectral estimation; Wind turbine control; Automotive engine control; Hard disk drive track-following control. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Mechanical Engineering; Marine Systems Research Cluster; Advanced Materials Manufacturing; Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems; Control Engineering Laboratory Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Solar Energy, Manufacturing and Heavy Industry
Vin Nardizzi UBC Vancouver Environmental humanities; Ecocriticism and ecotheory; Early modern environmental history and ecology; Shakespeare and ecological crisis; Plant studies and botanical natural history; Queer ecologies and environmental justice; Premodern natural history and categorization; Renaissance literature and environmental anxiety; Early modern science studies; Disability studies; Literary analysis of human-environment relationships Faculty of Arts Department of English Language and Literatures; Peter Wall Institute for Advanced; Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Forestry, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Natural Resource Management, Terrestrial Ecosystems
Lisa Nathan UBC Vancouver Information & climate justice; Information in times of crisis; Indigenous-led information initiatives; Information policy/ethics; Human-computer interaction; Multi-lifespan information systems. Faculty of Arts School of Information Climate Justice, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy
Astrida Neimanis UBC Okanagan Feminist studies (with a focus on embodiment, ecofeminisms, material feminisms and intersectionality); Environmental studies (with a focus on cultural studies of water, weather and climate change, and multispecies justice); Everyday militarisms; Interdisciplinarity; Epistemologies and non-traditional research methodologies. Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Department of English and Cultural Studies; Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies; The FEELED Lab; Centre for Climate Justice Climate Justice, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy
Harry Nelson UBC Vancouver Natural and environmental resource policy; Forestry; Ecosystem Services as an alternative business model for Indigenous groups managing forest lands in BC; Assessing the impacts of climate change on how we manage our forests and exploring adaptation options; Climate change; Conservation; Economics; Ecosystem services; Forest management; Forest policy; Human behaviour, International trade; Sustainability. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest Resource Management Policy and Governance, Forestry, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Business Processes and Corporate Governance, Natural Resource Management
Susan Nesbit UBC Vancouver Engineering education for sustainable development; Engineering education as a socio-curricular system; Transdisciplinary education; Curricula design and assessment; Beliefs and attitude development in engineering education. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Civil Engineering Climate Education and Environmental Literacy
Lorien Nesbitt UBC Vancouver Urban forestry and socio-ecological interactions in urban environments; Environmental justice; Public health; Social science; Sustainability. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest Resource Management; Urban Forests Research Hub; Centre for Climate Justice; Climate Change Health Effects, Adaptation, and ResiLience (HEAL) Urban Planning and Cities, Climate Justice, Forestry, Health and Wellbeing
Dave Ng UBC Vancouver Societal, cultural, corporate, political, economic, and ethical nuances of the general sciences, and life sciences in particular. Faculty of Science Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory (AMBL); Michael Smith Laboratories Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Environmental Psychology
Craig Nichol UBC Okanagan Hydrogeology and vadose zone processes; Regional groundwater resources; Surface water and groundwater interactions; Agricultural irrigation efficiency and nitrate leaching; Agricultural greenhouse gas production; Acid rock drainage and mine reclamation; Soil physics; Geoscience education. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences Freshwater Systems, Agriculture, Carbon Cycle, Mining, Pollution
Eva Nichols UBC Vancouver Leads inorganic research group with interests in the preparation and interrogation of molecular and interfacial electrocatalysts for sustainable energy applications. Faculty of Science Department of Chemistry Clean Energy and Energy Transitions
William Nikolakis UBC Vancouver Aboriginal forestry; Forest management; Land-use change; Indigenous land and natural resources governance; Intersection between Aboriginal rights, forestry, forest management, and land-use change. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest Resource Management; Bioproducts Institute; Dragon Lab Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Wildfires and Forest Fires, Natural Hazards and Disaster Response, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Water Resources and Supply, Business Processes and Corporate Governance
Kurt Niquidet UBC Vancouver Forest economics and policy; Timber market analysis and competition; Forest products trade; Stumpage pricing mechanisms; Wood fiber allocation and supply chain optimization; Bioenergy production from forest biomass; Economic impacts of forest pests; Transaction cost economics in forestry; Forest tenure systems and institutional reform; Sustainable forest management economics. Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Land and Food Systems Master of Food and Resource Economics Program Forestry, Economic Modeling and Data Analysis, Natural Resource Management, Biofuels and Biomass, Policy and Governance
Frederik Noack UBC Vancouver Interaction of economic development and the environment; How improved market access and property rights affect rural welfare and natural resources such as forests, fish stocks and biodiversity. Faculty of Land and Food Systems Food and Resource Economics Program; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS) Economic Modeling and Data Analysis, Natural Resource Management, Biodiversity, Agriculture, Policy and Governance, Land Use
Michael Noonan UBC Okanagan Animal movement; Conservation; Encounter theory; Evolutionary processes; Macro-ecology; Statistical ecology. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Department of Biology; Quantitative Ecology Lab; Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, And Ecosystems Services (BRAES) Terrestrial Ecosystems, Biodiversity
Nathan Nunn UBC Vancouver Historical and dynamic process of economic development; Differences in the evolution of institutions and cultures across societies; Historical process of a wide range of factors that are crucial for economic development, including distrust, gender norms, religiosity, norms of rule-following, conflict, immigration, state formation, and support for democracy. Faculty of Arts Vancouver School of Economics Economic Modeling and Data Analysis, Policy and Governance
Mary O'Connor UBC Vancouver Ecological dimensions of global change, with an emphasis on the effects of warming and biodiversity change on complex ecological systems; Effects of changing predator diversity in the ocean; Consequences of invasive species in marine habitats. Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; Biodiversity Research Centre; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS); O'Connor Lab - Unifying Ecological Understanding Across Scales Biodiversity, Oceans and Coastal Systems, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis, Sovereign or Sustainable Food Systems, Carbon Cycle
Patricia A. O'Riley UBC Vancouver Indigenous ecotechnological knowings; Ecojustice and sustainability education; Environmental justice; Ecoliteracy; Technology, culture, and social justice; Intersections of Indigeneity and globalization; Feminist and critical pedagogy; Ecological sustainability; Indigenous technology systems; Equitable and just education systems. Faculty of Education Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Climate Justice, Climate Activism and Social Movements
Gunilla Öberg UBC Vancouver Use of knowledge in environmental decision making; Chlorine biogeochemistry in soil; Chemicals of concern; Microplastics. Faculty of Science Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; Microplastic Cluster; Future Waters Group; Egesta Lab Pollution, Policy and Governance, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Health and Wellbeing, Water Resources and Supply, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change
Nelly Oelke UBC Okanagan Integrated health systems and services delivery; primary health care; mental health; rural health; climate change and climate change events and mental health; integrated knowledge translation and implementation science. Faculty of Health and Social Development School of Nursing Health and Wellbeing
Alix Ohlin UBC Vancouver Narratives, visions, and vocabularies of climate justice; Climate writing; Fiction; Nonfiction. Faculty of Arts School of Creative Writing; Centre for Climate Justice Climate Justice, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy
Colin Oloman UBC Vancouver Electrochemical engineering; Electrosynthesis; Electrochemical power generation; Coupling electrosynthesis with electrochemical power generation in carbon neutral “regenerative” fuel cell cycles; Simplified electrochemical reactors for application in new energy systems that reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Faculty of Applied Science Chemical and Biological Engineering; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) Electricity, Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Carbon Management
Martin Ordonez UBC Vancouver Energy systems; Renewable energy; Wind power; Solar power; Battery systems; Fuel cells; Electric vehicles; Smart grid. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) Electricity, Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Transportation
Anais Orsi UBC Vancouver Climate change; Polar climate; Isotope geochemistry; Data analysis; Inverse modeling; Paleoclimate; Arctic humidity. Faculty of Science Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences Alpine, Arctic and Antarctic, Paleoclimate, Atmospheric Science, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis, Carbon Cycle
Sarah (Sally) Otto UBC Vancouver Understanding how evolution has led to the remarkable diversity of life; Mathematical models to study evolutionary transitions probability; Genomic architectures; Ploidy levels; Mating systems. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Zoology; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS); Biodiversity Research Centre Biodiversity, Terrestrial Ecosystems
Gaby Pailer UBC Vancouver German literature in transcultural contexts from the Renaissance to the 21st century; Women’s drama and theatre in German cultural history; Literary history; Decolonizing German literature; Changing climate; Catastrophe and gender; Cultural sustainment; Women’s call of the wild: Female adventure between old and new worlds. Faculty of Arts Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change
Richard Kyle Paisley UBC Vancouver International water law and governance; Transboundary waters and river basin management; Water diplomacy and conflict resolution; Climate change and water resources; Water-energy-agriculture nexus; Environmental mediation; International environmental law; Freshwater resource management; International watercourse agreements; Indigenous water rights and First Nations engagement; Coastal zone management; Fisheries law and management; Energy law and policy; Infrastructure development and public-private partnerships Faculty of Arts School of Public Policy and Global Affairs Water Resources and Supply, International Negotiations and Treaties, Policy and Governance, Climate Risk Management, Freshwater Systems
Evgeny Pakhomov UBC Vancouver Biological oceanography; Species ecology; Ecosystem structure; Variability and responses of marine ecosystems to climate change using stable isotopes, large-scale and retrospective analyses; Land-sea interface. Faculty of Science Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries; Strait of Georgia Data Centre Oceans and Coastal Systems, Fisheries, Alpine, Arctic and Antarctic, Carbon Cycle, Land Use
Gregory Paradis UBC Vancouver Forest management planning; Forest operations; Operations research and mathematical optimization; Wood supply modelling and fibre procurement; Sustainable forest management; Forest carbon management and modelling; Forest invasive alien species management; Bioenergy production from forest biomass; Forest ecosystems; Industrial supply chain integration; Climate-change adaptation in forestry; Data science and decision support systems; Forest economics. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest Resources Management Forestry, Natural Resource Management, Carbon Management, Economic Modeling and Data Analysis, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis
Laura Parfrey UBC Vancouver Microbial ecology of eukaryotic microbes (protists) and their interaction with bacteria; Mammalian gut; Coastal ecosystems. Faculty of Science Department of Botany; Department of Zoology; Biodiversity Research Centre; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS); Parfrey Lab Biodiversity, Oceans and Coastal Systems
Jen Park UBC Vancouver Judgment and decision-making; Framing & context effects; Digital interfaces & information processing; Prosocial & pro-environmental behavior Sauder School of Business Marketing and Behavioural Science Division; Decision Insights for Business & Society (DIBS) Environmental Psychology, Business Processes and Corporate Governance
Lael Parrott UBC Okanagan Understanding ecosystems and landscapes as complex systems in which human and biophysical processes are coupled across multiple scales of space and time; Incorporating complexity into natural resource management approaches; Regional-scale landscape modelling; Social-ecological networks; Agent and individual-based modelling approaches; Landscape science and scenario building. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Department of Biology, Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences; Complex Environmental Systems Lab; Watershed Ecosystems Project; Biodiversity Research Centre; Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, And Ecosystems Services (BRAES); Cluster of Research Excellence in Living with Wildfire in the BC Southern Interior Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Natural Resource Management, Biodiversity, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Land Use
Daniel Pauly UBC Vancouver World fisheries; Marine life; Global catch; Management of fisheries; Ecosystem modeling; Aquatic ecosystems; Ichthyology. Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries; Biodiversity Research Centre Fisheries, Oceans and Coastal Systems, Policy and Governance, International Negotiations and Treaties, Natural Resource Management
Richard Pawlowicz UBC Vancouver Oceans; Pressure gradiets; Currents; Tides; Fjords; Salinity; Ocean temperature; Surface water flows; Oceanography. Faculty of Science Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; Strait of Georgia Data Centre Oceans and Coastal Systems, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis
Maziar Peihani UBC Vancouver Intersection of law and the financial system; Banking regulation; Financial crises; Financial institution restructuring; Sovereign debt markets. Peter A. Allard School of Law Lawson Lundell LLP Environmental Law, International Negotiations and Treaties, Policy and Governance
Nicolas Peleato UBC Okanagan Evaluation of drinking water treatment processes; Source water quality assessment; Integrated data analysis and machine learning pertaining to water quality. Faculty of Applied Science School of Engineering (Civil) Water Resources and Supply, Waste and Waste Management
Nathan Pelletier UBC Okanagan Sustainability measurement and management; Life cycle thinking; Environmental and social life cycle assessment of food; Feed and biomass supply chains; Resource efficiency; Social license and market access; Trade-based externalization of environmental and social risk. Faculty of Management, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Department of Biology; Food Systems Prism Lab Product Lifecycle or Circular Economy, Sovereign or Sustainable Food Systems, Biofuels and Biomass, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Agriculture
Bernard Perley UBC Vancouver Indigenous community-based research and advocacy; Indigenous anthropology; Language death and endangerment; Indigenous language revitalization; Climate justice; Climate response. Faculty of Arts Institute of Critical Indigenous Studies; Centre for Climate Justice Climate Justice, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation
Kavita Philip UBC Vancouver Nineteenth-century environmental knowledge in British India; Information technology in post-colonial India; Intersections of art, science fiction, and social activism with science and technology. Faculty of Arts Department of English Language & Literatures; Department of Geography; Centre for Climate Justice Climate Justice, Climate Activism and Social Movements
Michael Pidwirny UBC Okanagan Anthropogenic climate change impact assessment and adaptation; Use of climate databases in assessing climate change; Historical climate change at North American ski resorts; Forecasts of future climate change at North American ski resorts. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences; Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, And Ecosystems Services (BRAES) Alpine, Arctic and Antarctic, Atmospheric Science, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis
Tony Pitcher UBC Vancouver Evaluation of the impacts of fishing on marine ecosystems with special emphasis on restoration ecology; Development of a predictive understanding of how fish shoaling behavior impacts fisheries. Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Fisheries, Oceans and Coastal Systems, Freshwater Systems, Biodiversity
Jason Pither UBC Okanagan Biodiversity patterns and processes; Community ecology; Invasive species biology; Landscape connectivity; Biogeography; Principles and practices of Open Science; Indigenous engaged research; Terrestrial plant community ecology and biogeography; Quantifying biodiversity patterns in space and through time; Elucidating the role of specialization in governing biodiversity patterns and landscape connectivity; Improving rigour and reproducibility in ecological research. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Department of Biology; Biodiversity Research Centre; Biodiversity and Landscape Ecology Research Facility; Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, And Ecosystems Services (BRAES) Biodiversity, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Freshwater Systems, Natural Resource Management
Gabriel Potvin UBC Vancouver Laboratory education; Problem-based learning; Interdisciplinary education; Bioprocessing; Industrial microbiology; Microalgal biotechnology; Sustainable engineering. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Bioprocesses and Biotechnology, Sustainable Materials and Composites
Geraldine Pratt Labour precarity; Global migration; New geographies of care; Collaborative research with migrant organisations on temporary foreign worker programs; Critical assessment of new geographies of care for aging persons; Housing (in)justice in the face of weather effects/climate change. Faculty of Arts Department of Geography; Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice; Centre for Climate Justice; Research-Based Theatre Collaborative; Centre for Migration Studies Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Housing, Health and Wellbeing, Urban Planning and Cities, Climate Justice
Cindy Prescott UBC Vancouver Rates of litter decomposition: Controlling factors and influences of forestry practices; Influence of site and species on N availability; Linking soil microbial and faunal communities and nutrient cycling processes; Ecosystem restoration and soil reclamation; Effects of clearcutting and other silvicultural systems on N availability; Causes and amelioration of nutrient deficiencies; Long-term effects of forest fertilization. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences; Centre for Sustainable Food Systems; Diversified Agroecosystem Cluster Forestry, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Carbon Cycle
Jonathan Proctor UBC Vancouver How light, water, and temperature jointly determine crop growth; How high resolution imagery can be used to measure socio-environmental conditions. Faculty of Land and Food Systems Food and Resource Economics Program; Environmental Economics and Data Sciences Lab Agriculture, Economic Modeling and Data Analysis, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis, Land Use
Matthew Rader UBC Okanagan Poetic genres and forms; Poetics of collaboration; Community engaged poetics; Creative nonfiction; Short fiction; Community engaged writing; Literary aesthetics; Literary history; Interdisciplinary art practices; Embodied poetics; Disability aesthetics. Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Department of Creative Studies Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation
Valentina Radic UBC Vancouver Response of mountain glaciers to climate change on regional and global scales; Uncertainties in projections of glacial contributions to regional streamflow as well as to global sea level rise; Modelling and data analysis methods; Models of surface energy balance and climate downscaling; Assessment of turbulent heat fluxes under katabatics; Applications of machine learning methods. Faculty of Science Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; Future Waters Group Alpine, Arctic and Antarctic, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis, Freshwater Systems, Water Resources and Supply, Oceans and Coastal Systems

First Nations land acknowledegement

We acknowledge that UBC’s campuses are situated within the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, and in the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples.


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