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.

Would you like to partner with UBC researchers?  You can connect with Innovation + Partnerships for support in Vancouver and the Okanagan.

For support with media enquiries, please reach out to UBC Media Relations in Vancouver or UBC University Relations in Kelowna. 

You can also contact us at climate.collective@ubc.ca 

Name Campus Research Interests Faculty Department, School, Affiliations Research Theme(s)
Ethan Raker UBC Vancouver Consequences of these climate-related extremes, e.g., tropical cyclones and heat waves, for racial and socioeconomic disparities in human health and well-being and for community well-being; Role of social contexts and political institutions in creating the conditions for disaster and in responding or changing in ways that exacerbate inequality. Faculty of Arts Department of Sociology; Centre for Climate Justice; Disaster Resilience Research Network Health and Wellbeing, Weather and Climate Extremes, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Climate Justice
M.V. Ramana UBC Vancouver Energy production; Nuclear disarmament; Arms control; Nuclear policy; Risk of nuclear accidents; International security and energy supply, with a particular focus on topics related to nuclear energy and fissile materials that can be used to make nuclear weapons. Faculty of Arts Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; School of Public Policy and Global Affairs; Liu Institute for Global Issues Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, International Negotiations and Treaties, Policy and Governance, Climate Justice
Navin Ramankutty UBC Vancouver Environment and society; Agriculture; Climate changes and impacts; Global food security; Sustainable agriculture; Land use change. Faculty of Science School of Public Policy and Global Affairs; Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; Land Use and Global Environment (LUGE) Research Group; Centre for Sustainable Food Systems; Diversified Agroecosystem Cluster Agriculture, Sovereign or Sustainable Food Systems, Policy and Governance, Land Use, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis
Mia Raynard UBC Vancouver Organization theory; Disruptive change in industries; Professions and organizations; Emerging economies; Climate change and sustainability; Family business. Sauder School of Business Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Division Environmental Psychology, Business Processes and Corporate Governance
Andrea Reid UBC Vancouver Culturally significant fish and fisheries; Leading threats to aquatic ecosystems and their interactive effects for fish, people and place; Consequences of fisheries-related stressors for fish and methods to ameliorate survival; Two-Eyed Seeing approaches to assessing aquatic ecosystem and fish health and evaluating associated changes through time and space; Indigenous understandings and methodologies for effectively stewarding fish and waterways. Faculty of Science Biodiversity Research Centre; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries; Centre for Indigenous Fisheries Fisheries, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Oceans and Coastal Systems, Oceans and Coastal Systems, Livelihoods and Traditional Economies, Freshwater Systems
Scott Renneckar UBC Vancouver Advanced renewable materials; Biopolymer structure characterization; Clean fractionation of biomass; Electrospinning fibers; Nanocellulose; Self-assembly of biopolymers. Faculty of Forestry Department of Wood Science; Bioproducts Institute; Advanced Renewable Materials Lab Forestry, Sustainable Materials and Composites
Graham Reynolds UBC Vancouver Intellectual property law; Copyright law; Property law; Intellectual property and human rights; Intellectual property and climate change; Intellectual property and social justice; Technology and access to justice. Peter A. Allard School of Law Centre for Business Law; Centre for Law and the Environment Environmental Law, Product Lifecycle or Circular Economy, Housing
Jeanine Rhemtulla UBC Vancouver Ecology and quality of the environment; Ecological trends; Landscape and restoration; Environment management and protection; Biodiversity and biocomplexity; Landscape ecology & spatial analysis; Ecosystem services; Reforestation; Socio-ecological systems; Temperate & tropical forest & agroforestry systems; Historical ecology, especially reconstructing and assessing land-use legacies; Quantifying and mapping ecosystem services; Trade-offs between conservation & poverty alleviation. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences; Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; Landscapes & Livelihoods Lab Land Use, Biodiversity, Carbon Cycle, Agriculture, Poverty, Forestry
Kimberly Richards UBC Vancouver Performance as a vehicle for resisting extractivism and inspiring a just energy transition; Culture and climate; Environment; Cultural studies. Faculty of Arts School of Journalism, Writing, and Media; Centre for Climate Justice Climate Activism and Social Movements, Climate Justice, Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy
John Richardson UBC Vancouver Ecological processes that limit populations and contribute to the assembly of communities, and how land use impacts those processes; Ecology; Freshwater biology; Food webs; Streams. Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences; Biodiversity Research Centre; Stream and Riparian Research Laboratory Biodiversity, Freshwater Systems, Land Use, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Forestry, Urban Planning and Cities
Candice Rideout UBC Vancouver Community nutrition and food security; Nutrition education and health behavior change; Nutrition ecology and sustainable food systems; Psychosocial aspects of nutrition (dietary attitudes, food choice, nutrition-related stress); Vegetarian nutrition and micronutrient adequacy; Dietary restraint and body composition; Cognitive dietary restraint and cortisol metabolism; Bone health and physical activity; Nutritional considerations for athletes; Climate change education and pedagogy; Scholarship of teaching and learning; Active learning strategies in undergraduate education; Problem-based learning; Community service learning. Faculty of Land and Food Systems Food, Nutrition and Health (FNH) Program Health and Wellbeing, Environmental Psychology, Sovereign or Sustainable Food Systems, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Poverty
Loren Rieseberg UBC Vancouver Plant evolutionary biology; Adaptation; Speciation; Crops; Weeds; Invasive plants; How gene flow influences adaptation and speciation. Faculty of Science Department of Botany; Biodiversity Research Centre; Rieseberg Lab - Plant Evolutionary Genomics; Centre for Sustainable Food Systems; Diversified Agroecosystem Cluster Biodiversity, Agriculture, Terrestrial Ecosystems
Andrew Riseman UBC Vancouver Plant breeding; Plant genetics; Horticulture; Roots; Stress physiology; Plant breeding; Intercrop interactions; Nutrient use efficiency; Root physiology; Biotic/abiotic stressor. Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Faculty of Science Department of Botany; Applied Biology Program; Centre for Sustainable Food Systems Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Carbon Cycle, Urban Planning and Cities, Sovereign or Sustainable Food Systems
Kermit Ritland UBC Vancouver Population genetics; Ecology; Genomics; Genome sequencing; Plant mating systems; Phylogeny; Adaptation and speciation; Genetic mapping. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences; Biodiversity Research Centre Forestry, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Biodiversity
Leslie Robertson UBC Vancouver Circulation of forms of social knowledge (public histories, academic theories and representations, colonial legends, medical discourses), in sensitive political and cultural contexts (settler colonialism, medical crises, resource extraction, tourism development). Faculty of Arts Department of Anthropology Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Sovereign or Sustainable Food Systems, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Oil and Gas, Climate Justice
Inge Roecker UBC Vancouver Sustainable forms of urban habitation; Inclusion in architecture of the everyday; Inclusive housing models; Community equity; Climate justice. Faculty of Applied Science School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Housing and Wellbeing Group Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure Design, Climate Justice, Housing
Daniel Roehr UBC Vancouver Creating “open access” climate resilience tools for landscape architects; Stormwater management application to size the scale of Low Impact Development (LID) in the concept design phase of an urban design project. Faculty of Applied Science School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Future Waters Group; GreenSkinsLab Urban Planning and Cities, Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure Design, Land Use, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy
Dominik Roeser UBC Vancouver Sustainable use of forest biomass in the bioeconomy; Harvesting in difficult terrain; Application of innovative tools in forest planning and management; Productivity of forest operations; Carbon management along the forest supply chain; Impacts of reforestation on community sustainability. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest Resource Management; Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions; Bioproducts Institute; Forest Action Lab; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) Forestry, Business Processes and Corporate Governance, Biofuels and Biomass, Carbon Management
Steve Rogak UBC Vancouver Aerosols; Atmospheric contaminants; Impact on human health; Concentrations of aerosols in the indoor and outdoor environments; Filtration systems that do not require excessive energy consumption; New fuel injectors and injection strategies to minimize particle formation in compression ignition engines. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Mechanical Engineering; Aerosol Laboratory; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) Atmospheric Science, Pollution, Carbon Management
Lindsay Rogers UBC Vancouver Environmental science and environmental health where biochemical understanding can elucidate complex and often controversial global issues; Novel targets of ADAM17 and MMP12 (A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase and Matrix Metalloproteinase) using proteomics methods. Faculty of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Emerging Media Lab; The Overall Lab Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Health and Wellbeing
Orlando Rojas UBC Vancouver Supporting global sustainable development through research on the fundamental and utilization aspects of renewable resources, including lignocellulose, proteins and other biopolymers; Competitive alternatives for fossil materials. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Department of Chemistry Sustainable Materials and Composites
David Rosen UBC Vancouver Bioenergetics (energy requirements and expenditures) of marine mammals; Root causes of population changes; Interactions between the physiology of individual animals and biotic and abiotic environmental changes; Conservation and management of marine resources, particularly those in Arctic region; Scientific approach to measuring and ensuring the welfare of these animals. Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries; Marine Mammal Research Unit; Marine Mammal Energetics and Nutrition Lab Oceans and Coastal Systems, Natural Resource Management
Emily Rubidge UBC Vancouver Marine protected area network design and decision support; Understanding and predicting spatial patterns in species diversity and community structure; Seascape metrics as surrogates for nearshore fish diversity; Biodiversity monitoring tools and strategies. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences Oceans and Coastal Systems, Policy and Governance, Biodiversity, Climate Risk Management
Claudia Ruitenberg UBC Vancouver Citizenship and democracy; Gender studies; Philosophy of education; Queer studies; Social justice; Sustainability. Faculty of Education Department of Educational Studies; UBC Language Sciences Policy and Governance, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Climate Activism and Social Movements
Kathy Rush UBC Okanagan Rural health equity; Aging in place; Complex health challenges in older adults; Telehealth and virtual healthcare delivery; Health services research; Technology for health promotion in rural communities; Atrial fibrillation management; Healthcare accessibility in remote areas; Patient self-management; Social enterprise in rural health; Health informatics; Community-based research methods; Healthcare transitions; Sustainable Food Systems Faculty of Health and Social Development Institute for Healthy Living & Chronic Disease Prevention; School of Nursing Health and Wellbeing, Rural and Northern Communities, Policy and Governance, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Poverty
Michael Russello UBC Okanagan Population genomics; Conservation genetics; Molecular ecology; Life-history evolution. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; The Ecological and Conservation Genomics Laboratory; Okanagan Institute For Biodiversity, Resilience, And Ecosystems Services (BRAES); Biodiversity Research Centre Biodiversity, Freshwater Systems, Fisheries
Adam Rysanek UBC Vancouver Green building design; Construction and operation, including the integrated technical and economic modelling of building- and community-integrated low-carbon energy systems; Finding new ways to visualize, analyze and communicate building data and information. Faculty of Applied Science School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions; Master in Engineering Leadership; Climate Change Health Effects, Adaptation, and ResiLience (HEAL) Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure Design, Climate Modelling and Data Analysis, Urban Planning and Cities, Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Health and Wellbeing
Jack (John) Saddler UBC Vancouver Microbiology of wastewater treatment; Application of fungi to upgrading and modification of forest products, pulp and paper and waste streams. Faculty of Forestry Department of Wood Science; Forest Products Biotech & Bioenergy; Bioproducts Institute; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) Biofuels and Biomass, Bioprocesses and Biotechnology, Transportation, Sustainable Materials and Composites, Waste and Waste Management
Rehan Sadiq UBC Okanagan Water supply systems; Infrastructure management; Environmental risk analysis; Lifecycle thinking; Water-energy nexus of built environment. Faculty of Applied Science School of Engineering (Civil); Life Cycle Management Laboratory; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC); Battery Innovation Research Excellence Cluster Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure Design, Urban Planning and Cities, Climate Risk Management, Water Resources and Supply, Hydrogen
Toktam Sajedi UBC Vancouver Soil-vegetation-water dynamics; Ecosystem carbon cycling and sequestration; Sustainable forest management; Climate change impact and adaptations. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest Resources Management; Asia Forest Research Centre Forestry, Carbon Cycle, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Freshwater Systems, Biodiversity
Risa Sargent UBC Vancouver How ecological context impacts plant-pollinator dynamics; Impacts of disruptions; Species invasions and land use changes (especially agriculture and urban use). Faculty of Land and Food Systems Applied Biology Program; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS); Plant-Pollinator and Global Change Lab (PPGC); Biodiversity Research Centre; Centre for Sustainable Food Systems; Diversified Agroecosystem Cluster Land Use, Agriculture, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Biodiversity
Janis Sarra UBC Vancouver Climate-related financial risk and corporate governance; Climate governance; Banking and finance law; Business, corporate and commercial law; Contract law; Environmental law, natural resources, and climate change. Peter A. Allard School of Law Centre for Law and the Environment; Centre for Feminist Legal Studies; Centre for Business Law Environmental Law, Climate Finance and Investment, Business Processes and Corporate Governance
Blair Satterfield UBC Vancouver Use of second stream materials in construction; Design and application of energy and material efficient methods for construction; Generation of sophisticated but universally accessible tool sets and strategies for efficiently and sustainably building using low-impact materials and techniques. Faculty of Applied Science Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Hilo Lab; Designing for People Research Network Sustainable Materials and Composites, Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure Design, Waste and Waste Management, Carbon Management
Terre Satterfield UBC Vancouver Sustainable development; Environmental health; First Nations; Land management; Social and cultural consequences of contamination. Faculty of Science Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS) Environmental Psychology, Natural Resource Management, Carbon Management, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Agriculture
Jeffrey Sayer UBC Vancouver Integrated approaches to natural resources management; Landscape approaches; Integrating science into natural resources decision making; Tropical forest conservation; Reconciling conservation and development in tropical forest landscapes; Forest conservation in Indonesia. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences; Vibrant Forest Landscapes Lab; Biodiversity Research Centre; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS) Natural Resource Management, Land Use, Forestry, Environmental Psychology, Policy and Governance
Laurel Schafer UBC Vancouver Biodegradable polymers; Sustainable synthesis; Green chemistry; Synthesis of chiral ligands for early transition metal and lanthanide complexation suitable for enantioselective transformations. Faculty of Science Department of Chemistry; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC); Bioproducts Institute; Schafer Group Sustainable Materials and Composites, Manufacturing and Heavy Industry, Oil and Gas
Dolph Schluter UBC Vancouver Ecology of recent adaptive radiations; Ecological forces responsible for the origin and persistence of species; Evolution of differences between them in resource use, body form, and mating preferences; Natural selection in wild populations; Threespine sticklebacks. Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; Biodiversity Research Centre; Schluter lab Biodiversity, Freshwater Systems
Christian Schoof UBC Vancouver Glaciers; Ice sheets; Sea level change; Climate; Glaciology; Applied math dynamics of ice sheets; Fluid dynamics; Crevasse evolution and buckling in ice sheets and ice shelves; Evolving thermal state of ice sheets; Subglacial hydraulics and their interaction with ice flow. Faculty of Science Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences Alpine, Arctic and Antarctic, Freshwater Systems
Patricia Schulte UBC Vancouver Molecular biology; Biochemistry; Physiology; Genomics; Population genetics; Evolutionary biology to address the question, what are the physiological adaptations that allow animals to live in particular environments? Faculty of Science Department of Zoology; Biodiversity Research Centre; UBC Animal Research; Schulte Lab Freshwater Systems, Oceans and Coastal Systems
Naomi Schwartz UBC Vancouver Causes and consequences of disturbance and extreme events in tropical forest landscapes; Forest vulnerability to climate change; Effects of disturbance on forest landscapes; Processes that underlie spatial heterogeneity in forest responses. Faculty of Arts Department of Geography; Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS); Biodiversity Research Centre Weather and Climate Extremes, Forestry, Natural Hazards and Disaster Response, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Land Use
David Scott UBC Okanagan Hydrological effects of forest management and land use change; Effects of wildfire on hydrology and erosion; Effects of fast-growing timber plantations on stream flow (water yield and low flows); Analysis of paired catchment experiments. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences; Watershed Research and Extension Freshwater Systems, Wildfires and Forest Fires, Forestry
Sandra Scott UBC Vancouver Children & youth; Community research; Curriculum studies; Environmental education; Literacy; Middle years; Museum education research; Non-formal learning; Pedagogy; Science education research; Teacher education research; Ways of knowing; Narrative story; Slow science; Indigenous Science; Land and Marine education; Environmental ethics; Practitioner inquiry; Caring curriculum; Ecojustice; Climate & nature education; Climate emergency; Southern resident killer whales of the Salish Sea. Faculty of Education Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Oceans and Coastal Systems
Maged Senbel UBC Vancouver Urban design; Environmental planning; Climate change planning; Public engagement; Urban agriculture; Multimedia; Social media and youth engagement. Faculty of Applied Science School of Community and Regional Planning; Centre for Migration Studies; Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions; Balanced Supply of Housing Research Clutster; Cool Tools Warm World Research Cluster Urban Planning and Cities, Climate Activism and Social Movements, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change
Donna Senese UBC Okanagan Rural resilience; Tourism and sustainability; Landscapes of wine and food; International experiential education; Hazards, gender and vulnerability. Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies Rural and Northern Communities, Agriculture, Land Use, Sovereign or Sustainable Food Systems, Natural Hazards and Disaster Response, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy
Peyman Servati UBC Vancouver Advanced nanomaterials; Low-cost and flexible solar cells and batteries; Novel device engineering for medical and energy applications. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; School of Biomedical Engineering; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC); Centre for Flexible Electronics and Textiles (CFET); Bioproducts Institute; The Flexible Electronics and Energy Lab (FEEL); Microsystems and Nanotechnology (MiNa) Group Solar Energy, Electricity, Clean Energy and Energy Transitions, Sustainable Materials and Composites
Mohammad Shahrad UBC Vancouver Sustainability in computing; Efficiency of data centres; Cloud computing; Serverless computing. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Cloud Infrastructure Research for Reliability, Usability, and Sustainability (CIRRUS) Electricity, Carbon Management, Product Lifecycle or Circular Economy, Economic Modeling and Data Analysis
Pete Shandin UBC Vancouver Indigenous research methodologies; Geoscientific ethnography; Indigenous astronomy; Social-political tribal structures; Culturally congruent instructional strategies; Indigenous science philosophies. Faculty of Science Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; Future Minerals Initiative Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Policy and Governance, Water Resources and Supply
Ziad Shawwash UBC Vancouver Modeling and optimization of large-scale civil engineering systems; Planning, design and operation of hydroelectric generating facilities; Use of decision, policy and risk analysis techniques in water resource planning and management; Use of artificial intelligence systems in water resource and hydroelectric systems. Faculty of Applied Science Department of Civil Engineering; Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) Water Resources and Supply, Natural Hazards and Disaster Response, Climate Risk Management, Electricity, Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure Design
Stephen Sheppard UBC Vancouver Climate change planning, outreach, and community engagement; Visioning methods and visualization of climate change causes, impacts, and mitigation/adaptation; Low-carbon future scenarios visualized in the CIRS’ BC Hydro Decision Theatre; Community energy planning, renewables, and energy literacy; Public perceptions, aesthetics and sustainability; Social aspects of forestry. Faculty of Forestry Department of Forest Resource Management; Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning; Asia Forest Research Centre; Cool Tools Warm World Research Cluster; Centre for Culture and Technology Forestry, Urban Planning and Cities, Climate Education and Environmental Literacy, Climate Justice, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change
Sara Shneiderman UBC Vancouver Climate migration; Cross-border mobility; Conflict and political mobilization; Territory and land use; Development discourses and practices; Disaster aftermath and preparedness. Faculty of Arts Department of Anthropology; School of Public Policy and Global Affairs; Institute of Asian Research; Centre for Migration Studies; Disaster Resilience Research Network; Centre for Climate Justice Natural Hazards and Disaster Response, Policy and Governance, Social Dimensions of Climate and Systems Change, Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure Design, Urban Planning and Cities

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.

Climate Solutions Research Collective

UBC receives support for managing its research enterprise from the federal Research Support Fund.

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