Doctoral research & scholastic adventures

PhD Student - University of British Columbia - School of Community & Regional Planning (SCARP)

In my doctoral research I explore questions around coastal climate adaptation and transboundary water governance along British Columbia’s south-coastal watersheds.

Student researcher - Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) Canada | Living with Water (LWW) project

I am also proud to be one of many amazing thinkers/doers on the PICS ‘Living with Water’ project. LWW is a diverse, multidisciplinary team helping communities living on British Columbia’s South Coast prepare and adapt for sea level rise and flooding through the development of multi-level governance arrangements for regional coastal flood adaptation. Read more about our work here.

My research asks:

  • How coastal flood-planning design and decision-making tools in BC foreground local community values & Indigenous governance as key sources of expertise on adaptation projects.

  • How nature-based/alternative coastal adaptation projects (e.g. living dikes, multi-functional dikes, blue-green infrastructure) can support coastal fish species, habitat restoration and Indigenous food sovereignty.

In order to address:

  • Coastal and watershed adaptation

  • Threats to Salmon and fish

  • Watershed health

  • Transboundary decision-making processes

  • Transdisciplinary communications

  • Barriers to legal pluralism

  • Regional governance and coordination challenges

  • Complex systems dynamics

Recent presentations

(June 2023) “Values that shape coastal adaptation” Coastal Zone Canada Conference | Victoria, BC

(October 2023) “The values in your work” Adaptation Futures Conference | Montreal, QC

(October 2022) Earth System Governance Conference, Theme: ‘Governing accelerated transitions: justice, creativity, and power in a transforming world’ | Toronto, ONT

  • (Paper Presentation) ‘Climate planning from a fish's perspective’ for panel discussion on 'People and communities in local environmental governance’ as part of ESG’s Adaptiveness & Reflexivity session conference theme. You can find my abstract here.

  • (Virtual Parallel Panels & Innovative Session) ‘Getting to the root of adaptation: values that shape the built environment’ - This session asked: “What values live in your adaptation research and work?”

(October 2022) National Adaptation Forum | Baltimore, MD

  • (Presenter) Concurrent Session 2 - Trainings - ’Getting to the root of adaptation: values that shape our work’

  • (Workshop presentation & Training) "Putting values in climate adaptation' - Workshop with PICS Researcher-in-Residence, Vanessa Lueck and MRM Student, Tira Okamoto

Photography © 2023 Julia Kidder

Key topics of interest: Estuary science, Indigenous-led habitat restoration & coastal planning, fisheries governance, legal rights of nature, cumulative effects, ecosystem restoration, legislative frameworks, environmental law, community planning, knowledge translation & policy engagement strategies.