Amalie’s independent research operates in parallel with her work as an Undergraduate Research Assistant on a team at the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto, with partners at the University of Sydney and the University of California, Santa Barbara. The project examines lithium extraction across worldwide jurisdictions.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) technologies present significant financial and environmental benefits for residents and communities, however, there continue to be disparities in the adoption of PV technologies. This research will seek to understand the role of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in the implementation of PV technologies in order to determine how CBOs could improve access to solar technologies within communities. Since previous research suggests that policy alone does not address discrepancies in solar adoption, additional support is required to improve equitable access to PV technologies. CBOs could provide necessary support for residents and communities by liaising between communities and government, industry, and grant-making foundations in order to facilitate the implementation of solar technologies. Identifying and assessing the role of CBOs in the process of PV implementation could provide insight into how disparities related to PV diffusion might be addressed in Canada.
In November 2022, the United Nations approved the creation of the first global Plastics Treaty to regulate single-use plastics worldwide. In as much as this is a significant milestone for net-zero emissions, it is essential that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee currently working on the agreement properly takes into account the different socio-economic contexts of developing countries to ensure that such an agreement is truly assertive, applicable and equitable. This will smooth the transition from conception into implementation. Hence, the proposed project seeks to evaluate the agency of the Caribbean, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Subsaharan Africa on the construction of the framework, analyzing their engagement, influence, and ability to shape outcomes. Barbados, Nigeria, Mexico and Thailand will serve as case studies due to their experience dealing with plastic pollution. The predicted methodology includes primary source analysis and interviews with key stakeholders.
Garrett Morgan MSc., MScPl., LEED GA, WELL AP is a doctoral candidate and course instructor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto where his dissertation research explores the role of equity in the development and implementation phases of municipal climate action plans. Outside of the academy, he is an urban planner, governance strategist, communications advisor, and sustainable development consultant with professional experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in rural, suburban, and urban environments in Canada and the US with expertise in housing, community development, resilience, and hazard mitigation.
Mircea’s research is titled: “Captured: Green Innovation, Social Values, and the Quest to Solve Climate Change, 1996-2021”.
“Nature-based Solutions are a novel approach to climate adaptation, but we lack coherent frameworks for assessing whether Nature-based Solutions are producing effective and meaningful results. I seek to undertake a comparative analysis of different assessment frameworks used in Canada to monitor and evaluate Nature-based Solutions projects. This research will contribute to the development of scrupulous and regionally relevant impact assessment frameworks that can rigorously evaluate the consequences of Nature-based Solutions for people and the planet.”
“Heya! I’m a British guy going into the 5th (eek) year of my PhD in Poli Sci. I work on climate politics, and my dissertation project involves looking at the climate behaviour of a leading group of global automakers and electric utilities from 2005 to 2021. Before grad school I worked in financial technology for four years in Hong Kong. Contrary to my national stereotype, I think tea is overrated as a drink (though not as a meal).”
“To challenge the impact of ecological colonialism and capitalist imperialism in sport spaces, my research project will use a combination of critical sport and animal studies to critically examine the role that colonialism and speciesism play in (re)producing environments in which climate positive energy systems are not possible while white supremacist, capitalist, and anthropocentric understandings of the earth persist.”
To fulfill Canada’s commitment to a just transition for tackling climate change, we must make unified and balanced decisions regarding food system management. Over the next year, Olivia will support this mission through continuing her community-engaged, multidisciplinary research, which will include an audit of clean energy agricultural technologies in Canada and two participatory design workshops: one with migrant farmworkers and the other relevant stakeholders, resulting in policy and design recommendations for a just transition.
Daniela’s research critically analyses how governance and politics affect a socially just, inclusive, and equitable access to sustainable and affordable heating technologies in Canada. It assesses how the impacts and benefits of these technologies are distributed along different social groups. The research intends to highlight the urgency of looking beyond technological fixes and taking different and transformative approaches in the transition to these technologies to avoid socio-economic, health and other spatially unjust consequences on societies.