The ESRC is made up of individuals and organizations from around the world. Click on each membership category below to learn more about who’s involved.
ESRC Administration
DIRECTOR
Julia Baird
Email: [email protected]
GRADUATE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Marilyne Carrey (Acting)
Email: [email protected]
Inquiries about the Master of Sustainability program should be directed to [email protected]
Inquiries about the PhD in Sustainability Science program should be directed to [email protected].
Inquiries about the Minor in Environmental Sustainability and Microcertificate in Sustainability should be directed to [email protected]
Faculty

Julia Baird
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @juliambaird
CRC (Tier II) in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience
Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
Education
Ph.D. University of Saskatchewan (Environment and Sustainability)
M.Sc. University of Saskatchewan (Soil Science)
B.Sc. (Distinction) University of Alberta (Crop Science)
About Julia
Julia’s research focuses on the human dimensions of water resources. She is particularly interested in water resilience, improving outcomes of water governance by improving processes, and agricultural decision-making and its impacts on water.

Jessica Blythe
E-mail: [email protected]
Bluesky: @JessicaBlythe
Google Scholar profile
Associate Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
Education
Ph.D. University of Victoria (Geography)
M.A. York University (Geography)
B.Sc. (Honours) Memorial University (Marine Biology)
About Jessica
Jessica’s research focuses on the sustainability of coastal and marine systems, with a strong focus on equity. She is particularly interested in building the resilience of local communities to climate change, securing sustainable small-scale fisheries, and equitable collaborative forms of marine governance.

Marilyne Carrey
E–mail: [email protected]
Associate Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
Education:
Ph.D. University of Waterloo (Geography)
M.E.S. University of Waterloo (Geography)
B.A. Carleton University (Geography, Concentration in Geospatial Technologies)
About Marilyne:
Dr. Marilyne Carrey (nee Jollineau) holds a Ph.D. in Geography and a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo. She is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) where she currently serves as Acting Graduate Program Director for the ESRC graduate programs (i.e., the Master of Sustainability Program and the PhD in Sustainability Science). Marilyne’s research program is largely focused using a sustainability science approach to the application and use of geospatial technologies to study urban forests, wetlands, and grassland ecosystems and their change over time. She is committed to making her research relevant to the wider community by engaging with local communities through innovative community engagement partnerships, collaborations and other initiatives.

Ryan Plummer
Email: [email protected]
Adjunct Professor, Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo
Education
PhD, University of Guelph (Rural Studies)
MA, University of New Brunswick (Sport and Recreation Administration)
BOR (Hons), Lakehead University (Outdoor Recreation)
BA, Lakehead University (History)
About Ryan
Ryan’s multi-faceted program of research broadly concerns the governance of social-ecological systems. In striving to advance knowledge of collaboration and adaptation within complex systems, he has focused on the exploring their theoretical underpinnings and ethical implications, modeling their processes, examining the roles of social capital, and investigating the influences of social learning. Water resources are the context in which his research mainly occurs.
Findings from his research have been published in leading international journals such as Ecological Economics, Ecology and Society, Environmental Management, Frontiers in Ecology and Society, Global Environmental Change, Journal of Environmental Management, Society and Natural Resources and the UN journal, Natural Resources Forum. In addition, he is the author of Outdoor Recreation (Routledge, 2010), and co-editor of Adaptive Capacity and the Making of Environmental Governance (with D. Armitage, Springer, 2010) and Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems: the Role of Learning and Education (with M.E. Krasny and C. Lundholm, Routledge, 2011). He serves as a Subject Editor for Ecology and Society.
The scholarly quality of his research program was formally recognized in 2008 with the awarding of a Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence. In 2004 he received the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence and in 2008 he was selected as one of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Excellence in Education Award winners for Promotion of Sustainable Practices.

Lina Taing
Email: [email protected]
Assistant Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
Education
PhD, University of Cape Town (Public Administration)
MSc, University of Queensland (Integrated Water Management)
BA, University of California, Los Angeles (Anthropology)
About Lina
Dr. Lina Taing is a transdisciplinary expert in water security, climate resilience, and health equity with nearly 20 years’ experience bridging science, policy, and practice. An applied social and behavior scientist, she works with communities and decision-makers to design solutions grounded in how people interact with their environments. Her work spans four continents, from enhancing water and sanitation services to scaling natural climate solutions. A Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, she has taught at IHE Delft and directed McMaster and United Nations University’s Water Without Borders program. Her current research advances environmental AMR surveillance and scales NbS in the Global South for both people and planet.
Faculty Affiliates

Adam Dickinson
Email: [email protected]
Education
PhD English (University of Alberta)
MA in English and Creative Writing (University of New Brunswick)
BA English (University of Ottawa)
About Adam
Adam Dickinson is a poet and a professor of poetry. His creative and academic writing has focused primarily on intersections between poetry and science as a way of exploring new ecocritical perspectives on the Anthropocene and alternative modes of poetic composition. His book, The Polymers, which combines the discourses, theories, and experimental methods of the science of plastic materials with the language and culture of plastic behaviour, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. His current work uses biomonitoring and microbiome testing on his own body in order to develop an expanded notion of writing and writing practice that explores the metabolic processes of human bodies and their inextricable link to the global metabolism of energy and capital.
Ifeanyi Ezeonu
Email: [email protected]
Professor of Sociology
Research Interests: state-corporate crime in extractive industries in Africa, environmental crime, extractive industries and community resistance, poverty and energy justice, decarbonization.
Keywords: state-corporate crime, extractive industries, environmental crime, energy justice.

Xavier Fazio
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @XFazio_BrockU
Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education
Education
EdD Curriculum and Instruction (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto)
MEd Curriculum (OISE), University of Toronto
BEd Science Education
BSc (Hons) Biology and Chemistry (University of Toronto)
About Xavier
Dr. Xavier Fazio holds a EdD in Curriculum and Instruction (science education) from the University of Toronto. Currently, he’s a professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Brock University. He has taught undergraduate courses in science teacher education and environmental education for secondary teacher candidates, and graduate courses in cognition and learning, science curriculum, curriculum innovation, research methods, and environmental sustainability education

David Fennell
Email: [email protected]
Professor, Geography and Tourism Studies
About David
David Fennell researches in the areas of ecotourism, the moral issues tied to the use of animals in the tourism industry, sustainable tourism, and tourism ethics. He has published widely in these areas and in all of the field’s top journals, and has written several books. Examples include Ecotourism (5th edition), Ecotourism Programme Planning, Tourism Ethics (2nd edition), Codes of Ethics in Tourism, Tourism and Animal Ethics, and a recent book entitled Sustainable Tourism (2020). A major thrust of his research involves the use of theory from other disciplines (e.g., biology, philosophy) to gain traction on many of tourism’s most persistent issues and problems. Fennell is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Ecotourism and is an active member on editorial boards of many academic journals. David is the editor of a book series by Routledge on tourism ethics, as well as the editor of two Routledge Handbooks on tourism: Tourism and the environment, and Ecotourism (forthcoming). He is Adjunct Professor at Auckland University of Technology.

Jianbo Gao
Email: [email protected]
Assistant Professor, Chemistry
Education:
Ph.D. University of Alberta (Physics)
M.Sc. University of Alberta (Physics)
M.Sc. Jilin University (Optics)
B. Sc. Beihua University (Physics Education)
Professional experience:
Postdoctoral fellow: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, USA
Postdoctoral fellow: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
Research scientist: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Chemistry, California, USA
Assistant professor: Department of Physics, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA
Associate professor: Department of Chemistry, Brock University, Ontario, Canada
About Jianbo
Jianbo’s research is at the interface of chemistry, physics, and materials science, and focus on the renewable energy area such as photovoltaics and optical quantum communication such as quantum devices.
Jianbo’s research team lead a unique direction to understand the photophysics dynamics of nanomaterials, leading to a new generation of photovoltaic technology, and to break the current solar cell efficiency limitation. To help mankind have free electricity by converging the solar energy, Jianbo’s team aim to develop low-cost, highly efficient, and flexible solar cells, which can be integrated into windows, cars, roof, or object surface.
Website: https://www.upqmlab.com/index.html

Kiyoko Gotanda
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @photopidge
Bluesky: @photopidge
X/Twitter: @photopidge
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
About Kiyoko
My research lies at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and behaviour. I focus on two questions asking about the origins, evolution, and maintenance of biodiversity:
(i) What are the characteristics of selection?
(ii) Can we predict how organisms will adapt and evolve?
Organisms must rapidly adapt and evolve to these different selection pressures if they are to cope, persist, and survive. My research goal is to determine the importance and efficacy of this process of rapid adaptation to human made changes and use this information to reduce the unwanted consequences of human-caused selection changes, as well as to facilitate adaptive responses that could allow continued persistence of populations.
I am a former professional ballet dancer who is now a researcher in the fields of evolution, behaviour, and ecology. After dancing with ballet companies such as the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, I hung up my pointe shoes and went to McGill University for my BSc. I received my PhD from McGill University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge and Université de Sherbrooke. I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Brock University. My third passion after science and dance is photography, which bridges the gap between my interests in art and science.

Todd Green
E-mail: [email protected]
Associate Professor, Marketing, International Business & Strategy
Education
PhD in Marketing, Simon Fraser University
MBA in Strategic Marketing, McMaster University
BSc., Finance, Seton Hall University
About Todd
Dr. Green’s research interests focuses primarily on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and includes both the consumer response to CSR and the role of CSR in marketing communications. He has also completed research examining the consumer response to environmentally friendly marketing.
He is currently engaged in research examining the role of CSR and Ethics in the Arts and Entertainment industries.

Sylvia Grewatsch
E-mail: [email protected]
Associate Professor, Marketing, International Business & Strategy
Education
PhD in Management, Aarhus University
MSc., Strategy, Organization, and Leadership, Aarhus University
BSc., Business Administration, University of Münster
About Sylvia
Dr. Sylvia Grewatsch has been an Associate Professor of Strategy at the Goodman School of Business, Brock University. Her research interest lies at the intersection of sustainability, strategy, and innovation.
Dr. Grewatsch’s research work is motivated by the grand environmental and social challenges of the 21st century. She is interested in questions on how sustainability concerns affect organizational strategies and technology innovation, and reciprocally, how organizations and innovation affect the emergence and trajectories of such concerns.

Magnus Hultman
Email: [email protected]
Associate Professor, Marketing, International Business & Strategy
Education:
PhD Industrial Marketing, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
MSc International Business and Economics, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
BSc International Business and Economics, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
About Magnus:
Dr. Magnus Hultman joined Brock in 2021 and is the current Brock IPBS Research Scholar. Prior to his current position Dr. Hultman worked as an Associate Professor of Marketing at University of Leeds where he is still affiliated as a Senior Visiting Research Fellow.
Dr. Hultman is currently engaged in research examining green and sustainable marketing communications, internationalization of environmental marketing strategies, CSR in branding, motivations and consequences of brand activism, ecotourism communications, and eco-destination branding.
In addition to being a recurring reviewer for many of the top journals in his field, Dr. Hultman is also serves as Associate Editor of International Marketing Review and on the Editorial Review Board for Journal of International Marketing.

Garrett Hutson
E-mail: [email protected]
Associate Professor of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Brock University
Education:
PhD (Health, Leisure, and Human Performance) Oklahoma State University
MS (Experiential Education) Minnesota State University
BA (Honours in Communication) University of Missouri
About Garrett
My research explores the complexities of person-environment relationships and their impacts on a variety of outdoor recreation contexts. Through much of my work, I aim to highlight the social-ecological significance of outdoor experiences to the study of sustainability and society through examining the ways outdoor educational programs and outdoor recreation communities of practice help or hinder relationships with natural outdoor environments. I am an affiliated faculty member with Brock’s environmental sustainability research centre, and I currently teach undergraduate courses on leadership, risk management, qualitative research, and environmental education.
![Vaughn Mangal_Headshot[60] copy](https://brocku.ca/esrc/wp-content/uploads/sites/75/Vaughn-Mangal_Headshot60-copy.jpg?x58390)
Vaughn Mangal
E-mail: [email protected]
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
About Vaughn:
Dr. Mangal’s research interest broadly includes 1) characterizing and quantifying organic matter across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and 2) disentangling the role that these complex molecules play in contaminant transport, distribution, and biological uptake. A large part of Dr. Mangal’s research program focuses on identifying how anthropogenic and climatic driven disturbances change biogeochemical cycles and the implications for water quality.

Francine McCarthy
Email: [email protected]
Professor and Graduate Program Director, Earth Sciences, Brock University
Acting Graduate Program Director, Sustainability Science and Society, Brock University
Core Member, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
Associate Member, Biological Sciences, Brock University
About Francine
Francine McCarthy is a micropaleontologist who is interested in paleoenvironmental reconstruction, primarily using acid-resistant organic walled microfossils – pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs. Her research has spanned small lake to abyssal marine environments and everything in between, primarily at mid-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Her interdisciplinary research has been conducted in collaboration with several geologists, biologists, geographers, and archeologists from government, university, and the private sector. She has been on the executive of several organizations, including current membership on the board of the International Association for Great Lakes Research.

Tim O’Connell
Professor – Applied Health Sciences, Recreation & Leisure Studies
Education:
PhD (Recreation Resource Management) New York University
MEd (Outdoor Recreation and Outdoor Education) University of Minnesota
BSEd (Recreation Education) SUNY Cortland
About Tim
Dr. Tim O’Connell is a Professor and Chair of Recreation and Leisure Studies who specializes in outdoor recreation, outdoor education and outdoor leadership. Tim’s research examines sense of community in groups of people engaged in outdoor activities, sense of place, mental health impacts of participation in outdoor pursuits and reflective practice (with a focus on reflective journaling). He is the Chair of Outward Bound Canada’s Research Advisory Committee and a member of the Research Committee for the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors.

Gary Pickering
Email: [email protected]
CCOVI Researcher
Professor of Biological Sciences and Psychology/Wine Science
Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University
Education
- BSc (Zoology), Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
- Post-graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology with distinction, Lincoln University, New Zealand
- PhD (Wine Science), Lincoln University, New Zealand
About Gary
Gary is the recipient of a number of research awards, and is passionate about sustainability. He has been North American editor of the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment and is a member of the Honorary Editorial Board for the International Journal of Wine Research. His research in sustainability science is focused on understanding the psychological barriers that impede people from engaging in pro-environmental behaviour, particularly climate change mitigation and adaptation. His lab also studies how best to communicate with the public on environmental issues, as well as climate change adaptation in the grape and wine industry.

Michael Pisaric
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @mpisaric
Associate Professor, Department of Geography
Education
PhD Queen’s University 2001
MSc McMaster University 1996
BSc Brock University 1994
About Michael
I am interested in the impacts of climate and environmental change on northern ecosystems. The geographic focus of my research is predominantly the boreal forest and treeline in particular. My research also examines climate and environmental change across a variety of timescales, ranging from the past few decades to the Holocene epoch (past 10,000 years). I employ a number of paleoecological techniques to carry out my research, including lake-sediment analysis (fossil pollen, stomata and charcoal) and dendrochronology (analysis of tree growth records). I have carried out research in a number of regions throughout the world, including Siberia, western Canada and Montana (USA) and have ongoing research projects in Northwest Territories and southeast British Columbia.

Narongsak (Tek) Thongpapanl
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn
Professor, Marketing and Product Innovation
Education:
PhD in Management and MBA in Technological Entrepreneurship (The Lally School of Management and Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
BSc in Electrical Engineering–Magna Cum Laude (The School of Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
About Tek:
Prior to joining Brock University, he worked with Advanced Energy Conversion and helped successfully launch a number of technological applications for the automotive, industrial and renewable energy industries.
His main research and teaching expertise includes new product development, innovation and technology management, digital marketing, wine marketing and business management, strategic marketing management in high-tech environments, marketing knowledge creation and management in highly dynamic and multistakeholder settings, and the integration of marketing and technology competences in preservation and promotion of social, environmental, and economical advancement.
Dr. Thongpapanl’s work—funded by both internal and external grants, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC)—appears or is forthcoming in such leading management and business journals. In addition to reviewing for many respected journals in the field, he also currently serves as Associate Editor of Technovation (the International Journal of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology Management) and Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, and as Member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of International Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Wine Research.

Liette Vasseur
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @LietteVasseur
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University
Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute Fellow
UNESCO Chair, Community Sustainability: From Local to Global, Brock University
About Liette
Her research program is either interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary and links issues such as community-based ecosystem management, climate change adaptation and resilience, sustainable agriculture, and conservation (including ecosystem restoration). Her work is with/ for/ in rural, coastal and/or marginalized vulnerable communities. In Canada, it includes impacts of climate change and extreme events on ecosystems and communities, use of alternative technologies in sustainable agriculture, and ecosystem/landscape sustainable development and resilience.
Her work focuses not only on Canada but also internationally such as in China, where she is a visiting scholar and before a Minjiang Scholar at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University working in sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation. She is also visiting scholar at the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH), Riobamba, Ecuador working on climate change adaptation and resilience in the Andean Paramos as well as sustainable agriculture development in Indigenous communities of the Chimborazo. With partners in Canada and Germany, we work on climate change adaptation of small farming cooperatives in Canada, Benin and Morocco.
At the international level, she is currently the Deputy Chair of the Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and co-lead of the thematic group on Biodiversity and Climate Change Policy and Practice and previously led the Ecosystem Governance and the Climate Change Adaptation thematic groups. She is also on the IUCN Academy Advisory Committee. Having worked for several years on women in sciences, she is now a member of the UNESCO International Consultative Group of Experts for Closing the Gender Gap in Science. She is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of Botany at the Canadian Science Publishing, and member of the board of directors of Nature Canada.
Adjunct Professors

Gillian Dale
Email: [email protected]
Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University
About Gillian
Gillian is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the ESRC. She holds a Ph.D. in Behavioural Neuroscience (Cognitive Psychology) from Brock University, and previously held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her previous research explored individual difference factors (i.e., personality, affect, motivational intensity, etc.) that explain variations in cognitive performance and behaviour. She has extensive experience with research design, questionnaire development and validation, and advanced data analysis. Currently, she is interested in extending her line of research by applying her expertise in both human behaviour and advanced data analysis to real-world problems (e.g., water resilience; environmental stewardship).

Sherman Farhad
Email: [email protected]
Google Scholar profile
ResearchGate profile
Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University
Member of the Social and Participatory Action Research Group, Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Seville, Spain)
About Sherman
Sherman in interested in human-environment relationships from complex systems perspective. Her research focuses on environmental governance (specially on water governance) and social-ecological resilience. She is particularly interested in how people connect with the environment, how social systems perceive, interpret and deal with environmental changes and uncertainties, and how diverse stakeholders (resource users, government actors and researchers) can co-create knowledge and co-manage natural resources. Her empirical work has been based in Spain, Iran, and most recently in southern Ontario.

Jennifer Holzer
Email: [email protected]
About Jennifer
Jennifer Holzer holds a PhD from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Environmental Studies, an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University, and a BA from Swarthmore College. Her doctoral work evaluated the research-implementation gap in social-ecological research in Europe using case studies in Spain, Scotland, and Romania, and provided recommendation that fed directly into enhancing European research infrastructures. Previously, she was a project manager for climate change mitigation and energy efficiency programs in California and across the US. She is particularly interested in improving the effectiveness of transdisciplinary science, integrating social sciences research and practice for better environmental decision-making.
Jen joined the Water Resilience Lab in February 2020 as a Post-doctoral Fellow with the ResNet project.

Amy Lemay
E-mail: [email protected]
Adjunct Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University
Research Interests
I am a transdisciplinary scholar with training in the natural and social sciences. My research draws on qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore the social-ecological dynamics of the development and adoption of sustainable agri-food innovations. I also study the role of knowledge mobilization in the development and adoption of agri-food innovations and the implications for policy and governance.
I have a B.Sc.Agr. in environmental biology and M.Sc. in agricultural entomology from the University of Guelph and a PhD in science policy from the University of Toronto. I am a graduate of the Rural Ontario Institute Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program and the former George Morris Centre Canadian Agri-food Executive Development Program. I have served as the University of Guelph Agrologist in Residence.
I am a Research Fellow with the Niagara Community Observatory at Brock University and a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph.
Bradley May
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @BradKMay
Adjunct Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University
Research Interests
Climate change adaptation, hazards and disaster management, teaching environmental management and sustainability, environmental law and, compliance theory
Keywords: governance, social-ecological systems, cross-scale dynanics

Darby McGrath
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @McGrathGreen
Adjunct Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University
Research Interests
Darby’s work integrates tree production research with ecological restoration principles to address challenges of urban tree establishment and longevity. Current work in her lab is concerned with improving soil structure and function for tree establishment. Developing tools for land managers to plan for and restore soils to grow the urban canopy are key outputs for her program.

Kerrie Pickering
Adjunct Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University
Research Interests
Kerrie holds a PhD from the University of the Sunshine Coast Australia, MA (Geography Brock University, BSc. (Environmental Studies), Brock University, Nursing (Dip) New Zealand.
Kerrie’s research is at the intersection of the environment and health. Her Ph.D. focused on food security, Indigenous food systems, and social-ecological change. Her current research focuses on the Indigenous food systems, climate change, health, and greening health care.

Tim Smith
Email: [email protected]
Australian Research Council Fellow and Professor of Sustainability, Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
PhD (Geography), University of New South Wales, Australia
Grad Cert (Higher Ed), Griffith University, Australia
BAppSc Hons (Coastal Management), Southern Cross University, Australia
BAppSc (Conservation Technology), Southern Cross University, Australia
Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Fellow, Institute of Australian Geographers
About Tim
Dr. Tim Smith is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow and Professor of Sustainability based at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), Australia. He is a human geographer focused on social-ecological change and adaptation. Prior to being awarded the ARC Fellowship, Dr. Smith held several senior leadership positions, including: (i) Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts, Business and Law; (ii) Research Coordinator, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering; and (iii) Inaugural Director, Sustainability Research Centre. Before joining USC, Prof Smith was a senior research scientist with the CSIRO. He has also led the social sciences and education portfolios of two national research centres (Coastal and Catchment Hydrology CRCs). Prof Smith has also worked at Griffith University and the University of New South Wales, for local and state government, and in the private sector.

Daniel Teodoro
Email: [email protected]
Adjunct Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University
About Daniel:
Daniel is a geographer with expertise in stakeholder participation in climate resilience and biodiversity conservation. He holds a Ph.D. in Geographical Sciences from the University of Maryland, USA, where his research focused on utilizing social network analysis to understand social and ecological interdependencies in complex human-environment systems.
Research Focus:
Daniel’s research interests lie at the intersection of intergenerational justice, climate change adaptation, participatory decision-making, and transdisciplinary science. His recent publications explore how network science can be employed to evaluate the effectiveness of participatory processes in environmental decision-making. This research aims to bridge the gap between science and practice by developing frameworks and tools for fostering more inclusive and impactful stakeholder engagement.
Key Strengths:
- Expertise in social network analysis and its application to environmental issues
- Experience in bridging the science-policy divide through participatory approaches
- Strong foundation in climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation
- Passion for developing practical tools to improve environmental decision-making

