The ESRC hosts a variety of academic and community events to encourage knowledge sharing.
Events
Sustainability Seminar Series
October 17, 2023, 12:00pm, WH147
“Adaptation in a changing world: human influences on evolution”
Featuring:
Dr. Kiyoko Gotanda
Dr. Kiyoko Gotanda is an Assistant Professor in Biological Science at Brock University and is affiliated with Universidad de San Francisco Quito. Previously, Dr. Gotanda was a postdoctoral fellow at Université de Sherbrooke and a Banting and FQRNT postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge. Her research lies at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and behaviour. She focuses on two questions asking about the origins, evolution, and maintenance of biodiversity: (i) What are the characteristics of selection? And (ii) Can we predict how organisms will adapt and evolve? Her research program focuses on a variety of taxa including Darwin’s finches, Trinidadian guppies, and three-spine stickleback. She has also worked with anoles, parrotfish, and East African cichlids.
Sustainability Seminar Series
September 26, 2023, 12:00pm, WH147
“Blue Justice: Lessons from Grassroots Resistance Movements”
Featuring:
Dr. Jessica Blythe
Dr. Jessica Blythe is an Associate Professor with the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre at Brock University. Her research is motivated by questions including: How do coastal communities experience and respond to environmental change? What explains their differential capacities for adaptation and transformation? What supports the transformations needed to achieve more equitable and sustainable societies? Over the past decade, she has worked with communities in Australia, Canada, Mozambique, and Solomon Islands.
This event was live-streamed and recorded. To watch the recording, visit our YouTube Channel.
Sustainability Seminar Series
March 17, 2023, 11:00am, Rankin Family Pavilion (Room 214/215)
“From watersheds to fisheries: what can we learn from the transitions towards participator governance in Uruguay?”
Featuring:
Dr. Micaela Trimble
Dr. Micaela Trimble is an Associate Researcher at the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies (SARAS), Uruguay. She holds a PhD in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from the University of Manitoba (2013). Her areas of expertise include environmental governance, stakeholder participation, and adaptive co-management of social-ecological systems e.g. small-scale fisheries, marine protected areas, watersheds), with a geographic focus on South America.
This event was live-streamed and recorded. To watch the recording, visit our YouTube Channel.
Sustainability Seminar Series
March 3, 2023, 11:00am
“COVID-19 and Community Resilience”
Featuring:
Dr. Livianna Tossutti, Brock University
Dr. Tossutti’s research is focused on immigration and diversity, social capital, political and civic participation, and resilient cities and neighbourhoods. She is the Principal Investigator of a SSHRC-funded research project: “Covid-19 and Pathways to city and neighbourhood resiliency in Toronto’s social and community services”. Other current research explores the responses of select American cities to immigration (funded by the Social Justice Research Institute), and a book manuscript on how six Canadian municipalities have adapted their plans, policies and practises to immigration and ethnocultural diversity. She is the lead author (with Mintz, Brock and Barrie) of Canadian Politics Today: Democracy, Diversity and Good Government, a fully digital and interactive text on Canadian politics, and co-author of three previous editions of the text. She has also authored The Electoral Participation of Ethnocultural Communities, book chapters, research reports, and articlies published in Urban Affairs Review, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Canadian Ethnic Studies, Party Politics, the Journal of Canadian Studies, West European Politics, and Mediterranean Politics.
Sustainability Seminar Series
February 10, 2023, 11:00am, Rankin Family Pavilion (Room 214/215)
“Highly sensitive people connect more strongly to nature: what does that mean for sustainability?”
Featuring:
Dr. Jen Holzer, Brock University
en Holzer is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre at Brock University. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University. She studies knowledge production and governance of social-ecological systems in service of fostering transformations toward sustainability. Her doctoral work evaluated the “know-do” gap in social-ecological research in Europe, providing recommendations that fed directly into recent changes to research programs. Previously, she was a project manager for climate change mitigation and energy efficiency programs in California and across the US.
This event was live-streamed and recorded. To watch the recording, visit our YouTube channel.
Sustainability Seminar Series
January 27, 2023, 11:00am, Rankin Family Pavilion (Room 214/215)
“Geospatial Niagara – A Ten Year Retrospective”
Featuring:
Darren Platakis, BSc., GIS(PG), FRCGS
Darren holds a Bachelors of Science from Brock University and a Post Graduate degree in Geographic Information Systems and Geospatial Management from Niagara College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. During his studies, Darren noticed the geo-literacy challenges that students faced and the continual growth of the geospatial technology sector in the Niagara region. In response, Platakis founded an educational non-profit organization called Geospatial Niagara in 2013. To date, Geospatial Niagara has provided projects with an estimated market value over $1 million. Major projects include the Niagara Peninsula Geopark, TreeOcode, and Day of Geography.
This event was live-streamed and recorded. To watch the recording, visit our YouTube channel.
Sustainability Seminar Series
January 13, 2023, 11:00am, Rankin Family Pavilion (Room 214/215)
“The road to environmental crises is paved with good intentions”
Featuring:
Natalie Lowe, CMM, CRL
Natalie Lowe is a hospitality and tourism business professional with over 30 years of experience who lives and breathes sustainability. Natalie is a past President of The Canadian Society of Professional Event Planners, the co-founder of The Sustainable Events Forum, and operates an event company, Celebrate Niagara. Natalie is a Certified Climate Leader through the Climate Reality Project and is Certified in Meeting Management (CMM). Her work has been published in national and international fora, such as Ignite Magazine’s Events That Matter. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Events Industry Council Global Impact Award. Natalie is on a mission to help people to lead on climate action in their communities and in their workplaces. Her influence on sustainability in Niagara cannot be overstated.
This event was live-streamed and recorded. To watch the recording, visit our YouTube channel.
Sustainability Seminar Series
November 4 2022, 11:00am EST
“Exploring Careers in Sustainability”
Featuring:
Ryan DeSouza (Panelist)
Pulkit Garg (Panelist)
Erica Harper (Panelist)
Mikellena Nettos (Panelist)
Jessica Blythe (Moderator)
This panel will consist of four professionals (three of whom are SSAS alumni!) that will share their experiences navigating the transition from graduate school into the field of Sustainability, how their co-op positions helped facilitate the transition, the key skills that have been the most helpful in their current roles, and the challenges or opportunities they faced throughout their journey from graduate student to where they are today.
This event was live-streamed and recorded. To watch the recording, visit our YouTube channel.
Sustainability Seminar Series
October 7 2022, 11:00am, Rankin Family Pavilion (Room 214/215)
“The Diversification of Agroecosystems: Uncovering Indicators and Outcomes”
Featuring:
Dr. Marney Isaac, University of Toronto
Dr. Marney Isaac is a Professor in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences and the Centre for Critical Development Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto. Dr. Isaac holds the Canada Research Chair in Agroecosystems & Development. Dr. Isaac leads an interdisciplinary lab that addresses fundamental questions on the role of biodiversity in agroecosystems. She is a specialist in the field of agroecology, with particular expertise in agroforestry systems. Her research provides insights into the plant-soil interactions that govern the structure and function of biologically complex agricultural landscapes. She also supervises an international research program investigating the role of agrarian information networks in the adoption of agrobiodiversity.