My Research:

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

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

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