Zoe Braden is a Research Associate at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, working at the intersection of technical earth sciences and public policy. A structural geologist by training (PhD, Queen’s University), Dr. Braden studies how and when the Earth’s crust deforms at tectonic plate boundaries, with work in the Nepal Himalaya, the Canadian Arctic, the European Alps, and in Alaska. She has held postdoctoral appointments in structural geology and tectonics at ETH Zürich and, at SPPGA, in the technical and social dimensions of nuclear waste disposal.

Dr. Braden’s work now focuses primarily on the governance of major subsurface projects. She has advised the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on public trust and engagement related to the deep geological disposal of nuclear waste, served as technical and policy consultant to the Assembly of First Nations in preparation for the federal Impact Assessment of Canada’s proposed spent nuclear fuel repository, and co-developed a professional master’s program in mineral exploration and resource management at Carleton University. Her writing on repository siting has appeared in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Co-designing multi-value frameworks for transparent and ethical copper supply chains
At UBC, Dr. Braden is working on Co-designing Multi-Value Frameworks for Transparent and Ethical Copper Supply Chains, a Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials project rethinking how social, ecological, and cultural values are embedded in decision-making for copper exploration and mine design, alongside the economic and technical priorities that usually dominate it. She works with Allison Macfarlane (SPPGA), Erik Eberhardt (EOAS), Shaun Barker (EOAS / MDRU), and Nadja Kunz (University of Queensland), alongside partner researchers at the Australian National University, Imperial College London, and the University of the Witwatersrand. The project is part of Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials Grand Challenge #1, Delivering future materials for the energy transition with integrity: The Cu challenge.