Resilient Neighbourhoods Project

Bassam Javed is currently a PhD student at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and a recipient of UBC’s Four Year Fellowship. His interdisciplinary research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to develop public policy insights for the sustainability transition in the transportation sector. His research to date has focused primarily on Canada, and on emerging economies, particularly China and India.

Bassam’s professional career has included roles in the energy and mining sectors. He holds an M. Eng. in Clean Energy Engineering, and bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry. Bassam lives in Vancouver and has two young children. He enjoys volunteerism, which has included program development and board governance in social services, mental health, and environmental sustainability non-profits. In his spare time, Bassam enjoys swimming, reading philosophy, and practicing martial arts.

Bassam’s Liu Scholars project is mentored by Dr. Kristen Hopewell, a study of China’s international policies supporting its electric vehicle industrial aspirations vis-à-vis its domestic transition to low-carbon transportation.

Research interests: Low-carbon transportation, Socio-technical transitions, Energy systems policy

Email address: bassam.javed@ubc.ca

Sun Ryung (Sun) Park is a Liu Scholar and PhD student in the department of Political Science and a UBC’s Four Year Fellowship recipient. Her broad research interests center around protectionism, non-tariff measures, and US-China rivalry in global trading governance. Before coming to UBC, she earned her MA and BA degree in Political Science and International Relations from Korea University, Seoul, Korea. She also worked as a research intern at the Korea Society, New York, USA, and as a research associate at East Asia Institute, Seoul, Korea.

Her dissertation research mainly seeks to answer the following question; how and why leading countries turn to large-scale protectionist measures in ways both explicitly and implicitly, while still officially supporting free trade. In line with this broader research project, she, as a Liu Scholar, will be working with Dr. Kristen Hopewell to unpack the underlying mechanism on 1) why the Chinese government has continued support of subsidy policies in favor of its steel and electronic vehicles industries, and 2) how the complicated government-business relationship in China drives its trade policy in the context of intensifying trade frictions between the US and China.

Research interests: Protectionism, Non-tariff measures, Trade remedies, Subsidies, Trade disputes under the World Trade Organization, US-China rivalry in global trading system, Chinese interventionist state, State-market relationship.

Publications

Book Chapter

Park, S. R. (2017). Weaponization and Vulnerability in China’s Rare Earths Hegemony (In Korean). In Joo-Youn Jung eds., World Politics 27 (Seoul: Center for International Studies at Seoul National University, 2017), 243-295.

Journal Publications

Park, S. R., & Jung, J. (2017). “Centralization through Consolidation: Restructuring the Chinese Rare Earth Industry,” Peace Studies, 25(1), 117–154.

Park, S. R., & Jung, J. (2015). “Between the Local Governments and Producers: Why Rare Earth Smuggling Persists in China,” Journal of International Politics, 20(2), 101–131.

Email address: sunryung@student.ubc.ca;  sunryungpark@gmail.com

Temitope Onifade is completing his doctorate at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. Supervised by Dr Stepan Wood, he is investigating how law and society regulate low carbon economies, specifically the main role law plays, the limitations of this role, and how society can help law.

His research builds on his background, interest, training and experience. He is from Nigeria, and has lived at Benin, Edo State, within the notorious Niger Delta area, so he has witnessed some of the most gruesome environmental challenges arising from energy activities in that area. Influenced by this experience, he developed academic and professional interest in energy and environmental law and policy. To suit this interest, he is trained in law and environmental policy. He earned general Bachelor and Master of Laws degrees from Nigeria, and specialized Master of Arts (Environmental Policy) and Laws (Energy and Environmental Law) degrees from Canada. Accordingly, he has worked as an energy and environmental lawyer for about four years at two law firms in Nigeria, taught energy and environmental law courses as a lecturer in Canada, worked on resource governance issues as a policy researcher with a provincial government in Canada and a policy think tank in the United States, and is currently working part-time with Social Impact Firm, a transnational corporate social responsibility law office in Canada. He has also collaborated on projects under various platforms, including the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, International Bar Association and Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.

He has some work outputs that have shaped his research. His refereed publications have appeared in refereed international and university journals, most notably Energy Policy. He has also prepared policy materials and/or corporate documents for government departments and private organizations in Canada, Haiti, Nigeria, and the United States.

As part of his service to the community, he is currently a Director of Holistic Sustainable Development Network, an Advisory Board Member for Editorial Projects on an International Bar Association committee, and a Graduate Student Representative on the Faculty Council of the Peter A. Allard School of Law. In the past, he also served in various positions at the national and university levels in Nigeria, including as a President of the National Youth Service Corps of Nigeria Band and Chief Whip of the Students’ Representative Council of the Nigerian Law School Abuja.

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. International Doctoral Fellowship, University of British Columbia, 2017.
2. John Ballem QC LLD Postgraduate Fellowship in Energy Law, University of Calgary, 2017.
3. Scholarship for Energy and Natural Resources Law Studies, International Bar Association, 2016.
4. Sabin Colloquium on Innovative Environmental Law Scholarship, Columbia University, 2016.
5. Graduate College Scholar, University of Calgary, 2016.
6. Honourable N.D. McDermid Graduate Scholarship in Law, University of Calgary, 2015.
7. Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarship, University of Calgary, 2015.
8. School of Graduate Studies Fellowship, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2014
9. Departmental Scholarship, Memorial University, 2014.
10. Oyo State Postgraduate Scholarship, Oyo State Government, 2012.
11. Oyo State Law School Scholarship, Oyo State Government, 2010.
12. The Justice Amina Augie Moot Award, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2008.
13. Law Students’ Society Debate Award, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2008 (co-recipient with Ademola Faleti).
14. Justice Chambers- Outstanding in Litigation, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2008.
15. Justice Chambers- Outstanding in the Office of the Chief Scribe, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2008.
16. Law Students’ Society Essay Competition Award, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2007 (representing 300 level Bachelor of Laws class).
17. Law Students’ Society- Most Active Law Student, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2005.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Sole-authored- “Environmental Law in Africa’s Non-renewable Extractive Sectors” (2018) in The Environment, Legal Issues and Critical Policies: An African Perspective (LexisNexis) forthcoming.
2. Sole-authored- “Regulating Natural Resource Funds: Alaska Heritage Trust Fund, Alberta Permanent Fund, and Government Pension Fund of Norway” (2017) 6(2) Global Journal of Comparative Law (Brill) 138.
3. Sole-authored- “Alberta, Canada, Royalty Review and Its Lessons for Resource Economies” (2017) 35(2) Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law (Taylor and Francis) 171.
4. Sole-authored- “Young Lawyers’ Career Prospects: Views on Canadian Energy Law Practice” (2017) 2 Careers Bulletin: Newsletter of the International Bar Association Section on Public and Professional Interest (International Bar Association) 11.
5. Sole-authored- “Hybrid Renewable Energy Support Policy in the Power Sector: The Contracts for Difference and Capacity Market Case Study” (2016) 95 Energy Policy (Elsevier) 390.
6. Sole-authored- “Home State Interests in the Regulation of Sovereign Wealth Fund” (2016) Fall Issue International Legal Research Informer (American Society of International Law) 7.
7. Sole-authored- “Peoples-based Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources: Toward Functional Distributive Justice?” (2015) 16(4) Human Rights Review (Springer) 343.
8. Co-authored with Odunola Akinwale Orifowomo- “Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law and the Climate Regime: From ‘Common but Differentiated Responsibilities’ to ‘Common but Differenced Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities” (2015) 5 University of Ibadan Journal of Public and International Law (University of Ibadan Faculty of Law) 1.
9. Sole-authored- “Global Clues for Choosing Suitable Support Systems for Renewable Energy in the Power Sector” (2015) 6(1) Renewable Energy Law and Policy Review (Lexxion) 25.
10. Co-authored with Bukola Ruth Akinbola- “Legal and Administrative Remedies in Environmental Law in Nigeria: Reform Proposition,” (2013) 1 Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti Law Journal 320.

SELECTED CONFERENCES

1. Energy and Environment in the 21st Century, Calgary, October 20, 2017 (presented a paper titled “Regulating Low Carbon Economies in Canada: Law and Governance,” and Chaired a Panel on Energy Markets and Regulation).
2. The Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law’s 3rd Annual INTLaw Conference, Winnipeg, April 25, 2017 (presented a paper titled “Law, Society, and the Regulation of Transnational Corporations in the Extractive Sector”).
3. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, June 2, 2016 (presented a paper titled “The Theory and Practice of Functional Distributive Justice: The Right of Participation and New Causes of Action”).
4. Conference of the Canadian Law and Society Association, Calgary, May 28, 2016 (presented a paper titled “Public Interest Regulation of Non-renewable Natural Resource Funds: A Comparative Analysis of the Alaska Permanent Fund, Alberta Heritage Trust Fund, and Government Pension Fund of Norway”)
5. Sabin Colloquium on Innovative Environmental Law Scholarship, New York, May 26, 2016 (presented a paper titled “Hybrid Renewable Energy Support Policy: What Can We Learn from the United Kingdom’s Contracts for Difference and Capacity Market”)
6. University of Prince Edward Island Multidisciplinary Graduate Research Conference, Charlottetown, August 6, 2015 (presented a paper titled “From Risk Analysis to Risk Governance: The Case Study of the Ebola Virus Disease”).
7. Environmental Policy Case Competition of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in partnership with Environmental Policy Institute, St John’s, February 24, 2015 (Co-presented a cabinet paper draft titled “Towards Minimizing Provincial Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Reducing Private Vehicle Operation through the Expansion of the Public Transit System in the St. John’s Census Metropolitan Area”)

Email: temitopeonifade@gmail.com

Rumi is a Ph.D. student in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), focusing on behavioral psychology applied to conservation and natural resource management in tropical landscapes. She is also a Liu Scholar at the Liu Institute for Global Issues and a UBC’s Four Year Doctoral Fellowship recipient. Drawing on her previous research experience over nine years in Indonesia, she is interested in understanding the complexity of human behaviors in conservation and land use, and investigating effective incentives and messaging strategies to address land-use challenges such as deforestation and peatland fires through behavior change. Her doctoral studies will rely on insights from cognitive principles and experiments in order to design behavioral interventions which aim to increase forest-dependent people’s awareness and attention on land-use challenges, and ultimately influence their decisions and actions for sustainability.

Prior to starting her doctoral studies at UBC, Rumi worked with an Indonesia-based consulting firm, Starling Resources, as a senior project manager on a number of projects, including land-use and forestry policies, reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) mechanisms, ecosystem restoration, peatland fire prevention, agroecology and community development throughout Indonesia and the Asia Pacific. She holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in New York, with a focus on Environmental Policy Studies for Southeast Asia.

Supervisors:

Dr. Jiaying Zhao cross-appointed at the Department of Psychology and IRES and Dr. Kai Chan from IRES

Email: rumisen@gmail.com

Prajna Rao is a PhD student in the School of Community and Regional Planning and is interested in infrastructure politics and everyday life in the city. Her doctoral research explores the relationship between transit infrastructures and urban ecologies in Mumbai, India. Prior to joining the program, she worked with city governments in central India to deliver and improve sustainable urban transit services. She has also worked on diverse community projects in India, Kenya and Zimbabwe. In Harare, she assessed the impacts of subsidized housing on overcrowding in low income households in and around the city. She worked on a similar project in Nairobi, where she led local youth groups in identifying design strategies for community improvement. Her work in Mumbai includes urban renewal plans for the inner city and decongestion proposals for railway station areas through collaborations with vendor communities.
Prajna holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Mumbai University, and a master’s degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University, NY.

I am PhD student at the UBC Department of Geography. My doctoral research focuses on the material outcomes of environmental science/politics and development practices in the temperate rainforests located in the South of Chile.

During my master’s research (2013-2015), I examined how rural water committees were facing longer periods of water shortage in Chile. The climate-induced decrease in rainfall and the industrial forest economy are prominent causes in the decreasing water yields; however, access to land and water is also highly restricted by concentration, economic speculation, and private nature conservation initiatives. Now, I attempt to investigate the ways in which the Chilean state is importing and crafting the necessary environmental science/policies for translating the temperate rainforests into a calculable entity, and how these attempts reach -or not- the material worlds of these forests, where a modern cycle of enclosures, privatizations, and legal frameworks are re-shaping the colonial-Mapuche relationship since the Chilean invasion of the south.

Before arriving to Vancouver, I lived in the South of Chile, where I studied and worked as research and teacher assistant at Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh, Valdivia). I also collaborated in projects related with rural development and small-scale forestry asked by the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO. My PhD program is supported by the Chilean Commission of Science and Technology by means of its scholarship program “Becas Chile”.

Email: fernanda.rojas.m@gmail.com

Gabriel is an engineer by training and an interdisciplinary by design. He is married with Adna Zas Friz and they have 4 boys. Gabriel´s work concerns sustainability in the extractive industry, focus in the social and environmental areas. He has been worked in different Latin America mining and oil & gas operations with management roles, as Freeport McMoran, Newmont, SSR Mining, BPZ Energy and MMG. He has experience too in the consultancy services as Peru Mining Director of ERM. During his work in the extractive industry he had the opportunity to manage extents sustainable development projects with the local communities and governments. He has been involved in the design of strategies for socio-environmental performance, stakeholder engagement process, external affairs management, the assessment of environmental and social impacts, the management of risk, the dialogue and negotiation for conflict resolution, land acquisition and resettlement and human rights with indigenous groups.

In his spare time, Gabriel enjoys to go camp in the forest, hunt and hiking in the mountains. He used to be a rugby player of the Peruvian national league, in the flanker position. Now he just plays it for fun and he will look to get involved with the UBC Thunderbirds.

Email: gabriel.castillo@alumni.ubc.ca

LinkedIn

Danielle Gendron is a doctoral student in the department of Anthropology. Her research explores: the embeddedness of history in place, multi-sensory/imaginative ethnographic methods, oral histories, Indigenous-settler relationships, and human-water relationships. Situating her research along/within the 386 km route of the Trent-Severn Waterway, a National Historic Site of Canada, she explores the palimpsest of narratives that articulate conceptualizations of the history and meanings of ‘Canada’. More broadly, her work aims to interrogate how human relationships with place play into the state of Indigenous-settler relationships in Canada.

Danielle’s PhD work builds off of her MA thesis wherein she investigated the emplacement of cultural knowledge within the land-based food system of Gitxaała Nation. Through an extension of her work, she is examining her own processes of research and idea generation through a collection of blog postings, which can be found here.

She completed a B.Kin and B.A. at McMaster University, and an MA at UBC. Her PhD supervisor is Dr. Leslie Robertson from the Department of Anthropology. Dr. Candis Callison from the Department of Journalism, and Dr. Shannon Walsh from the Department of Theatre and film sit on her committee.

Email: danielle.gendron@alumni.ubc.ca

Alexa Tanner is a PhD student at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, studying risk perceptions and decision-making around natural hazards. Her research examines various forms of distance to better understand how this influences risk perceptions, risk communication, and risk management preferences.

Her research currently pulls from lessons learned from other communities. For instance, she had the opportunity to study in Kumamoto, Japan to learn from a city that has had direct and recent  experience with multiple natural hazards (earthquakes and flooding). Additionally, she is working on a project surrounding seismic building performance, taking lessons from New Zealand’s recovery from recent earthquakes.

Through her work, Alexa hopes to better understand risk perceptions which, in turn, can aid in more informed decisions around natural hazard risks.

Email: alexa.tanner@ires.ubc.ca

Neila is a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Studies, her research engages with feminist postcolonial theory and critical ethnography to explore the social and cultural contexts of education in relation to Muslim/ immigrant and transnational youth. In her current two-year ethnographic research, she is focusing on the entanglements of multiculturalism, (im)migration, citizenship discourses and globalization and how they impact Muslim youth identities and their sense of belonging to Canada. Neila is conducting also a photovoice project with Muslim refugee girls to explore their perspectives on their identities, their sense of belonging, and their current school experiences in Canada.

Neila was awarded the SSHRC Joseph Armand Bombardier Doctoral Fellowship, the Killam Doctoral Award and the Public Scholar Initiative Award.

Neila holds an MA in Educational Administration and Leadership from UBC, has taught in several countries, and is actively involved in community organizations that participate in the Syrian refugees’ settlement in Vancouver.

Email: neila.miled@alumni.ubc.ca