External Research Associates

Eric Abitbol is an academic-practitioner in the field of environmental peacebuilding, housed in IPCR (International Peace and Conflict Resolution) and GEP (Global Environmental Politics) at American University. Specializing in Israeli-Palestinian relations, his recent work analyses the discursive practices of Israeli and Palestinian water practitioners, assessing hydropolitical peacebuilding, hydrohegemony and hydrohegemonic residues. He is currently sharing the leadership of a collaborative North-South research project intent on assessing the effects of Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA). He is also pursuing research on the constructions of sustainability as cultural violence, with specific reference to asymmetric conflict environments.

Christina Cook is a Science Officer for Synthesis & Foresight at the Future Earth Secretariat. She is based in Montreal. Christina’s work concentrates on understanding the institutions of environmental governance, with a focus on water. After her postdoctoral fellowship she joined the University of Oxford to work as a researcher on a multidisciplinary project on drought and water scarcity in the UK. While at Oxford she became a programme coordinator for a consortium of projects researching drought and water scarcity and worked to synthesize and integrate research across disciplines. Trained as a lawyer and social scientist and holding an undergraduate biology degree, Christina brings both scientific literacy and legal problem solving skills to her work on environmental governance. She has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and North America.

His work seeks to combine and connect human development, development ethics, and public policy. Main areas of application considered are climate change, migration, and planning/evaluation methods. ‘Human development’ refers to here human-centred socio- economic developmen, including extension of people’s ability to live in ways which there is reason to value. This field links to work on human rights and human security, and he works on such links, both in theoretical and ’applied’ research.

Piero Genovesi gained a Masters degree in 1989 and a PhD in 1993 in Animal Ecology at the University of Rome, carrying on research on carnivore ecology. He is Senior Scientist with the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Italy (formerly INFS - Italian Wildlife Institute), focusing on carnivore conservation and alien species. He has worked closely with several international institutions (such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on Migratory Species, the Council of Europe, the European Commission, and the European Environmental Agency) to develop guidelines and policies on the management of alien species. Since 2009 Piero chairs the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (www.issg.org). He has led several international research programs, is a co-author of the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species, and has authored books and papers published in various journals including Nature, Science, PLoS ONE, PNAS.

Christopher Gore is an Associate Professor at Ryerson University, Department of Politics and Public Administration. He is also a faculty associate of two graduate programs and one research centre: Environmental Applied Science and Management, Immigration and Settlement Studies, and the Centre for Studies of Food Security. His broad research interests relate to the politics and policy of environmental and urban issues in North America and Sub-Saharan Africa, and the role of technology in influencing policy debates and outcomes. He is interested in how different forms of knowledge influence policy and decision-making systems, and how different interests from different scales interact in these systems.

Dr. William V. Kennedy has over 30 years of experience in environment, transport and banking in Europe, North America and the developing world. From 2003 thru 2006 he served as Executive Director of NAFTA’s North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and is currently serving as an Environmental Advisor to the US Millennium Challenge Corporation and as Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal. Until 2003, he was Head of the Environmental Policy and Strategy Unit of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London and has held senior posts with the Dutch ministries of Environment and Foreign Affairs, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Shane Mulligan is the owner of Radicle Consulting, a firm specialized in renewable energy, co-op development and project management.  His research interests are energy policy and energy security, global environmental politics, biofuels and food security.  With a PhD from the University of Cambridge, Dr. Mulligan has taught at Concordia University and the University of Victoria.

Cristina Romanelli works with the United Nations Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) where she coordinates the CBD joint work programme with the World Health Organization. Her work focuses on global sustainability policy in the areas of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and human health, strengthening capacity to support the implementation of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. She has organized regional capacity-building workshops on biodiversity and human health, co-convened by CBD and WHO, spanning some 60 countries across the Americas and Africa regions. 

Prior to joining the CBD (in 2010), she worked as a senior sustainability consultant specialized in sustainability policy and climate change, representing public, non-governmental and private sector clients in over 35 energy regulatory proceedings across North America. Her work is supported by over 15 years of experience in policy evaluation and development, multi-stakeholder engagement, and two masters in environmental assessment and international relations. She is also a research fellow with United Nations University International Institute for Global Health. As a doctoral researcher at University College London in the UK her doctoral research focuses on the science-policy interface of biodiversity conservation, human health and sustainable development.

Tonia Ruppenthal earned her Doctorate in Business Administration, Management from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. In addition to her PhD, she holds a Master and Bachelor in Economics and Public Administration.

Dr. Ruppenthal joined Fulda University of Applied Science, Germany as Professor in Management, Business Administration and Economics in 2013. In 2014 and 2015, she was appointed Program Director of the MSc Program ”International Food Business and Consumer Studies” and of the MSc European Joint Degree Program ”Sustainable Food Systems“. These two purely English spoken programs are characterized by multidisciplinary approaches at the interface between agriculture, food business and consumer science within an international and a sustainable context. The goal of these programs is to qualify students to take on professional tasks in national and international enterprises in the food business as well as food certification organizations. She has taught as guest lecture at ISARA-Lyon, France. Her research focuses on innovation, sustainable management and assessment in the food industry, attempts to lasting measurement of performance indicators for the food sector as well as ecological certification and bio labelling. One particular interest lies on spirituality linked to leadership and sustainability.

Prior to her academic career, she worked in Germany for the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, in the healthcare industry for one of the largest health insurance companies as well as for the Federal Employment Agency.

Dr. Peter Stoett (Ph.D., Queens University) is the founder of the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, where he served as Director until the summer of 2017, when he left Concordia to become Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. During his time at Concordia, he served as chair and beloved professor in the Department of Political Science, as well as providing his vision and inspiration to the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre.

Dr. Stoett's main areas of expertise include international relations and law, global environmental politics, and human rights; he is especially interested in critical perspectives on the many nuanced intersections between these themes. Current research focuses on transnational environmental crime, marine pollution prevention, climate justice, and Canadian-American environmental relations. He has also worked extensively on biodiversity conservation, and genocide and war crimes prevention and punishment.

Dr. Stoett has written, co-written and co-edited more than 10 books and more than 55 peer reviewed articles, chapters in edited books, and occasional papers. He has conducted research in Europe (including the Balkans), eastern, southern and western Africa, central America and Asia, and has worked closely with many institutions including the United Nations (UN), the Canadian government and the Hague Institute for Global Justice.

Dr. Owen Temby (Ph.D. Carleton, 2012) is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His research program involves the study of foreign and domestic environmental policy and management in the Canada and the United States.  

Jean-Patrick Toussaint brings over 15 years of combined experience in environmental sciences and project management. With a background in ecology, he obtained his PhD in plant and soil sciences from the University of Adelaide, Australia, before undertaking a Postdoctoral fellowship in environmental microbiology at the National Research Institute (INRS – Institut Armand-Frappier, QC). From 2010 to 2016, Jean-Patrick worked as Science Project Manager at the David Suzuki Foundation, a Canadian NGO dedicated to creating a sustainable future through science-based research, education and policy work. Under this role, he worked with various stakeholders, ranging from scientists to policy makers, NGOs and public media, to increase awareness on environmental issues in Quebec and Canada, as well as to strengthen and improve environmental policies in topics such as energy, climate and natural assets.

Jean-Patrick Toussaint possède plus de 15 ans d'expérience en sciences environnementales et en gestion de projet. Ayant une formation en écologie, il a obtenu son doctorat en sciences végétales et des sols de l'Université d'Adélaïde, en Australie, avant d'entreprendre des recherches postdoctorales en microbiologie environnementale à l'Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS - Institut Armand-Frappier, QC). De 2010 à 2016, Jean-Patrick a travaillé comme Chef de projets scientifiques à la Fondation David Suzuki, une ONG canadienne dédiée à la création d'un avenir durable par le biais de la recherche scientifique, l'éducation et le plaidoyer politique. En vertu de ce rôle, il a travaillé avec divers intervenants, allant des scientifiques aux décideurs politiques, aux ONG et les médias, le tout dans le but de sensibiliser la population sur les questions environnementales au Québec et au Canada, ainsi que de renforcer et améliorer les politiques environnementales dans des sujets tels que l'énergie, le climat et le capital naturel.

Scott Vaughan is President and Chef Executive Officer of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a mandate he began in April, 2013. Prior to joining IISD, he was Canada’s federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development for five years.  Previously, he was the Director of the Department of Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C.; a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; the Head of Economics at the NAFTA Environment Commission; and Counsellor at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva. He held various positions with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), including initiating both the UNEP Financial Initiative and UNEP’s work on trade issues.

Veening studied political science, economics and social psychology at the University of Amsterdam. After working as policy adviser at the Dutch Ministry of the Environment, he became policy director at the Netherlands Committee for IUCN/World Conservation Union, where he dealt with the environmental policies of multilateral finance and donor institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF, the Global Environment Facility and the European Union.
As co-founder and Chairman of the Institute for Environmental Security (2003) in The Hague (located opposite the Peace Palace) he now focuses on the policy and legal responses to security risks emanating from environmental degradation in key regions of the world.

(MASc Candidate)

Miguel is interested in the inclusion of stakeholders in decision-making in both corporate and policy areas. The main objective of his current research is to find ways to analyze the conversation about environmental issues integrating a decision-analytic framework. Miguel is currently pursuing this research as a MASc student in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering (MIAE) at Concordia University under the supervision of Dr. Ketra Schmitt.     

(PhD Candidate)

Mark Kwakye Frimpong works on the politics of energy reform in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa experiences recurring energy crises characterized by unreliable services, limited access, and high cost of power. These problems persist in spite of more than two decades of reforms across the continent. Explaining the underlying conditions shaping energy reforms requires a nuanced understanding of the endogenous institutional and political contexts driving policy processes. Mark is undertaking a comparative analysis of the interactions between institutions, political dynamics, and energy reforms. Inadequate and unreliable energy supplies impede the potential for economic development. To overcome this challenge, reforms must understand constraints and opportunities arising from both institutional arrangements and political dynamics. Mark's current research addresses this goal. His previous research examined private sector participation in environmental sanitation and energy. Mark is doing his Ph.D. in Political Science under the supervision of Dr. Amy Poteete.

The title of Mark's thesis project is Energy Crises, Institutions and Reforms in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

For more information, contact Mark.  

(PhD Candidate)

Cheryl Gladu works on Collaborative Housing (cohousing), a form of intentional community that is co-developed, -designed, and –managed by its occupants. The finished communities have been described as “high-functioning neighbourhoods,” with a great deal of planned and spontaneous sharing of resources. The sustainable design innovations of these communities rarely rely on technology, but rather on design that facilitates human interdependence and collaboration. Using mix-methods, Cheryl’s research aims to document and better understand the processes used to successfully develop and manage cohousing projects in Canada, with a particular interest in the processes used to build a sense of community among participants.  She is working in the INDI progam under the supervision of Drs. Raymond Paquin, Paul Strivastava, Carmela Cucuzella, and Martin Racine.

The title of Cheryl's thesis project is The Architecture of trust: Collaborative design and the establishment of trust in Canadian cohousing communities.

For more information, visit www.cgladu.com or contact Cheryl.  

(MSc Candidate)

Maida's research focuses on corporate contributions to climate change in the form of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as company activity pathways within the framework of a 2-degree global carbon budget. Her work involves analyzing reported greenhouse gas emissions, specifically carbon dioxide for the 2015 fiscal year with the aim of providing sector activity pathways following the 2-degree carbon budget which fundamentally assumes serious and immediate climate change mitigation action by companies. Maida is also interested in issues related to (the lack of) reporting and regulation of corporate emissions and other matters of transparency.  She is working in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment under the supervision of Drs. Damon Matthews and Raymond Paquin.

The title of Maida's thesis project is Corporate Greenhouse Gas Contributions to Climate Change and Sectoral Activity Pathways following a 2-degree Global Carbon Budget.

For more information, visit www.linkedin.com/in/maida-hadzi or contact Maida and see the video about this work.

(MSc Candidate)

Alexandre is researching the past climate of the interior of the Gaspésie peninsula using trees, a field called dendroclimatology. In seasonal climates, trees annually put on a ring of growth and one of the main factors affecting this growth is climate.  He is analyzing the ring width and growth patterns of hundreds of trees in the Gaspésie National Park to gain an understanding of the moisture and temperature patterns centuries into the past.  Alexandre spends his summers searching for the oldest trees in the valleys and peaks of the Gaspésie National Park with hopes of helping  the park better understand the paleoclimate in order to better manage their resources and wildlife. He is currently pursuing this research as a MSc student in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University under the supervision of Dr. Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques.    

The title of Alexandre's thesis is Reconstructions of climate in the Gaspésie using tree-ring proxies.                                            

Contact Alexandre. 

(Ph.D. student)

Keroles' research develops new materials for stereolithography 3D-printing that are photo-stable. Current materials are too sensitive to sunlight that they break apart within months. Keroles is working in the INDI progam under the supervision of Dr. Paula Wood-Adams.

Keroles is also leading the "Waste Not, Want Not" compost collaboration. The collaboration is between students (GISA), faculty (LSRC), and administration (EH&S). The collaboration entails students and faculty organizing an education campaign while the administration improves infrastructure by making compost bins more widespread, and implementing on-site composting.

Contact Keroles.

Visit Keroles' blog.

 (Ph.D. Candidate)

Stéphanie holds a BSc. in Biology from McGill University (2004). She is specialized in tropical marine ecology, focusing on coral reef ecosystems and conservation. During an exchange at the University of Queensland, Stéphanie conducted an independent study on the sub-lethal effects of coral bleaching on Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. In 2006, she took on a position as a marine biologist with a Belizean NGO. In 2007, she worked as a research assistant on a long-term, large-scale shark project across Belize with the Wildlife Conservation Society. These experiences led Stéphanie back to McGill to begin an MSc. in Natural Resource Sciences to explore “Social factors affecting shark conservation management on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef: the case of Belize” under the supervision of Dr. G. Hickey. She is currently pursuing this research as a PhD student in the INDI program at Concordia University under the supervision of Drs. Monica Mulrennan, Peter Stoett, and Grant Brown.

The title of Stéphanie's thesis is Working at the interface to inform successful policies in shark conservation and management in Belize.

Contact Stéphanie.

(PhD Candidate)

Hami’s research focuses on contexts involving significant, large-scale change. Specifically, he is motivated to contribute to the institutional perspective in the field of level change. His research revolves around the questions of “Why some issues trigger the field-level changes while others fail to do so?” or “What is the process of field level change in our main socio-technical systems (e.g. water sector, energy sector and transpiration system)”. By linking both structural issues (exogenous shocks, context and time) and endogenous activities (agency, practice and policy) together, he aims to formulate a comprehensive framework to address the process of transition toward sustainability in a focal sector. Theoretically, his research lies at the intersection of social innovation, institutional, and sustainable transition theories. Empirically, his research focuses on sustainable emerging technologies such as smart grid, e-cars, solar panels, and e-bikes in various context. He is currently pursuing this research as a PhD student in the Department of Management at Concordia University under the supervision of Drs. Rajshree Prakash and Raymond Paquin.    

The title of Hami's thesis is Dynamic of change in transition toward sustainability; Insights from institutional theory.

Contact Hami.