Flooding causes significant impacts to economic activities, disrupts and displaces populations and creates substantial risk to human safety. Recovery efforts from major flood events can be lengthy and have huge economic impacts both in loss of revenue and cost of repair and restoration. Changes in physical characteristics, economic practices and/or human actions can impact the […]

The Raincoast Conservation Foundation pursues conservation initiatives in coastal British Columbia through science, outreach, and sustainable economies, such as ecotourism informed by local knowledge and ecology. The success of wildlife viewing ecotourism greatly depends on knowing areas and time periods predictably ·used by target species. The goal of the proposed research is to inform initiatives […]

During the summer of 2015, I would like to replicate two of the intensive news-flow studies we conducted a decade ago on the Web sites of six daily newspapers, in order to assess whether any changes have occurred in the news maps these newspapers produce. Our initial studies — in 2003 and 2004 — were […]

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), also known as drone, is an emerging technology with a tremendous potential to enable new civilian applications. In a near future, the number and use of UAS will increase. They will play a significant role in many public missions such as border surveillance, wildlife surveys, military training, weather monitoring, and local […]

The proposed research focuses on imaging spectroscopy of geological materials encountered at mineral deposits. Imaging spectroscopy (also known as hyperspectral imaging) in the geosciences traditionally utilizes airborne or spaceborne platforms but ground-based studies at outcrop and smaller scales are becoming more common. This technique collects reflectance data as images, and allows quick analysis of specific […]

The goal of this research is to create a knowledge tool that can assist responders to act quickly and effectively in the event of a marine oil spill. In order to accomplish this goal, we will (1) develop a simple field test to gauge shoreline permeability in relation to stranded diluted bitumen on natural shorelines; […]

The focus of this project is to explore how livelihoods are affected when changes in ecosystem services within the Miyun watershed occur. Rural households depend on ecosystem services that the landscape provides for their livelihoods. If the availability of these resources were to change, a person’s livelihood may become more vulnerable. Determining possible ecosystem service […]

The proposed project will investigate the rise of grassroots resistance to industrial development in rural India. Research centres around a memorandum of understanding (MOU) negotiated in 2005 between the Government of Odisha (a coastal state in north-east India) and Pohang Steel Company of South Korea (POSCO) to construct the largest integrated steel plant in South […]

Four billion species are estimated to have evolved on Earth over the last 3.5 billion years, of which 99% are extinct. The end-Permian extinction is the largest extinction event that resulted in the elimination of 97% of oceanic species. The conditions that led to this devastating event are similar to the environmental changes we are […]

Cities emit approximately 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. It is therefore important to study how urban energy infrastructures can be transformed to lower carbon emissions. But this transformation is not simple for two reasons: (1) it involved variousactors with conflicting interests and visions on what the energy transition should be, […]

Using the case of Chengdu, this research is about neighbourhood redevelopment and residential relocation in post-reform cities of China. In this project, the key process is defined as state-facilitated, new-build gentrification. The thesis attempts to understand why politicaleconomic actors initiate gentrification in the inner city, how consensus building is achieved, conflicts are mediated, and what […]

The Salish Sea is a temporally and spatially dynamic coastal ocean under strong influence from terrestrial and oceanic inputs, and of major economic importance, due in part to fisheries. The Salish Sea is highly productive, especially from early spring to summer when resident and migratory fish populations are either spawning or entering. The interannual productivity […]