You’re Invited! Sustainability Scholars Program Conference, October 2

CONFERENCE: RESEARCH TO ACTION: ADVANCING URBAN SUSTAINABILITY 2024

When: Wednesday, October 2, 2024 | 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Where: Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), 2260 West Mall, UBC Vancouver

Registration: Free to all. Registration closes October 1.

What happens when you give bright and engaged students real-world sustainability problems to solve?

UBC’s Sustainability Scholars are helping to make real change in the world! Join us on October 2 to learn more about what our local governments and institutions are doing to future-proof our people, our cities, our urban spaces, and the Fraser Estuary.

Be part of an afternoon of engaged discussion on a diverse range of applied sustainability projects produced by UBC graduate students in collaboration with our partner organizations, including the City of Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, many other local governments, Vancouver Coastal Health, Translink, and NGOs from across BC.

Scholars will present their projects in concurrent themed panel sessions throughout the afternoon. Panels will be moderated by experts from UBC and Sustainability Scholars Program partners.

Keynote Speaker: Andrea Reimer, a strong public voice in the metro region with a focus on working with residents to build green, reconciled, engaged communities and making government easy for the public to access is our keynote speaker.

Conference Website:
https://sustain.ubc.ca/events/research-action-advancing-urban-sustainability-2024

Register here:
https://events.humanitix.com/research-to-action-advancing-urban-sustainability-2024

About the Sustainability Scholars Program:
https://sustain.ubc.ca/teaching-applied-learning/ubc-sustainability-scholars-program

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Urgent: Looking for a Graduate Student Representative to sit on the LFS Curriculum Committee!

If you are interested please contact Dr. Sandra Brown at sandra.brown@ubc.ca

CONS 449 – The Literature of Forests, Environment, and Place

CONS 449 is a special topics course that will run January to April 2025 (W2), Mondays and Wednesdays 3:30-5pm. While this course is technically under the Forestry umbrella, LFS students would enjoy it as they will engage in a semester-long project of writing about a place species or phenomenon of their own choosing, and the course welcomes LFS-specific choices.

For more information you can email the instructor, Duffy Roberts, at duffy.roberts@ubc.ca and see the attachments in the email sent out or in this week’s Weekly Bulletin.

IRES Seminar: Thurs, Sept 19 with Dr. Holly Caggiano

Hi everyone,

Next week’s IRES Seminar is in the Beaty Museum Allan Yap Theatre:

September 19, 2024: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Holly Caggiano

Opposition or opportunity? The role of community benefits in just energy transitions

Location: Beaty Museum Allan Yap Theatre (Basement, 2212 Main Mall). Please check in at front desk on main floor before going downstairs.

No food or drinks allowed in the Theatre.

Time: 12:30pm to 1:20pm

Click here to register for Zoom link. Zoom will be terminated if we encounter tech problems 5 to 10 min into the seminar.

Talk summary:

As demand for distributed renewable energy generation has increased rapidly, so have conflicts over siting large-scale projects. Many wind and solar projects in the US and Canada have faced delays and cancellations that slow progress toward decarbonization goals. Meaningful community engagement and direct, verifiable benefits co-creation are necessary to avert these trends—and to ensure an equitable, rather than exploitative, energy transition. This talk will first examine recent findings from a survey of residents and local elected officials in Pennsylvania, USA that highlight how community benefits can build bipartisan support for energy infrastructure projects. Next, I will discuss emerging research on community benefits agreements, considering how new practices and policies might work to build shared value, prioritize justice, and expedite equitable energy development to mitigate climate change.

Dr. Holly Caggiano, Assistant Professor of Community and Regional Planning, UBC

Bio:

Holly Caggiano is an Assistant Professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. Her work explores social dimensions of climate change in the US and Canada, and currently focuses on planning for just energy transitions.

See you on Thurs, Sept 19!

_______________________________________________________________________________

Bonnie Leung

RES Program Support (she/her/hers)

Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES)

University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | Musqueam Traditional Territory

Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory (AERL Building)

Room 429 – 2202 Main Mall | Vancouver, BC | V6T 1Z4 | Canada

Email: bonnie.leung@ubc.ca

Tel: 604-822-9249

Call for Applications to the 2024-25 Liu Scholars Program

Applications for the Liu Scholars program are now open. Current UBC doctoral students in any year from any discipline are invited to apply.

The Liu Scholars program was first established in 2009 and seeks to bring together exceptional students who are interested in using their research and disciplinary expertise to work on public policy and global issues. Since 2021, the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) has been selecting students enrolled in a UBC Ph.D. program to carry out work on a few identified themes for the year. The projects will be carried out, in collaboration with, or under the mentorship of, one or more core faculty members at SPPGA. Preference would be given to students not already working with a SPPGA faculty member or having a SPPGA faculty member on their Ph.D. committees.

The themes for 2024-25 are social protection, development, food security, human rights, international trade, militarization, warfare, data, algorithmic governance, energy policy, and climate policy.

To apply for the Liu Scholar program, propose a project with a definite output (i.e., a paper, a report, gallery exhibition) to be carried out in collaboration with, or under the mentorship of, a member of the core faculty at SPPGA. Proposed projects should be clearly related to the proposed themes listed above and demonstrate relevance to public policy and global issues. Once accepted, you will be designated a Liu Scholar for one year, with the start date to be decided with the supervisor. An award amount of $2000 will be released at the end of the year, when you submit the output and your SPPGA mentor or collaborator approves it.
Applications are now open and will close on Friday, October 27, 2024. To learn more and to access the application form, please visit https://sppga.air.arts.ubc.ca/liu-scholars-application/.

For any additional questions regarding the Liu Scholars program or application process, please email Song Fu at mppga.program@ubc.ca.

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Thank you!

Best regards,

LFS G&PS Office

Information for Faculty of Land and Food Systems Graduate Students

Year: 2024