Peter Dauvergne is Professor of Political Science, Canada Research Chair in Global Environmental Politics and Director of the Liu Institute. His research focuses on the politics of global environmental change, including current projects on sustainable consumption and corporate social responsibility. He has published 9 books and over 50 articles.
Jane Lister is a Research Fellow at the Institute. Her research focuses on corporate social responsibility, environmental policy, and resource governance. She has published Corporate Social Responsibility and the State and Timber (co-authored with Peter Dauvergne). Jane’s professional background includes over 20 years experience in the sustainability field including PriceWaterhouseCoopers where she helped companies across North America design and implement environmental strategies and programs.
Philippe Le Billon investigates the commodity networks linking spaces of exploitation, consumption and regulation. Such work involves dealing with the spatiality and materiality of resources and the political economy of their mode of production and appropriation. He looks at policy reforms in resource governance as well as international security and trade frameworks, notably to improve the accountability of governments and businesses, as well as the well-being and security of populations in resource-dependent countries.
Natasha Affolder is an Associate Professor at the UBC Faculty of Law. Her research focuses on diverse aspects of transnational environmental law, emphasizing the cross-cutting nature of environmental issues that transcend state borders but are not limited to interactions between states.
Lisa Sundstrom is an Associate Professor at the UBC Department of Political Science. Her research interests include democratization, human rights, the politics of international democracy assistance, NGO activism in both domestic and transnational politics, and comparative climate policy. Lisa has a current SSHRC-funded project exploring how non-governmental organizations in the emerging powers of Brazil, Russia, and China are reacting to the opportunities and challenges of new global governance.
Genevieve Le Baron researches corporations and forced labor in the global economy. She uncovers the global economic shifts that have led to an explosion of forced labor practices— including slavery, bonded, and child labor—among suppliers to major multi-national corporations (MNCs) inside global supply chains.
Michael Cody is with the Faculty of Law at UBC. His research focuses on approaching corporations, corporate law, and corporate regulation from a human and social perspective. His current project is investigating a collaborative learning loop process for corporate regulation that proposes that regulators and corporations would work together to try and change corporate cultures.
Sara Elder is with the Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability at UBC. She is interested in issues at the intersection of global economics, community development and the environment. Her most recent work examined the effects of Fair Trade certification on the social determinants of health of Rwandan coffee producers.
Carol Liao is with the Faculty of Law at UBC. Her research examines international corporate governance structures, corporate social responsibility, law and socio-economics, and the development of hybrid corporate models that blend for-profit and non-profit legal characteristics.
As well, the Institute works collaboratively with scholars interested in CSR from across UBC including:
Peter Nemetz – Professor in Strategy and Business Economics. Peter’s research interests include natural resource policy, specifically energy, environment and sustainability and international business. And David Cohen – Professor of business interested in sustainability, business and globalization; demographic drivers of consumer demand for housing and building materials; and Japan’s market for certified and/or legal wood products. Both Professors have advised the Institute through our CSR Network initiatives.
The Institute also works with community groups including:
- My Sustainable Canada
- David Suzuki Foundation
- ICSC (International Centre for Sustainable Cities)
- One Earth (consumption and production patterns locally, nationally and internationally)
- SCORAI (The Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative)
- SustainUBC (UBC student sustainability career conferences