Faculty and CORU leader |
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Prof. William W. L. Cheung Expertise: Global change biology, ecological modelling, conservation biology, fisheries science. William Cheung develops and uses scenarios and models to understand the responses of marine ecosystems and fisheries to global change and explore options for solving sustainability challenges for seafood and marine biodiversity under climate change. His works cut across multiple disciplines, from natural to social sciences, and range from local to global scales. He is actively involved in international initiatives that bridge science and policy including being coordinating lead author/lead author in the assessment reports of the IPCC and IPBES. |
Senior Research Associates
Research Associates, Research Assistants, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Grad Students
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Dr. Colette Wabnitz Senior Research Associate Expertise: Understand how socio-ecological systems respond to change, and co-create strategies to optimize resilience that are equitable and sustainable. Areas of practice – with a particular focus on developing economies – include small-scale fisheries; global change; food and nutrition security; ecosystem approaches to policy; illegal fisheries and forced labor; sustainable development; marine genetic resources; ocean finance; ecosystem modelling; and ocean equity. Also holds a Research Associate position at Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions. |
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Dr. Vicky W.Y. Lam Senior Research Associate Expertise: Fisheries economics, climate change, adaptation, fishing effort dynamic, fisheries management, global change, vulnerability assessment, spatial analysis, sustainable development, cost of fishing. Vicky’s research interests lie in understanding the socio-economic impacts of global change on marine resources, fisheries and human well-beings. She is experienced in studying the socio-ecological vulnerability of coastal countries, communities and fishers to climate change, as well as exploring adaptation options. She is also interested in understanding the spatial dynamic of fishing effort and how the change in fishers’ behaviour would affect the harvest under climate change by using a modeling approach. |
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Dr. Gabriel Reygondeau Senior Research Associate Expertise: Marine biodiversity, biodiversity conservation, biogeography, macroecology oceanography. Areas of practice: Biogeography and macroecology including identification, characterization and modelling of ocean systems from local to global scales; linkages between physical, biogeochemical ocean conditions and marine biodiversity from plankton to top predator using explorative statistic for big data; quantification of anthropogenic perturbations; and implementation of conservation guidelines. |
Current MembersResearch Associates, Research Assistants, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Grad Students |
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Dr. Lydia Teh Research Associate Expertise: The human dimensions of marine ecosystems, socio-ecological systems analysis, biodiversity and conservation, with a special focus on small-scale fisheries. |
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Yulia Egorova Postdoctoral Research Fellow Expertise: Marine biodiversity, biodiversity conservation, biogeography, macroecology oceanography, Data Science, Course development, Curriculum Design. Areas of practice: Global biogeography of zooplankton; modeling linkages between physical, biogeochemical ocean conditions and marine biodiversity of plankton; development of interdisciplinary data science courses for medicine and earth and ocean sciences, and incorporating R programming and practical coding skills to address real-world challenges. |
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Julia Mayer Graduate Research Assistant Current project: Kelp seaforestation in British Columbia under climate change. Expertise: Oceanography; climate science; coastal ecosystems. Julia’s research focuses on assessing the vulnerability of British Columbia’s kelp habitat to climatic hazards and predicting where kelp could thrive in the future under various climate conditions along the coastline. She employs predictive models and scenarios for her investigations to enhance the public understanding of how restoring kelp can address critical issues such as climate change, biodiversity conservation, and food security. |
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Isabella Morgante Graduate Research Assistant Expertise: Climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and global fisheries, greenhouse gas emissions modeling, data science, and carbon offset analysis. Areas of practice: • Climate Impacts on Fisheries: Modeling and analyzing how extreme heat, ocean productivity shifts, and climate hazards impact global fish stocks and fisheries catches. • Emissions Data & Analytics: Developing statistical models to build and evaluate corporate greenhouse gas emissions datasets. • Carbon Offsets & Policy: Conducting interdisciplinary policy research on the effectiveness, transparency, and regulation of carbon offset projects in the Canadian context. |
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Dr. Muhammed Oyinlola Postdoctoral Research Fellow Expertise: Aquaculture science, Food systems modelling, socioeconomic scenarios development. Muhammed’s research aims to understand aquatic food systems potential contribution to future global seafood production, particularly under climate change. He engaged predictive models and scenarios for his research investigations. |
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Dr. Juliano Palacios Abrantes Postdoctoral Research Fellow Project: Fish do not need visas: Transboundary fish stocks and their management under climate change. Juliano looks to understand the impacts of climate change on transboundary fish stocks and fisheries (e.g., those that straddle between neighbouring territories) as well as their management, thereby informing international fisheries governance to prepare and respond to climate-driven shifts in species distributions. |
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Mahynour Saleh Graduate Research Assistant Mahynour’s research explores the impacts of climate change on food security and marine biodiversity conservation in the Tla’amin Nation and how nature and bio-cultural climate risk-reduction solutions can help mitigate such effects. |
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Kristen Sora Graduate Research Assistant Adaptation of the Beaufort Sea in the Canadian Arctic Under Rapid Environmental Changes. |
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Ambre Soszynski PhD Student Project: End-to-end ecological modelling of evolutionary dynamics on the West Coast of Canada under exploitation and climate change. Ambre is interested in the evolutionary dynamics of fish stocks under fishing and climate change, and how they might impact future marine ecosystems and food security for coastal BC communities. |
Alumni |
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Dr. Juan José Alava Postdoctoral Research Fellow Current position: Principal Investigator, Ocean Pollution Research Unit & Honorary Research Associate, University of British Columbia, Canada |
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Melanie Ang MSc Student Current position: Founder & CEO, Backcountry Wok, Vancouver |
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Patricia Angkiriwang Research Assistant Current position: Data Visualization Developer, Ember Energy, Vancouver |
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Adepa Annyang MSc Student Current position: First Nations Advisor, BC Ministry of Forests |
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Virginie Bornarel Research Assistant Current position: Postdoctoral Associate, Climate Studies Lab, University of British Columbia |
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Dr. Oai Li Chen Postdoctoral Research Fellow Current position: Postdoctoral Scholar & Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Texas State University |
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Dr. André Cisneros-Montemayor Postdoctoral Research Fellow Current position: Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University & Deputy Director, Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center |
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Dr. Tayler Clarke Postdoctoral Research Fellow Current position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow & Consultant, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia; Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Costa Rica |
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Dr. Hubert Du Pontavice Graduate Student Current position: Research Scientist, Ifremer (French Institute for Ocean Science), France |
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Dr. Tyler Eddy Graduate Student Current position: Research Scientist & Lead of The Life Aquatic Lab, Fisheries & Marine Institute, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada |
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Dr. Jose Fernandes Graduate Student Current position: Senior Researcher, AZTI Marine Research Division, Spain & Honorary Fellow, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, U.K. |
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Vianney Guibourd de Luzinais Graduate Student Current position: Marine Ecosystems & Climate Change Researcher |
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Dr. Miranda Jones Graduate Student Current position: Biology Teacher, Westminster School, London, United Kingdom |
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Charity Justrabo Research Assistant Current position: Marine Biologist & Research Analyst, Torngat Wildlife Secretariat / Oceans North, Canada |
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Dr. Ravi Maharaj Graduate Student Current position: Marine Ecological Modeler & Coastal Ecology Researcher |
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Dr. Gerald Singh Graduate Student Current position: Associate Professor & Ocean Nexus Chair, University of Victoria, Canada |
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Dr. Travis Tai Graduate Student Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), University of Victoria, Canada |
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Dr. Phil Underwood Graduate Student Current position: Ecological Modeler & Policy Specialist |
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Lauren Weatherdon Graduate Student Current position: Associate Director (Nature and Biodiversity), KPMG UK, London, U.K. |
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Xueying Yin PhD Student Current position: Coastal & Marine Ecosystem Researcher |