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Accolades, Awards and Acknowledgements

Sheila Colla was awarded the President's Research Impact Award at the annual Research Awards Celebration held this September. The award recognizes full-time, active faculty members whose body of research or scholarship has translated into a notable impact on communities, individuals, public policies or practice, or translated successfully into impactful commercial or other applications, while significantly and positively contributing to the University’s research culture and reputation. She also won this year’s for her role in encouraging others to understand and enthusiastically support conservation and protect the environment. She is one of the first Canadians to quantitatively document the decline of the wild bee which resulted in the rusty-patched bumblebee to be the first federally listed endangered bee in Canada.

Colla is an award-winning and is a lead partner in , a successful community science project. She also received a donation (pledged over three years) from an anonymous donor to support the Bee Conservation in Human-Impacted Lands project. The research aims to work holistically and interdisciplinarily to enhance pollinator conservation in human-impacted lands and builds off previous work in Ontario apple orchards, vineyards and in Toronto and Guelph. The project will employ highly qualified research personnel (graduate students, post-docs, or research assistants) and will be combined with Colla’s other grants for field costs to undertake research projects that address the knowledge gaps in this field of work.

Also recognized for their research excellence are Linda Peake, Roger Keil and Peter Victor.

Peake received the 2023 AAG Lifetime Achievement Honors Award for her scholarly contributions to feminist and urban geographies and for a career dedicated to extending equity, diversity, and inclusion at 91��ɫ and across the discipline of geography. Keil was recognized for his appointment as . Victor was recognized for leading a successful SSHRC Partnership Grant on , an international and interdisciplinary partnership that aims to teach, apply, decolonize, and improve upon the measurements of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity.

Muna Udbi Ali and Mahtot Gebresselassie are recipients of that enable researchers to develop new research questions as well as experiment on new theoretical approaches and methods.

Ali's project on "Bridging gaps, building futures: Exploring the impact of Black faculty cluster hires in Canadian universities" aims to offer solutions to support the recruitment and retention of Black faculty and will offer a model for what future cluster hiring might look like for other equity-deserving groups in universities and other public institutions.

Gebresselassie's project on "Toward an understanding of intersectional factors affecting disabled persons’ travel via Uber and Lyft across urban and suburban contexts in the Greater Toronto Area" aims to investigate issues of disability access and inclusion in ride hailing services like Uber and Lyft in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada leveraging the experience gained from leading a nationwide study in the United States about wheelchair users, Uber and Lyft services.

Jennifer Hyndman, Carlota McAllister, Joseph Mensah and Patricia Wood are recipients of that build knowledge and understanding about people, societies and the world from disciplinary, interdisciplinary and/or cross-sector perspectives leading to intellectual, cultural, social and economic influence, benefit and impact.

Hyndman's project on "Refugee dreams, small town realities: Interrogating the ruralization of refugee resettlement to smaller centres in Canada" aims to generate more comprehensive theory and evidence base for immigration and refugee resettlement policy that is accountable to government goals, available support services and infrastructure for the refugee newcomers, and the aspirations, motivations and plans of the newcomers themselves.

McAllister's project on "A Riparian Mode of Politics: Environmental Struggles and Watery Sovereignties in Post-Uprising Chile" will examine how rivers become allies in movements against the dispossession of Indigenous, peasant, and poor urban communities. Examining how activists invoke and perform the slogan that "water is life" in their defense of rivers, it seeks to discern the challenge that a riparian mode of politics presents to the state and the state's capacity to secure a future for life itself in the context of climate change.

Mensah's project on "Gender dimensions of transnational ageing among Black African immigrants in Canada: Exploring the geographies of identity and belonging" will explore how ageing and immigration intersect to produce gendered situations of identification and belonging among Black Africans in Canada, drawing on the experiences of Ghanaians and Somalis in Toronto and Edmonton. It will offer policy suggestions to support the social embeddedness of these migrants to enhance their sense of identity, belonging, and wellbeing.

Wood's project on "Modalities of Mobility: Infrastructural Citizenship and Urban Rail Transportation in Canada, Spain, and India" aims to understand rail transportation as a public asset, as urban public space, and as an exercise of democratic governance. The project will address a gap in policy and scholarship with an examination of modes of governance, both formal and informal, through the lens of urban citizenship and from the perspective of those most in need of a just transition.

Richard Bello, Tarmo Remmel and Kaz Higuchi are co-applicants in a successful funded project on “Accurate Forest Carbon Quantification from SEO to Drive Nature-based Climate Solutions” led by Lassonde professor in Earth Science & Engineering, Baoxin Hu.

The multidisciplinary team will address and create solutions for carbon stock in forest ecosystems and will exploit Satellite Earth Observation (SEO) data to develop artificial intelligence (AI) methods that can accurately quantify carbon flux and stocks in Canadian forests.

The project is motivated by the urgent demand for accurate information regarding carbon sequestered forest ecosystems, as well as the need for highly qualified personnel (HQP) with particular skills and knowledge to help tackle climate change.

Raju Das' book on (2022) was given The Distinguished Achievement Award in Political Economy for the Twenty-First Century by the World Association for Political Economy. The book examines the capitalist state in the abstract, and as it exists in advanced capitalism and peripheral capitalism, illustrating the ideas with evidence from the North and the South. His new edited book with Tom Brass on (2024) will be launched on Thursday, October 3, 10- 11:30am, Rm 519, Kaneff Tower, 91��ɫ. Everyone welcome!

Das has also been awarded a Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health Research seed grant for his project “Scorching Sites: Examining the Health Impacts of Climate Change on Construction Workers.” The grant is offered by the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at 91��ɫ.

Roger Keil along with Xuefei Ren (Michigan State University), David Kaufman (ETH Zurich), Philippe Koch (City of Zurich) and Sebastien Lambelet (University of Geneva/City Institute postdoc fellow) received a for their collaborative project on "Future-Proofing “Climate Boomtowns”: Lessons from Geneva, Zurich, Chicago and Toronto."

The pilot project will examine how cities’ climate action plans have addressed infrastructural vulnerability in two North American and two Swiss cities—Toronto, Chicago, Zurich, and Geneva. It will investigate both formal policies and community initiatives aimed to reduce carbon emission and improve resilience in the infrastructure sector, such as energy, water, transport, and buildings. The project responds to CIFAR’s Humanity’s Urban Future program’s call to study “infrastructure (both material and institutional), political divisions, questions of scale, climate change and other potential crises” that will shape cities’ future-proofing capabilities.

Jennifer Korosi and Joshua Thienpont are co-applicants in a successful on Lake Nipigon Cumulative Impacts Partnership led by Lakehead University professor Robert Stewart from the Department of Geography and Environment. The project goal is to advance reconciliation for freshwater governance in Canada through a partnership between Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishnaabek (BZA), Lakehead University, and 91��ɫ to understand the cumulative effects of resource development on Lake Nipigon.

The partnership will produce the most comprehensive western science assessment to date of ecosystem change in Lake Nipigon, and the first to be co-produced to center Indigenous knowledge and worldviews. The impact will be enhanced capacity in BZA for participation in governance and decision-making in the Lake Nipigon basin through a deeper understanding of ecosystem changes and their cumulative effects, and an ability to express concerns to non-Indigenous groups using their own scientific data.

Leora Gansworth, PhD Geography graduate student, has been awarded the . The award gives recognition to high quality graduate research that furthers understanding of the geography of Canada. As per citation, "Leora’s dissertation project, 'Anguilla rostrata, our teacher: Addressing Anishnabe epistemicide through eels,' was an ambitious and important project in its content and its methodology. Her research includes gathering and synthesizing knowledge from different Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples in multiple sites. She grounds this work in Indigenous law, especially Anishnaabe law, and in Indigenous cosmologies and epistemologies that include eels as knowing subjects and as teachers. Drawing on scholarship in science, social sciences, and the humanities, her work brings a more fundamental shift in political ecology and our understandings of law, not just through the incorporation of more Indigenous knowledge, but in the ways in which she contemplates how Indigenous and non-Indigenous modes of knowing might engage each other."

Five EUC graduate students -- Hillary Birch, Ana Carolina de Almeida Cardoso, Nilanjana Ganguli, Romeo Quintero and Brian Waters received the 2024-2025 Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholarships. The scholarship is granted annually to graduate students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement in global health research and supports research and related scholarly and creative activities in line with the three themes of the Institute – planetary health, global health and humanitarianism, and global health foresighting.

Birch is a PhD candidate in environmental studies. Her doctoral project on "More than Access: Global Health and the Urban Governance of Water Quality in Lusaka" focuses on the complexities and contradictions of efforts by global health actors to improve water quality in Lusaka, Zambia, where rapid urbanization and climate change leave many urban residents facing serious health consequences associated with poor sanitary conditions. Her research aims to inform how global health projects in water and sanitation can contribute to more sustainable urban futures by better supporting disease outbreak preparedness and the delivery of good quality drinking water for all.

De Almeida Cardoso is pursuing a PhD in environmental studies. Her doctoral research on "(de) Colonizing the Future: Climate Struggles and Resistance in the Era of the Anthropocene" explores the concept of “colonization of the future” and its onto-epistemic implications, framing the climate crisis as a site of struggles for future(s). She holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and a bachelor’s degree in law from Fundação Getulio Vargas. Her research interests lie at the intersections between coloniality, modernity and “nature,” with particular focus on climate governance and politics, the Anthropocene and decolonial futures.

Ganguli is a PhD candidate in environmental studies. She brings a unique blend of skills in biotechnology and environmental studies to her doctoral research. Her research on "Modelling Health Impacts of Climate Change" takes an intersectional system thinking approach to modelling the gendered health impacts of climate change in Malawi’s capture fisheries. She worked in the mining sector for six years in West Africa, where she was involved in multiple facets of the business, including human resources, communications and corporate social responsibility. While working in the mining industry, she recognized a need for better integration of health into corporate social responsibility plans, which inspired her to return to academia to learn about the intricate relationships between the environment and human health.

Quintero is a PhD Geography candidate and . He is a research associate at the Centre for Refugee Studies and 91��ɫ Centre for Asian Research. He holds a master of arts in women’s and gender studies from Carleton University and a bachelor of social science (honours) in international development and globalization from the University of Ottawa. His doctoral project "Building Liveable Futures in Camps: Everyday Placemaking Practices of Internally Displaced Women in the Southern Philippines" will examine the experiences of those living in resettlement and transitory sites for internally displaced persons in areas of the Southern Philippines affected by armed conflicts.

Waters is also a PhD candidate in Geography and a . He holds two master’s degrees from the University of Illinois – one in agricultural economics and another in urban planning. His research on "Seasonal Variation of Water Security within the Informal Settlements of Freetown, Sierra Leone" explores how seasonality is a core component of water security. For the past four years, he has been working in the capital city on decentralized water infrastructure, specializing in community-engaged and mixed-methods research. His research aims to demonstrate how measurements and engagements at different points of the year yield varying results. In addition, by following households and individuals throughout the year, the project aims to understand directly how the changing “waterscape” of a community affects accessibility for water gatherers and water managers.

Stefanie Kiriazis, MA Geography student, won the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) Geographies of Health and Health Care Study Group’s paper presentation contest (master’s level) in 2024. Her paper titled "Chronically excluded: Public toilet access for youth with gastrointestinal illness" was presented at Memorial University in St. John's, based on her thesis research.

provide a forum for members to focus on their particular subject in geography and to organize special paper sessions at the CAG annual meetings. Specifically, the Health and Health Care Study Group facilitates the exchange of ideas and information among researchers interested in health geography issues.

In addition, four Geography graduate students won CAG's GIS Study Group Presentations in 2024. They include Barbara Kerr (MSc and NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship awardee) whose research focuses on "Process- versus pattern-based measures of fragmentation: A simulated sensitivity analysis that has been nominated for a thesis prize; Nadia Keshmiri whose research focuses on "Boreal fire disturbance boundary characterization through space and time"; Philip Lynch whose dissertation research focuses on identifying new remote sensing spectral enhancements useful for tracking post-harvest and post-fire regeneration using Ontario's managed boreal forest as a study area; and Saeideh Sahebivayghan whose research focuses on "Neural networks for quantifying and mapping natural fire risk in boreal forests. All of the student awardees work with Tarmo Remmel in his Pattern Analytics Through Technology for Environmental Research - Network (PATTERN Lab).

Warm welcome to our new visiting scholar Käthe Ploeger. She is a master's student in International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam and collaborating with Phyllis Novak, Director of EUC's Maloca Community and Native Plant Gardens, on a project titled "Power, Justice, and Food Sovereignty: A Study of Urban Agriculture Through a More-than-human Lens in Toronto, Canada."

Her research aims to explore the relationships between humans and nature in urban agriculture through a more-than-human political ecology approach. It seeks to broaden the concept of environmental justice and promote food sovereignty beyond a colonial and anthropocentric viewpoint paving the way for a more just and sustainable (urban) future.

Publications and Reports

Asgary, A., Naeemi, P., Ganguli, N. et al. (2024). . International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 15, 521–535.

Attia, C.-M., & Flicker, S. (2024).  Sexualities, 0(0).

Basu, R., & Rojas, L. I. (2024). , May. Human Geography, 0(0).

Brass, T., & Das, R. J. (Eds, 2024). (Vol. 287). BRILL.

Das, R. J. (2024). in World Marxist Review. Summer, Vol. 2. No. 2.

Flicker, S., Owino, M., and MacEntee, K. (2024).. In: Mitchell, C., Sadati, S.M.H., Starr, L.J., Roy, S. (eds) , Vol 10. Springer, Singapore.

Ganguli, N., Subic, A.M., Janani Maheswaran, J., and Talukder, B. (2024). Global Health Journal, Volume 8, Issue 1, 4-10.

Gebresselassie, M. (2024). Disability & Society, 1–6.

Gebresselassie, M. (2025). , Travel Behaviour and Society, Volume 38, 2025, 100891.

Gibson S.D., Onuferko, T.M., Myers L., and Colla S.R. (2024). . PeerJ 12:e17401.

Haritaworn, J. (2024). . Communication, Culture & Critique, tcae022.

Hoskin, G.N., Thienpont, J.R., Phuong Do, P.H., Coleman, K.A., and Korosi, J.B. (2024). , 102437.

Lakhan, C. (2024). . Working Paper. Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change.

Lakhan, C. (2024). . International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science. 6. 2582-5208. 10.56726/IRJMETS61250.

Lakhan, C. (2024). . World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, 13(01), 112–131.

Oliver, V., and Flicker, S. (2023). . Sex Education, 24(3), 369–384.

Olusola, A., Ogunjo, S.T., and Adelabu, S. (2024). in , Ist Ed., edited by Ana Maria Ferreira da Silva et al. London: CRC Press.

Orimoloye, I. R., Afuye, G., Obateru, R., Bodunrin, I. R., Babalola, T., & Olusola, A. O. (2024).  . Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12, 1414336.

Peake, L., Razavi, N. and Smyth, A. (2025). Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.

Podmore, J.A., and Bain, A. L. (2024). in edited by Ronald K. Vogel. Edward Edgar Publishing.

Rahder, B.S. (2024). . Friesen Press Editions.

Ross, T.R., Thiemann, G.W., Kirschhoffer, B.J. et al. (2024). Animal Biotelemetry 12, 18.

Sandhu, R., A. Rougeot, P.D. Josephy, D. Dolan, C. Emenike, T.K. Takaro, L.M. Leon and G.S. Fraser (2024). . Opinion piece for Evidence Based Toxicology 2(1).

Sandilands, C. (2024). and in “Queering Nature” Issue 63 (Spring) and Issue 64 (Summer) of

Scott, D. N. (2024). . Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper No. 4937536. August.

Scott, D. N. et. al (2024). "". Osgoode's Annual Constitutional Cases Conference. 19. Video.

Speiran, S. I. M., and Hovorka, A. J. (2024). "" Sustainability 16, no. 16: 7155.

Tissier, M. L., Blair, C., MacKell, S., Adler, L. S., MacIvor, J. S., Bergeron, P., Callaghan, C., Labrie, G., Colla, S. and Fournier, V. (2024). . Journal of Pollination Ecology, 36, 122–134.

Wordsworth, A.M. (2025). . First Edition. Routledge: Informa UK Ltd.

Young, K. L. and Brown, L. C. (2024), , Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 28, 3931–3945,

EUC Events and Media Coverage

EUC recently celebrated the book launch of  by Professor Emerita and former Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) Dean .

The memoir is a coming-of-age story set in the iconic time and place of 1960s San Francisco and weaves one young woman’s experience during a transformative time with unflinching observations on gender, race, and power. Sad, funny, painful, and always very real, Barbara’s story brings a new, critical perspective to the hippie era! Everyone welcome!

"This era and its concerns have been well-covered, particularly in the memoir genre, but Rahder has a better claim to it than most. Always within a few blocks of the beating heart of the scene, she eschews self-mythologizing in favor of thoughtful vignettes and succeeds in turning many hippie cliches back into fresh moments of truth." - Kirkus Review

On Thursday, October 3, 10-11:30am, Raju Das along with Tom Brass and other contributors will be launching their new book (2024). This festschrift addresses issues central to political economy ranging from globalization, employment, migration, social justice, inequality, race/class, and urban poverty to Marxist theory, democracy, capitalism, neoliberalism, and socialism. David Fasenfest is Associate Professor and Adjunct Professor and Graduate Faculty at EUC-91��ɫ. He has been an active urban sociologist, editing and publishing several articles and books on critical, urban and Marxist sociology. The will be held at Room 519, Kaneff Tower, 91��ɫ.

In the afternoon at the same location from 2:30-4pm, a panel discussion on s will be held led by Andrea Borghini, Professor of sociology, Department of Political Science, University of Pisa, Italy. Also joining the open discussion are: Alfredo Saad Filho, Queens University Belfast; Ricardo Dello Buono, Manhattan University; and Gokboru Sarp Tanyildiz, Brock University. The event is presented by Marxist Studies in Global and Asian Perspectives (MSGAP); Critical Sociology, Studies in Critical Social Sciences; with support from EUC. Everyone welcome!

Deborah Barndt is having a photographic exploration of the relationship between my body and my special trees, opening October 4, 4-7 PM at Thus Gallery, 33 Euclid Avenue. Read her  for the story behind the exhibit titled "Wabi Sabi 2: My Trees and Me" (A Work-in-Progress) and check out the schedule of six showings on October 4, 12, 15, 19, 20, and 24.

On Thursday, October 10, (7pm Eastern / 8pm Atlantic), EUC's (SEI) will hold an informative discussion on the future role of nuclear energy in Canada and its implications for energy sustainability. Notably, the Government of Canada and the provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta see nuclear power as central to their ‘clean’ electricity strategies. However, the renewed interest in nuclear energy raises economic, environmental, justice, security, legacy and weapons proliferation issues. Does more nuclear energy make sense to decarbonize Canada’s electricity systems? All are welcome, but is required.

On Thursday, October 24 from 10am – 11am Eastern Time, the (IEFLL) is hosting a virtual webinar event for partnership members on . The first half of the webinar will showcase three examples of subnational applications of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity. The second half of the webinar will discuss questions and interests that partners have related to subnational scales of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity. This discussion will inform a series of workshops we will host in the winter term that partners and students can join. The workshop series will focus greater attention on subnational methodology that can inform students research related to partner’s interests.

Bruce Campbell penned an article titled in The Conversation. He highlighted that a major issue in the ongoing negotiations is fatigue safety, with railway companies seeking to weaken protections around rest periods, shift length, and scheduling. While the odds of overcoming the status quo are challenging, there are accordingly ways the corporate-government power relationship in Canada can be rebalanced, as discussed in his book, where he provides a set of measures that would restore the primacy of the public interest in the work of government agencies. These measures would minimize vulnerabilities to corporate capture and make regulations more resistant to capture. While some experts have argued that allowing vital national infrastructure like railways be owned by powerful corporations rather than the government, it is accordingly contrary to the public interest. Instead, Canada should consider nationalizing its railways.

Sheila Colla was quoted in the National Parks Traveler article titled where she argues that protecting native pollinators is crucial for maintaining balanced ecosystems and healthy plant reproduction. She attributes much of the decline to diseases spread by honeybees, which are frequently moved across the country for commercial pollination. “There are few remnant populations,” says Colla. “It’s disappeared from the vast majority of its native range. It’s an early-emerger, and an important pollinator for things like blueberries and cranberries. It’s one of the last species to go underground in October.”  "Native plants and insects have co-evolved together over thousand of years," said Colla. "Many have specialist relationships like the well-known monarch and milkweed and others have relationships we are just beginning to understand."

Gail Fraser was quoted in a CBC News article titled where she noted that the gulls were likely attracted to the TTC facility's green roof because it resembled the islands where they typically nest. She believes the gulls will likely not return to the roof next spring due to their memory of being scared away.

"I had hoped that there would be a more positive outcome for the gulls in that situation. But I understand there's challenges." Fraser said she hoped there could be a way to allow them to nest in lower numbers, so there wouldn't be as many conflicts between the gulls and humans.

Andil Gosine was featured this summer in examining Afro-Caribbean queer expression and environmental advocacy in a series of New 91��ɫ art exhibitions. As an artist, curator and academic, he has been prominently featured in several esteemed Manhattan art institutions, including his curated exhibition featuring Guadalupian-Tamil artist Kelly Sinnapah Mary at the Aicon Gallery, from December 2023 to January 2024.

Gosine is a recipient of the prestigious Beinecke Fellowship from the Clark Art Institute in the U.S. for his pioneering research in environmental art and justice. He is poised for a series of upcoming exhibitions across the border. His next presentation, “Nature’s Wild,” is set to premiere at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C., in 2025.

Mahtot Gebresselassie and Tricia Wood penned a Spacing op-ed article While technology is admired by many for how it can increase our ability to collect data to gain insight into problems and come up with solutions to Toronto's traffic to save time and resources, the authors offer an alternative perspective.

"We first have to recognize that congestion is an intractable problem whose solution requires the meaningful participation of diverse stakeholders," say Mahtot Gebresselassie and Tricia Wood. Accordingly, improving urban mobility is a complex topic that no one column and no one “solution” can answer alone. It is important to have extended, public conversation and encourage further response, so the conversation can continue.

Cate Sandilands has published two pieces in the diptych "Queering Nature" issues of .

The first, "Grasping the (Queer) Nettle" is part of her project Plantasmagoria: Botanical Encounters in the (M)Anthropocene; the second, "����ٲ����DZ�ŧ," is the result of a conversation with Victoria artist Estraven Lupino-Smith about their weaving in and with trans archives. Both issues are available for free download .

Steven Tufts was quoted in the Toronto Star, article titled .

Tufts noted that a strike would significantly impact both passenger and cargo transport, potentially leading frustrated travelers to choose other airlines. It’s a bold reality that no matter what the outcome is, “we will still need pilots,” he noted.

“Air Canada must navigate this situation carefully,” Tufts warned. “Passengers are likely to blame both management and pilots, and may choose to fly with other airlines.”