Current Members

Ryan Bullock, PhD

Ryan is the Canada Research Chair in Human-Environment Interactions (Tier II), Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences and Director of the Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research at The University of Winnipeg. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Environment and Sustainability Research Centre at Brock University. His research focuses on conflict and cross-cultural collaboration in multi-level environmental resource governance systems, policy and program analysis, and community-based research approaches. He works with northern and indigenous communities to investigate options for building community resilience. Ryan is lead editor of Growing Community Forests: Practice, Research and Advocacy in Canada (University of Manitoba Press, 2017), and he is lead author of Community Forestry: Local Values, Conflict and Forest Governance (Cambridge Press, 2012). His research has been recently published in international peer-reviewed journals such as Natural Resources Forum, Forest Policy and Economics, and Society and Natural Resources.

Alan Diduck, PhD

Alan is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at the University of Winnipeg and a member of the Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research. Prior to joining the University of Winnipeg, Alan was a lawyer and Executive Director of Community Legal Education Association, a social profit organization providing public legal education and information services. Alan’s research focuses on citizen involvement in environmental governance, the learning implications of involvement, and the consequences for social aspects of sustainability, such as equity, empowerment and capacity development. Alan’s work encompasses impact assessment, risk management, and institutional and policy analysis, and it includes involvement and learning at multiple societal levels, e.g., individuals, groups, organizations and communities.

Melanie Zurba, PhD

Dr. Melanie Zurba joined the Environment and Society (EnSo) Collaborative Laboratory in July 2017. Dr. Zurba focuses on community-engaged research, environmental governance, collaboration and social change. Her PhD is in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from the Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba where she conducted her doctoral thesis on the collaborative governance of forestlands in northwestern Ontario. Through this thesis work she explored learning processes and outcomes relating to governance and the implications for social and structural reconciliation. Dr. Zurba’s broader research program has been geographically focused in Canada and Australia, but also spans the globe through her work on global policy frameworks that aim to support Indigenous rights, land tenure and leadership in environmental decision-making. Her work with the EnSo co-lab includes research on renewable (bio)energy development, northern wellbeing, intergenerational decision-making, and adaptation in the face of climate change. Dr. Zurba has been an active member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and the Theme on Governance, Equity and Rights (TGER) since 2011.

Nicholas Palaschuk, B.Sc. (Biology)

Nicholas is an M.Sc. Candidate in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Policy at The University of Winnipeg. Nicholas’ current research focuses on developing community-based approaches to sustainable non-timber forest product (NTFP) development and conservation. By integrating critical local values and priorities into forest planning processes, this research seeks to create functional linkages between the social and ecological dimensions of resource management. Working collaboratively with Aboriginal communities to develop community-based, participatory approaches, Nicholas’ research seeks to sustain community values and needs of non-timber forest resources and continue to refine local visions, roles, and contributions to NTFP management and conservation.

As of September 2018, Nicholas will begin his doctoral studies at the University of Waterloo. As part of the Sustainability Management doctoral program, Nicholas hopes to build a healthy, prosperous, and environmentally sustainable future through transformative renewable energy research.

Miranda Hamilton

Miranda is a Senior Research Assistant with the Environment and Society Research Group. She is currently completing the fourth year of her Bachelor of Environmental Science Honours in Environmental Chemistry and her Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Winnipeg. Miranda’s research with ESRG is currently focused on the Community Pastures project.

Julia Antonyshyn

Julia is a Senior Research Assistant with the Environment and Society Research Group. In the fall of 2018, Julia will begin the third year of her four-year B.A. at the University of Winnipeg, majoring in Environmental Studies in the Issues in Sustainability stream. Julia’s work with the ESRG currently focuses on the Climate Learning and Adaptation for Northern Development (C-LAND) project.

Yihang She

Yihang is a Mitacs Globalink Research Intern with the Environmental and Society Research Group. Yihang is from Nanjing University in China, majoring in Geographic Information Science. Yihang spent his spring semester of 2018 in UC Berkeley as an exchange student and in the fall of 2018, he will begin the last year of his four-year B.A. Yihang’s work with the ESRG currently focuses on the Forest-Community Innovation Network project.

Previous Members

Geneva Cloutis, B.Sc. (May 2016 – April 2017)

Degree: B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science (Global Environmental Systems)

Thesis: Towards an Indigenous-specific engagement process for environmental assessment in Manitoba

Ariane Dilay, B.Sc. (January 2017 to April 2018)

Degree: B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science (Global Environmental Systems)

Thesis: Environmental Justice in India: A study on the use of environmental impact assessment in environmental courts.

Savannah Eidse, B.Sc.

Savannah was a Research Assistant for the Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research (C-FIR). She completed her B.Sc. in 2017, majoring in environmental sciences with a focus on forest policy & management. She plans to continue her forestry studies as a Master’s student. Her research interests include wildlife habitat management and participatory approaches for social and environmental sustainability.

Shannon Ganter, B.Sc. (December 2017 – April 2018)

Degree: B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science (Global Environmental Systems)

Thesis: Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Environmental Impact Assessment: A Study on the Gjøvik Eidsiva Plant

Julia Lawler, B.Sc., M.Sc.

Julia Lawler completed a B.ES at UWaterloo in Environment and Resource Studies, and completed her M.Sc. in the Bioscience, Technology, and Public Policy Program at The University of Winnipeg in 2017. Her research interests include community-based resource management, and social and environmental sustainability.