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. 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 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 Ambio, Energy Research and Social Science, Environmental Policy and Governance, and Journal of Planning Education and Research.
Alan Diduck, PhD
Alan is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at the University of Winnipeg and a member of UWinnipeg’s Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research and Environment & Society Research Group. Alan is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography and the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba. Prior to joining UWinnipeg in 2002, 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 program deals with community involvement in environmental governance, particularly environmental impact assessment. An important focus of his work is the learning implications of involvement and the consequences for social aspects of sustainability. Alan studies non-formal, informal and social learning and different types of outcomes, such as cognitive, value, behavioral, relational, policy and institutional change. His work covers various levels of social organization (e.g., individuals, groups and organizations) and different aspects of social sustainability (e.g., adaptive capacity, environmental justice and socio-political empowerment).
Karla Sewell
Karla is a Senior Research Assistant with the Environment and Society Research Group. She is pursuing a B.Sc Honours in Environmental Studies and Sciences with a major in Forest Ecology. Karla’s thesis aims to explore models of Indigenous engagement with research bodies, such as academic institutions and research stations. Her research intends to provide insight into strengthening the partnership with Eagle Lake First Nation, Ontario; a partnership which aims to build capacity and empower Indigenous communities. Her work as a Senior Research Assistant as well focuses on partnerships and capacity building with Indigenous communities.
Alex Mattocks
Alex Mattocks is a Senior Research Assistant with the Environment and Society Research Group. She is pursuing a B.Sc in Environmental Studies and Science with a major in Forest Ecology and Biology. Alex is currently focusing on the Climate Learning and Adaptation for Northern Development (C-LAND) project, and other general research with the ESRG.
Avery Letkemann
Avery is a Senior Research Assistant and Research Coordinator with the Environment and Society Research Group. She is in the final year of a degree in the Department of Environmental Studies in the Issues in Sustainability stream. Avery’s work with the ESRG currently focuses on the Climate Learning and Adaptation for Northern Development (C-LAND) project.
Affiliates
Melanie Zurba, PhD – Dalhousie University
Dr. Melanie Zurba joined the Environment and Society (EnSo) Collaborative Laboratory in July 2017. Dr. Zurba’s work focuses on projects that are developed and implemented in collaboration with communities. She has worked collaboratively with Indigenous communities in Canada and abroad on projects focusing on co-management of species and protected areas, shared forest tenure agreements, Clean Environment Commission hearings for water regulation, land use and occupancy mapping studies, food sovereignty, health promotion and wellbeing, and land-based learning and curriculum development. Her work has also contributed to public discussion on what “reconciliation” means in Canada through her work on learning and relationship building through the shared-governance of land. Dr Zurba is also interested in how global policy frameworks affect community participation in the day-to-day management of the environment. She has been an active member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and is currently the Chair of the Theme on Governance, Equity and Rights (TGER). Her work with the EnSo co-lab included research on renewable (bio)energy development, northern wellbeing, intergenerational decision-making, and adaptation in the face of climate change.
ESRG Alumni
Julia Antonyshyn, B.A. (2018-2020)
Degree: B.A. (Honours) Environmental Studies (Issues in Sustainability stream)
Thesis: The evolving role of trust in Innu-Provincial natural resource relationships
Bryanne Lamoureux, B.A. (2018-2020)
Degree: B.A. (Honours) in Environmental Studies (Urban Environments), B.A in Sociology
Thesis: A greenhouse in the inner-city: Community-led development in the Spence Neighbourhood
Michael Kvern, B.A. (2019-2020)
Degree: B.A (Honours) in Human Geography
Thesis: Strengthening energy security through community energy planning in Churchill,MB
Miranda Hamilton, B.Sc. (2016-2020)
Degree: B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science (Environmental Chemistry) and Bachelor of Business Administration.
Thesis: An institutional analysis of the Portage Community Pasture as a common property resource
Kaya Lange, Mitacs (Summer 2019)
Kaya was a Mitacs Globalink Research Intern with the Environmental and Society Research Group. Kaya is from the Leuphana University Lueneburg in Germany, where she studied Environmental Science and Economics. Kaya’s work supported the ESRG on multiple projects, including the C-LAND project.
Geneva Cloutis, B.Sc. (2016 – 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. (2017 to 2018)
Degree: B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science (Global Environmental Systems)
Savannah Eidse, B.Sc. (2016 – 2017)
Degree: B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science (Forest Policy and Management)
Thesis: A Comparative Policy Analysis of Community Forest Tenures in Canada: Lessons for Manitoba
Shannon Ganter, B.Sc. (2017 – 2018)
Degree: B.Sc. (Honours) in Environmental Science (Global Environmental Systems)
Julia Lawler, B.Sc., M.Sc. (2014 – 2017)
Degree: M.Sc. (Bioscience, Technology, and Public Policy)
Thesis: Assessing Indigenous Control & Benefits through Manitoba’s Timber Allocation Program
Jonathan Luedee, PhD (2019 – 2020)
Jonathan is a Faculty of Arts and Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. He was postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at The University of Winnipeg and a member of the Environment & Society Research Group (ESRG) from 2019 – 2020.
Nicholas Palaschuk, B.Sc., M.Sc. (2015 – 2018)
Degree: M.Sc. (Bioscience, Technology, and Public Policy)
Yihang She, Mitacs (Summer 2018)
Yihang was a Mitacs Globalink Research Intern with the Environmental and Society Research Group. Yihang is from Nanjing University in China, where he majored in Geographic Information Science. Yihang’s work with the ESRG focused on Forest-Community Innovation Networks.
Affiliated/partnered research associations:
Canadian Association of Geographers
American Association of Geographers
International Association for the Study of the Commons
IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP)
