People

Faculty
Continuing Faculty

Avery Everhart

Avery Everhart

Assistant Professor

phone604-822-3534
location_onGEOG 209
I am a transdisciplinary socio-spatial scientist with particular interests in health geography, demography, informatics, and community-based participatory research. My work centers transgender and gender diverse lives as they are lived in various geopolitical and socio-legal contexts.

Avi Lewis

Avi Lewis

He / Him / His

Associate Professor

location_onGEOG 129A
I am a documentary filmmaker and educator, with more than 30 years of experience in journalism and storytelling from the front lines of social movements. More recently, I have been deeply involved in the emergent frame of the Green New Deal.

Brett Eaton

Brett Eaton

Professor

phone604 822 2257
location_onGEOG 250
I am a fluvial geomorphologist interested in how rivers respond to land use and environmental changes.

Desirée Valadares

Desirée Valadares

She / Her / Hers

Assistant Professor | Affiliated Faculty, Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM)

location_onGEOG 252
My research and teaching focus on the cultural memory and infrastructural imaginaries of the Second World War in western Canada and the non-contiguous US
ON LEAVE
Until August 31, 2024

Elvin Wyly

Wyly analyzes the co-evolution of capitalist market processes and state policy in reproducing urban social relations and inequalities. Recent studies blend critical theory and multivariate quantification to examine inequalities in housing finance, gentrification, and the circulation of conspiracy theories in and beyond Trump's America....Read more

Geraldine Pratt

Geraldine Pratt

Professor | Head of Department

phone604 822 5875
location_onGEOG 221/140D
My research focuses on transnational migration, labour precarity, and new geographies of dementia care. I hold the Canada Research Chair in Transnationalism and Precarious Labour.

Jamie Peck

Jamie Peck

He / Him / His

Professor

phone604 822 0894
location_onGEOG 134
I am an economic geographer and institutional political economist with interests in capitalist transformations, urban and regional restructuring, and statecraft. My work explores how ostensibly 'global' processes are (re)made through localized sites, distanciated networks, and grounded practices.

Jemima Nomunume Baada

Jemima Nomunume Baada

She / Her / Hers

Assistant Professor

location_onGEOG 122
I am an interdisciplinary climate-migration scholar, and my research and teaching are at the intersections of gender, climate change, migration, health and development equity.

Jennifer Williams

Jennifer Williams

She / Her / Hers

Associate Professor

phone604 827 1592
location_onGEOG 232
I conduct research to understand how evolution and ecology interact to change population dynamics and species interactions in space and time. Much of my work is focused on plants in temperate savannas and grasslands, and the herbivores that eat them.

Jessica Dempsey

Jessica Dempsey

She / Her / Hers

Associate Professor | Associate Head of Undergraduate Program

phone604 822 3246
location_onGEOG 127A
My research and teaching focus on environmental politics. In geography this often goes under the label of political ecology, which considers how environmental politics is shaped by and shapes economics, science, culture, history, gender, racism, colonialism, social movements and more.

Jessica Wang

Jessica Wang

Professor

location_onGEOG 140E
My research addresses the historical entanglements between science, knowledge, and power.

Jim Glassman

Jim Glassman

Professor | Associate Head of Graduate Program

phone604 822 1892
location_onGEOG 140F
  For my latest research and publications, please visit: http://blogs.ubc.ca/glassman

Juanita Sundberg

Juanita Sundberg

She / Her / Hers

Associate Professor

phone604 822 3535
location_onGEOG 125
I bring the insights of feminist political ecology and the sensibilities of an ethnographer to bear on nature conservation, border security, and militarization.

Loch Brown

Loch Brown

Associate Professor of Teaching

phone604 822 8567
location_onGEOG 236
Loch's interests lies primarily in the theory and practice of political ecology, with a focus on global human-environmental systems and the use of emerging technologies in environmental and geographic education.

Luke Bergmann

Luke Bergmann

Associate Professor

phone604 822 5612
location_onGEOG 215C
Canada Research Chair in GIS, Geospatial Big Data and Digital Geohumanities

Marwan Hassan

Marwan Hassan

Professor

phone604 822 5894
location_onGEOG 253
My research covers a wide range of topics in geomorphology and hydrology. Model development has been a very important component of my research, with considerable experimental flume work used to complement field data.

Matthew Evenden

Matthew Evenden

He / Him / His

Professor | Associate Vice-President Research and Innovation

phone604 822 6407
location_onGEOG 251
My research lies in environmental history and water history and focuses on the history and politics of large rivers, particularly in Canada.

Merje Kuus

My research examines the making of expert knowledge in national and transnational regulatory institutions. I focus on diplomatic and geopolitical practices in Europe and the Arctic, but my broader interest lies in knowledge and power in bureaucratic settings.

Michael Fabris

Michael Fabris

He / They

Assistant Professor

phone604 822 0253
location_onGEOG 140B
As an Indigenous Geographer, my research focuses on processes of dispossession in settler colonial contexts, and the Indigenous social movements that seek to challenge these processes by reasserting Indigenous land and water relationships through their own forms of governance and legal jurisdiction....Read more

Michele Koppes

Michele Koppes

Professor

phone604 822 4896
location_onGEOG 141
My research focuses on how glaciers, landscapes, and the people who dwell within them are responding to ongoing climate change. I currently hold the Canada Research Chair in Landscapes of Climate Change.

Mohammed Rafi Arefin

Mohammed Rafi Arefin

He / Him / His

Assistant Professor

phone604-827-5186
location_onGEOG 123
My research is focused on urban environmental politics. I draw on scholarship in infrastructural geographies, urban political ecology and environmental justice, geographical political economy, science and technology studies, and discard studies to explore the politics of urban waste and sanitation.

Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein

She / Her / Hers

Associate Professor | UBC Professor of Climate Justice

location_onGEOG 143
My research and teaching take place at the intersection of crisis and political transformation. I look at the ways that large-scale shocks, from economic crises to ecological disasters to terror attacks, act as catalysts and accelerators for broad-based social change.

Naomi Schwartz

Naomi Schwartz

Assistant Professor

phone604 827 3064
location_onGEOG 242A
Our lab's research addresses questions about the causes and consequences of disturbance and extreme events in tropical forest landscapes.

Nina Hewitt

Nina Hewitt

She / Her / Hers

Associate Professor of Teaching

phone604 822 9178
location_onGEOG 235
My research explores vegetation dynamics with a focus on the impacts of human activities, particularly ecosystem fragmentation, altered disturbance regimes, biological invasions and climate change.

Peter James Hudson

Peter James Hudson

Associate Professor

location_onGEOG 225
Deploying the methodologies and literatures of Black Studies, political economy, and history, my research examines the long histories of Black dispossession under capitalism, and of Black resistance to capitalist dispossession.

Philippe Le Billon

My research explores tensions between environmental sustainability, development, and security issues. I investigate socio-environmental conflicts around extractive industries, ocean sustainability, the green transition, and the climate crisis.

Priti Narayan

Priti Narayan

Assistant Professor

phone604 822 3268
location_onGEOG 208
My research and teaching interests center around urban processes and politics, particularly in India. I am currently the Director of the Centre for India and South Asian Research (CISAR).

Sally Hermansen

Sally Hermansen

Professor of Teaching

phone604 822 5970
location_onGEOG 144
My main area of interest is Geographic Data Visualization, and I teach courses in Cartography, Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing.

Simon Donner

Simon Donner

He / Him / His

Professor

phone604 822 6959
location_onGEOG 133
I am a climate scientist focused on helping the world prevent and prepare for climate change. My research program lies primarily at the intersection of climate change science, marine science, and policy.

Siobhán Wittig McPhee

Siobhán Wittig McPhee

Associate Professor of Teaching

phone604 827 2078
location_onGEOG 124
My role as an educator in the Educational Leadership Stream at UBC, is one of being a facilitator for students learning. I view my role as an academic and an educator to encourage students and to equip them with the tools they need for their success both academically and more broadly.

Trevor Barnes

I have been mainly pursuing various themes in the history of twentieth-century geography. This includes the role of American geographers in the Cold War, geography's Vietnam War protestors and the history of North American radical geography.
Sessional Lecturers

Audrey Pearson

Old-growth forests, coastal temperate rain forest systems both ecological and cultural, natural and logging disturbances, ecosystem recovery, ecological restoration, restoration of riparian, estuary systems and salmon habitat, traditional knowledge, science communication, creating sustainable societ...Read more

Bonnie Kaserman

Bonnie Kaserman

Sessional Lecturer (Term 1&2)

location_onGEOG 121

Christopher Lamb

Christopher Lamb

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

location_onGEOG 117
Research interests: philosophies of place and space, place-based co-existence, unsettling education, and postcolonial and phenomenological theories

Dawn Mooney

Dawn Mooney

She / Her / Hers

Sessional Lecturer (Term 1 & 2)

location_onGEOG 144
I teach cartography and work as a cartographer and data visualizer at the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research. I am interested in methods of effective visual communication of health data and in using mapping to explore, communicate and address geographic disparities in health.

Heather Chappells

Heather Chappells

She / Her / Hers

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

location_onGEOG 117
My research and teaching are interdisciplinary in focus, connecting ideas from geography, environmental science, history and sociology to address the sustainable management of energy and water systems from a community to a global scale.

Holly Chubb

Holly Chubb

she/her/hers

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

location_onTBD

Iain Stewart

Iain Stewart

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

Iain D. Stewart is a researcher and lecturer in urban climatology and climate-sensitive urban design. He is currently a Fellow of the Global Cities Institute at the University of Toronto and a Research Associate in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Ontario Tech University. Iain also ...Read more

Kathryn McKay

Kathryn McKay

Sessional Lecturer (Term 1)

location_onGEOG 117

María Cervantes-Macías

María Cervantes-Macías

She/Her

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

location_onGEOG 126, Urban Studies Lab
María Esther Cervantes is a PhD candidate in Geography at the UBC. María is currently at Yale University as a Fox International Fellow. Her dissertation focuses on highly skilled Mexican immigration to the Pacific Northwest and the intersections between social class, education and migration.

Max Furrier

Max Furrier

Sessional Lecturer (Term 1&2)

location_onGEOG 117
Engaged in the study of urban and anthropogenic geomorphology, my primary objective is the formulation of an innovative methodology for geomorphological mapping that comprehensively captures the intricate interplay of landscapes, processes, and landforms influenced and shaped by anthropogenic activi...Read more

Meghna Mohandas

Meghna Mohandas

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

Micheal Jerowsky

Micheal Jerowsky

He / Him / His

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

location_onGEOG 210J
Mike is a PhD candidate whose research interests include GIS, digital geographies, environmental education, and technology. He is interested in how unequal access to greenspace can impact the environmental education of youth, and how new media can help to overcome these educational deficits.

Mollie Holmberg

Mollie Holmberg

She / Her / Hers

Sessional Lecturer (Term 2)

location_onGEOG 210F
After graduating in biology, I worked in data science forecasting health outcomes at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Now, I study interactions between science, governance, and care in the context of emerging infectious disease response, using USAID’s PREDICT program as a case study....Read more

Rachel Brydolf-Horwitz

Rachel Brydolf-Horwitz

location_onGEOG 210D
Supervisor(s):  Geraldine Pratt and Elvin Wyly

Rosanna Carver

Rosanna Carver

She / Her / Hers

Sessional Lecturer (Term 1)

location_onGEOG 117
My research brings together interests in oceanic geographies, political ecology and questions of resource extraction. I am interested in discussions of space and territory, particularly those pertaining to the subterranean and the marine scape.
Postdoctoral Fellows

David Adams

David Adams

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

phone604 822 9105
location_onGEOG 127
Pursuing a Universitas 21 Joint PhD between the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Melbourne (UoM), supervised by Dr. Brett Eaton.

Dimitar Anguelov

Dimitar Anguelov

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

phone604 822 9105
location_onGEOG 127

June Skeeter

June Skeeter

Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow (Term 1&2)

phone604 822 9105
location_onGEOG 127
Program: PhD Supervisor: Greg Henry and Andreas Christen Hometown: Salisbury, Maryland, USA I am a non-binary geographer, researcher, and educator and my pronouns are they/them/theirs.  I have been living as an uninvited guest on unceded Coast Salish Territory since 2015 and (will soon receive) ...Read more

Scott Nordstrom

Scott Nordstrom

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

location_onGEOG 107
Visiting Scholars

Leticia Durand

Leticia Durand

Visiting Professor (Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, UNAM)

location_onGEOG 125
Visiting from Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, UNAM from September 29, 2023- July 31, 2024

Mingxiao Liu

Mingxiao Liu

Visiting Associate Professor (North China University of Water Resources and Electric)

location_onGEOG 247
Visiting from North China University of Water Resources and Electric from December 31, 2023- December 31, 2024   My research interest is to improve better understanding of sediment transport and alluvial river evolution through experiments, field investigation and numerical simulation....Read more

Sophie Van Neste

Sophie Van Neste

Visiting Associate Professor (Institut national de la recherche scientifique)

location_onGEOG 247
Visiting from Institut national de la recherche scientifique from October 1, 2023- June 20, 2024     I am an associate professor in urban studies at INRS (Tiohtià:ke/Montreal), holder of a Canada research chair in urban climate action, in sabbatical at UBC Geography Department from Oc...Read more
Associate Members

Andre Zimmermann

Andre Zimmermann

Adjunct Professor

  André Zimmermann is a professional geoscientist who conducts studies on sediment transport and river systems. He works for Northwest Hydraulic Consultants on a variety of river and coastal projects for clients that include municipal, provincial and federal governments, individual land own...Read more

David Clements

David Clements

Affiliate Professor

David R. Clements (Ph.D., Queen’s University) is a Professor of Biology and Assistant Dean of Science at Trinity Western University (TWU) in Canada. He researches invasive weed biology in BC, and other parts of the world such as China and Australia, and has published extensively. He has served as ...Read more

Georg Jost

Georg Jost

Adjunct Professor

I am a hydrologist and work as a forecaster at BC Hydro. My daily bread and butter job is to forecast inflows for most of the reservoirs in our Province from an hourly to annual time scales.

Glen Coulthard

Glen Coulthard

Associate Member (First Nations & Indigenous Studies)

phone604 822 2880
location_onBUCH E-263
Glen Coulthard (PhD – University of Victoria) is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and an associate professor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program and the Department of Political Science. Glen has written and published numerous articles and chapters in the areas of Indi...Read more

John Paul Catungal

John Paul Catungal

Associate Member (Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice)

phone604 822 9148
location_onSOWK 140
  Dr. JP Catungal is Assistant Professor of Critical Racial and Ethnic Studies in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. A queer, first-generation Filipino-Canadian settler living in unceded Coast Salish territories, JP is an interdisciplinary scholar trained in the ne...Read more

Kai Tsuruta

Kai Tsuruta

Honorary Research Associate

Kavita Philip

Kavita Philip

Associate Member (English Language and Literatures)

Leila Harris

Leila Harris

Associate Member (Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability)

Co Director, Program on Water Governance Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability Professor, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality & Social Justice Leila M Harris is a Professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and also in the Instit...Read more

Lori Daniels

Lori Daniels

Associate Member (Forestry)

phone604 822 3442
location_onFSC 3020
Lori Daniels is a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences. My research strives to advance fundamental scientific knowledge on forest dynamics, which is imperative for conserving and managing contemporary forests and adapting to global environmental change. My research char...Read more

Minelle Mahtani

Minelle Mahtani

Associate Member (Institute for Social Justice) | Senior Advisor, Provost for Racialized Faculty

phone604 827 3915
location_onBUCH Tower 1008
Brenda and David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies 2021 - 23 Senior Advisor to the Provost on Racialized Faculty Minelle Mahtani is an Associate Professor at The Social Justice Institute, University of British Columbia. She has written “Mixed Race Amnesia: Resisting the Romanticiz...Read more

Nicholas Coops

Nicholas Coops

Associate Member (Forestry)

phone604 822 6452
location_onFSC 2043
Dr. Nicholas Coops is a faculty member in the Department of Forest Resources Management at UBC, and holds a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in remote sensing. He is also an affiliate faculty member of Oregon State University. Dr. Coops obtained his PhD from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in...Read more

Richard McCleary

Richard McCleary

Adjunct Professor

  I am an aquatic ecologist and geomorphologist employed by the provincial government in Kamloops. My interests are in land use and water use effects on the ecological functions of streams. I enjoy helping to team graduate students with challenging issues for their research.

Tara Cookson

Tara Cookson

Associate Member (School of Public Policy and Global Affairs)

Tara Patricia Cookson is Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Gender, Development, and Global Public Policy at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) and an Associate Member of the Geography Department.

Tom Koch

As an adjunct professor of geography with a multidisciplinary PHD in geography, ethics/philosophy and medicine I continue to work in three allied fields. First, issues of medical geography and the means by which epidemic and endemic diseases are understood spatially, primarily through mapping. This ...Read more
Emeriti

Alf Siemens

Alf Siemens

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
  My research interests focus on pre-Hispanic wetland agriculture; cultural-historical geography of Mesoamerican tropical lowlands; and the recent impact of agricultural globalization. I am currently working on an environmental history of the Candelaria River Basin in southwestern Campeche, ...Read more

Brian Klinkenberg

Brian Klinkenberg

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 3534
location_onGEOG 210J
My work focuses on advanced spatial analysis in the physical, health and social sciences, and in the intersection of these areas (e.g., medical biogeography and Geographic Information Science).

Dan Hiebert

Dan Hiebert

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
I have two main research interests. The first, and most important for me, is international migration. More specifically, I look at the integration of newcomers in the labour and housing markets of cities, and how this changes their residential structure and social relations.

Dan Moore

Dan Moore

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 3538
location_onGEOG 246
My research focuses on the influence of climate variability and change, in conjunction with forest and glacier dynamics, on hydrological processes and the patterns of streamflow and water quality.

David Edgington

David Edgington

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
  Research Interest: Geography of Japan and the Pacific Rim Geography of International Trade, Overseas Investment and Multinational Corporations Disaster Research in the Pacific Rim Multiculturalism and Local Governments David Edgington has degrees from the University of London (BSc E...Read more

David Ley

David Ley

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
I have undertaken a number of projects on immigration to Canadian cities, including: immigration, housing and labour markets; offsetting immigration and domestic migration in world cities; immigration and poverty; immigrant churches as service hubs; multiculturalism and the governance of diversity. ...Read more

David McClung

David McClung

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 3537
location_onGEOG 231
  Snow and avalanche mechanics, avalanche dynamics and engineering, avalanche prediction and forecasting. Dr. McClung holds the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Snow and Avalanche Science, supported by NSERC, Forest Renewal BC, Canadian Mountain Holidays, and UBC. The research program c...Read more

Derek Gregory

Derek Gregory

Peter Wall Distinguished Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
My research has two interconnected themes. Most generally, I am interested in the spatial modalities of late modern war, where military violence, occupation and peace bleed into one another. My focus for these investigations is the Middle East, specifically Iraq and Israel/Palestine, but I also cons...Read more

Graeme Wynn

An environmental-historian/ historical geographer, I have wide-ranging research interests in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Southern Africa. My UBC career included stints as Department Head, Associate Dean, and Principal of the UBC Emeritus College. I edited 2 major journals and a UBCPress series, and still lead various organizations....Read more

Greg Henry

Greg Henry

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2985
location_onGEOG 241
I have been working to understand the consequences of environmental change, driven by the changing climate, on Arctic tundra ecosystems through long-term observations and field experiments. Studies of plant growth, phenology and reproduction, biodiversity responses, biotic interactions, evolutionary...Read more

Ian McKendry

Ian McKendry

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 4929
location_onGEOG 250
My long-term research goals have been primarily directed at understanding meteorological phenomena that develop in regions of complex, urbanized terrain.

Ken Denike

Ken Denike

Assistant Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
Much of my early research focused on the trade off between equity and efficiency of delivery of public and private economic activity most notably in transportation and education.

Margaret North

Margaret North

Senior Instructor Emerita

phone604 822 2663
  Research interests focus on vegetation change along the Peace River.

Michael Bovis

Michael Bovis

Associate Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
  Research interests focus on hillslope geomorphology, and in particular mass movement phenomena in the Western Cordillera. Former Head of the Department (2002-2005).

Michael Church

Michael Church

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
  My research interests focus on the morphodynamics of rivers at all scales from steepland streams to large rivers. I am engaged in long-term studies of sediment transport and stability in Fraser River. Sediment transport is also studied in an experimental program conducted in the stream dyn...Read more

Olav Slaymaker

Olav Slaymaker

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
I study changing landscapes at local, regional and global scales, with emphasis on mountain environments. My current focus is on protected areas in Canada, with recent book chapters on protected areas in western (2017) and eastern Canada (2020).

Richard Copley

Richard Copley

Senior Instructor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
  Research interests focus on astronomical influences on the location and layout of sacred sites in the Sinitic world.

Robert North

Robert North

Associate Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
  Research interests focus on the changing economic geography of the ex-Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Former Associate Head of the Department (1998-2001)

Terence McGee

Terence McGee

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
I am enjoying retirement in Victoria and spending time with my wife, Lori and my grandchildren .  I can be reached through email and would love to hear from previous students and colleagues.   Former Director of the Institute of Asian Research, UBC (1978-1992; July 1995 - December 1998)....Read more

Tim Oke

Tim Oke

Professor Emeritus

phone604 822 2663
  Research interests focus on urban climate and the energy and water balances of cities. Former Head of the Department (1991-1996). Honours: Order of Canada; Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada
In Memoriam

Cole Harris (1936 - 2022)

Cole Harris (1936 - 2022)

Professor Emeritus | In Memoriam

phone604 822 2663
Research interests focus on European settlement in early Canada and on geographies of colonialism in early British Columbia.

John Chapman (1923-2015)

John Chapman (1923-2015)

Professor Emeritus | In Memoriam

phone604 822 2663
Research interests focus on the energy Industry in BC. Former Head of the Department (1968-1974)

John Stager (1928-2018)

John Stager (1928-2018)

Professor Emeritus | In Memoriam

phone604 822 2663
Research interests focus on geography of the Arctic; human adaptation to, and impact upon, the Canadian North.

Karen Bakker (1971-2023)

Karen Bakker (1971-2023)

She / Her / Hers

Professor | In Memoriam

phone604 822 2663
location_onGEOG 217 Main Office
Karen’s primary research interests spanned political economy, political ecology, environmental studies, STS, and digital geographies. Her most recent research focused on the implications of digital technologies for environmental governance.

Ross Mackay (1915-2014)

Ross Mackay (1915-2014)

Professor Emeritus | In Memoriam

phone604 822 2663
Research interests focus on arctic permafrost and geomorphology. Dr. Mackay maintains an active research program along the western Arctic coast of Canada.