EUC Research Updates - February 2025

Accolades, Awards and Acknowledgements

Sheila Colla, Phyllis Novak and Laura Newburn from the Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (BEEc) received funding from World Wildlife Federation (WWF)'s Go Wild Campus Grants to boost biodiversity at York University by enhancing pollinator habitats at EUC's Maloca Community and Native Plant Gardens. The Maloca Community Garden is a space stewarded by EUC and serves as a vibrant hub for community engagement at York University for community members to delve into gardening, volunteerism, and building connections while nurturing green space. The Native Plant Garden, located outside the Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies (HNES) building, serves as a refuge amid the concrete surroundings of lawns and buildings. The funding will be used to acquire soil, cedar mulch, compost, and more native plants to maintain and enhance the two gardens. Two events will be held on World Bee Day in May and another for International Pollinator Week in June which will involve faculty, staff, students, and volunteers participating in activities such as plant identification and weeding while learning about the vital role of pollinators.

Andil Gosine joined Kelly Sinnapah Mary in an artist talk at James Cohan Gallery in New York. The two discussed Sinnapah Mary’s wide-ranging influences and the world of characters she builds across her paintings, sculptures, and installations.

This conversation was presented in conjunction with The Book of Violette, the artist’s debut solo exhibition with James Cohan, on view through March 22, 2025. Gosine is a frequent collaborator of Sinnapah Mary whose work was featured in the Ford Foundation Gallery’s group exhibition everything slackens in a wreck curated by Andil Gosine in 2022. Gosine and Sinnapah Mary have previously collaborated on several projects, including the cover of his book Nature's Wild: Love, Sex and Law in the Caribbean (2021).

Jennifer Korosi received additional funding from The Government of Northwest Territories for the collaborative research on Science and management of blue-green algal (cyanobacteria) blooms in Sambaa K'e.

The project will investigate the influence of climate related variables and municipal wastewaters on nutrients and cyanobacteria in Sambaa K’e. It is expected to help understand cumulative impacts by examining the linkages between cyanobacteria blooms and nutrient cycling and providing novel baseline data on discharge and nutrient loading in the Island River.

Joseph Mensah is a co-applicant in a successful IDRC-CBCR-YORK project collaboration Addressing Climate Vulnerability through Nature Based Solutions using Transdisciplinary Engagement of Wetland Communities. Led by University of Ghana's Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research (CBCR), the project will entail extensive vulnerability surveys across the two countries of Burkina Faso and Ghana as well as comprehensive data collection on the biodiversity contributing to nature-based solutions, including piloting best practices and evidence-based multi-stakeholder dialogues.

The project is part of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) initiative, a UK-Canada framework research program aiming to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

This is the second IDRC project collaboration between York and University of Ghana, the first one of which is the Women Rise project Examining the Socio-economic and Health Vulnerabilities of Female Bushmeat Traders in the Context of COVID-19 in Ghana. Following the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between University of Ghana and York in 2024 to Partner on Cooperative Research, University of Ghana and York are looking forward to more collaboration on cooperative research and joint project development.

Valerie Preston is co-editor of the recent Handbook of Gender and Mobilities in the International Handbooks on Gender series (Edward Elgar 2024). The Handbook provides a critical overview of the complex links between gender, mobility, and immobility, emphasizing the production and politics of gendered mobilities and the importance of gender perspectives. Expert contributors investigate key issues such as mobility transitions across the life course; the links between gender, caregiving and everyday mobilities; and the gendered opportunities and constraints for international migrants. The studies critically examine the gendered impacts of transportation infrastructure and sustainability policies such as 15-minute cities and free-fare public transport. Drawing on empirical research from across the globe, the Handbook highlights how class, ethnicity and race, ableism and age shape gendered mobilities across different spatial scales.

Gregory Thiemann received a subgrant from the Mushkegowuk Council, a regional political organization representing several First Nations in Northern Ontario, for a Weston Family Foundation funded project titled "Conserving Subarctic Biodiversity: Building Comprehensive Understanding of the World's Southernmost Polar Bears in the Face of Climate Change."

The project will study seasonal polar bear distribution and habitat to protect people and wildlife to form an essential input to community polar bear safety plans and actions. The results of the study are expected to address knowledge gaps about the population of polar bears and will shape management approaches, conservation practices and partnerships and ensure that the Cree communities continue to live in harmony with polar bears.

Environmental Studies PhD graduate Camille Turner showcases her Otherworld Exhibition at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto Art Centre. This is her first major solo museum exhibition in Toronto which immerses visitors in a non-linear Afro-Astronautic journey transcending space-time boundaries. An artist/scholar whose work combines Afrofuturism and historical research, her most recent explorations confront the entanglement of what is now Canada in the transatlantic trade in Africans. She puts into practice an Afronautic methodological frame she developed to approach colonial archives from the point of view of a liberated future. The exhibition will last until March 22, 2025.

Natalie Wood recently held a talk and exhibition of her series of works on Letters to My Ancestors. The series, which she began in early 2000, are visual representations of her search for a connection to her ancestors with the use of cultural elements from the present, contemporary art, and ancestral culture traditions. Wood is an award-winning Trinidadian-born, Tkaronto-based visual and media artist. Her multimedia artwork cohabits the areas of popular culture, education, and historical research. Her practice includes painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, video, and performance, and extends into her work as a curator, educator, and community-based Black queer activist. She is presently completing a research creation project for her PhD, focused on Black Queer Resistance in the performance of Blue Devil Mas.

Mojgan Chapariha has recently been appointed as EUC Adjunct Professor. She is a member of the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab (IELFF) partnership contributing to research on metrics and future modeling scenarios with IEFLL Director Peter Victor, IEFLL Director and postdoctoral researcher Andrew Reeves.

Chapariha is currently Proxy Governance Analyst with NEI Investments. She also served as a Research Fellow in System Dynamics at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) doing ecological macro-modelling for Canada and the UK.

Publications and Reports

Ali, H., Shields, J. and Preston, V. (2025). Reforming Settlement Services to Include Temporary Migrants. Policy Review. BMRC-IMRU.

Budiman, M. and Kusno, A. Eds. (2025). Collective Memory, Marginality, and Spatial Politics in Urban Indonesia. Open access. Palgrave MacMillan.

Flicker, S., Ivanski, C., Gareau, L., McIntyre, C., Gilbert, J., & Walker, J. (2025). Reflections on facilitating teen dating violence prevention programming in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: Comparing online, in-person and hybrid facilitation. Sex Education, 1–15.

Gebresselassie, M. (2025). Labor issues from the perspective of drivers on the Uber and Lyft apps and the impact on riders who use wheelchairs, Travel Behaviour and Society, Volume 38, 2025, 100891.

Gilbert, L. and Sotomayor, L. (2025). Non-Status Citizenship and the Paradoxes of Immigration Regimes in a Sanctuary City, Antipode, January.

Kallis, G., Hickel, J., O’Neill, D. W., Jackson, T., Victor, P. A., Raworth, K., Schor, J. B., Steinberger, J. K., & Ürge-Vorsatz, D. (2025). Post-growth: The science of wellbeing within planetary boundaries. The Lancet Planetary Health, 9(1), e62–e78.

Kapoor, I. (2024). Intersectionality, Decoloniality, Indigenous Localism: A Critique. Theory, Culture & Society, 0(0).

Kerr, B., and Remmel, T.K. (2024). Activity-based measures of landscape fragmentation. Landscape Ecology, 39, 198.

Kish, K. and Miller, E. (2025). Broadening ecological footprint and biocapacity research: A co-developed research agenda with Canadian stakeholders. Ecological Economics, 227.

Molot, L., Korosi, J. et al. (2025). Survey of metabolically essential trace metals in inland lakes and reservoirs across Canada: what constitutes a low metal system? Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 82: 1-21.

McAllister, C. (2024). A Genocidal Special Relationship, NACLA Report on the Americas, 56(4), 410–418.

Phelps, N., Keil, R. and Maginn, P. (2025). Peripheral Centralities: The Lost and Past Urbanity of the Suburbs, 1st Ed., June, Routledge: Planning, History and Environment Series.

Pictou, S. and Stiegman, M. (2025). Learning about Living Treaties. In Contesting Colonial Capitalism in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, edited by Dip Kapoor, 1st ed., Routledge.

Preston, V. et al. (2024). Handbook of Gender Mobilities. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Sandberg, L. A. (2025). Indigenizing the Alternative Campus Tour at York University, Toronto, Canada. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 0(0)

Santos, C.A.G., Misra, D., Ghanimeh, S., Olusola, A. et al. (2025). Designing a deep learning-based framework for the prediction of lake surface closed curves. Earth Science Informatics, 18, 263.

Scott, D. N. (2025). Infrastructural (Dis)Entitlement: Tactics of Dispossession on the Critical Minerals Frontier. Journal of Law and Political Economy, 5(1).

Singh, V., Kumar, N., Olusola, A. et al. (2025). Influence of land use activities on predicted soil loss in a semi-arid river basin. Hydroinformatics.

Taylor, S.B., Calzavara, L., Flicker, S., Kontos, P. and Schwartz, R. (2025), "“I think it made me a better person”: Fostering personal-social development among immigrant youth through the SExT theatre programme", Health Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.

Thienpont, J., O'Hagan, C., Kokelj, S., Hoskin, G., Pisaric, M. Smol, J., Stewart, E. and Korosi, J. (2025). A Framework for Understanding the Impacts of Thaw-Driven Disturbance Regimes on Northern Lakes, Permafrost and PeriGlacial Processes, Vol. 36, Issue 1, January/March 2025.

Undercurrents: Journal of Critical Environmental Studies, Volume 22, has been published! UnderCurrents is a collectively- and student-run academic journal based in EUC and explores relations among environment, culture, and society.

Whitney, R.A. and Sotomayor, L. (2025). Peripheral best practices and the politics of visibility: Urban planning and social urbanism in Mexico City, Cities, Volume 158, 105667.

Winfield, M., and Kaiser, K. (2025). “Ontario and Climate Change,” for J. Onusko and D. Anastakis, eds., Ontario Since Confederation: A Reader, University of Toronto Press.

Winfield, M. (2025). “Locking in Unsustainable Development", Chapter 13 in,” B. Evans and C. Fanelli, eds., Against the People: How Ford Nation Is Dismantling Ontario, Fernwood Publishing.

Winfield, M. (2024). “Federalism and Climate Change in Canada,” for G. Abels et.al., Yearbook on Federalism, European Centre for Research on Federalism (EZFF) (Nomos).

EUC and Associate Events

On Wednesday, February 26, 11:30am-1pm, EUC invites you to the Climate Emotion Café, a thoughtful and interdisciplinary discussion on the intersection of climate change and mental well-being. This event will provide an opportunity to explore the psychological and emotional dimensions of environmental challenges, as well as strategies for fostering resilience in ourselves and the students we support. EUC Professor Joshua Thienpont will offer an academic perspective on climate change and its impacts. The event will also feature Dr. Harvey Skinner and Susan Harris, who will lead a discussion on mindfulness and mental resilience to help navigate the complexities of climate engagement. Register here.

On Wednesday, February 26 from 12:30-2pm EST, the Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) presents a talk on "Eliminating the Need for Mining EV Battery Minerals by 2050: Data Driven Insights on Enabling an Efficient Responsible EV Battery Supply Chain with Laura LoSciuto & Sudeshna Mohanty", hosted by Mark Winfield.

The rapid electrification of transportation is an essential component of climate change mitigation strategies. However, the growing fleets of electric vehicles will require supplies of specialized materials, particularly for advanced battery manufacturing. Projections of the need for 'critical' minerals in this context suggest large growth in future demand. At the same time, questions are being raised about the environmental, climate, social and cultural impacts of the increased mining of these materials.

Analyses of future directions in EV battery technologies, and the impact of more circular approaches to battery material supply chains have been limited. New analyses from the Rocky Mountain Institute have examined the potential for significant reductions in the levels and intensity of ‘critical’ mineral extraction needed to support widespread EV adoption, and wider energy systems transitions. Register here or contact marksw@yorku.ca.

On Wednesday, February 26, 1-2pm, the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research presents a talk on Chlorine, Bacteria, and the Urban Governance of Water Quality in Lusaka, Zambia by Hillary Birch, DIGHR Graduate Scholar and EUC PhD Candidate. The city of Lusaka, Zambia, is experiencing recurring cholera outbreaks as rapid urbanization and climate change bring about groundwater contamination and flash floods. What results is an uneven distribution of waterborne disease where drinking water is produced at multiple scales and locations across the city, superseding the ‘modern infrastructural ideal' of centralized and separate circulations of water and waste.

Based on her recently completed fieldwork in Lusaka, the presentation will use the measurement and mapping of free residual chlorine in drinking water during a recent cholera outbreak there as an entry to explore how water quality becomes a contested attribute across a range of actors who are drawn into water’s flows in urban space. Visit DIGHR event website or RSVP: yorku.ca/dighr/events.

On February 26 at the Helliwell Centre, the Journal of Law and Social Policy will hold a symposium with the them "Power and Property: Who Belongs in the City?" The event will feature two expert panels on Legal Responses to Displacement and Social Assistance as Legislated Poverty. The first panel will explore encampment charter litigation, the LTB, and safe consumption sites, exploring how space is not neutral. It will examine the legal and social dimensions of these issues, with an academic lens to analyze the implications of housing and public space rights. The discussion will highlight the intersections of law, policy, and community efforts in shaping the access and use of space, particularly for marginalized groups. The second panel will critique social assistance programs, often seen as a form of legislated poverty, focusing on issues like strict eligibility, stigmatization, and the legal challenges faced by applicants and their advocates. We will explore concerns of procedural fairness, accessibility, and arbitrary decision-making by caseworkers. The panel will also consider innovative legal strategies, including test case litigation, used by legal advocates to challenge the failures of the provincial social assistance system. Register here.

The panels will run from 1 PM to 5 PM, followed by a screening of the documentary Trainwreck. The evening film screening will include a discussion with the filmmaker and key figures featured in the film. The film examines the devastating effects of Metrolinx's poorly planned transit infrastructure development on low-income communities in Hamilton and Toronto. Following the screening, we will be joined by the filmmakers and community members who are advocating for meaningful community engagement, affordable housing, and community benefits to be included in future transit developments across the GTHA. Register here.

On Thursday, February 27 , 12-2pm, EUC presents the third seminar series of Africa is (Not) a Country with the theme "African Sounds: The Evolution of Afrobeats and Beyond." Speakers include Jonathan Nvita, Singer & Songwriter, McGill University; Kingsley Okyere, University of Pennsylvania; Damilare Bello, Duke University, moderated by Damilola Adebayo, PhD. (Assistant Professor, York University). Register here. There will be a live DJ and playlist curated by Dr. Ola Mohammed (York University)!! For more information, kindly email dasiedu@yorku.ca.

On Thursday, February 27, 12:30-1:30 at Kaneff Tower 519, the City Institute presents a seminar on "Air Pollution and the Built Environment" with Dr. Lindsey Rolheiser, Assistant Professor of Urban and Real Estate Economics and a Research Affiliate with MIT's Center for Real Estate. In this talk, Rolheiser will present recent research on the wide ranging health impacts of air pollution, with a particular focus on its effects on the commercial real estate (CRE) market, an area that has been largely overlooked. She will share findings from two studies that analyze the causal effects of air pollution, specifically from the particulate matter and wildfire smoke, on CRE, revealing significant impacts on office market values, apartment income, and commercial lease terms, while also identifying key factors such as building quality and worker productivity. Rolheiser’s diverse training in urban and real estate economics, planning, local public finance, and urban policy allows for the exploration of urban complexities using a variety of methodologies and tools—from planning and economic theory to econometric analysis, GIS, and qualitative methods. Register here.

On Sunday, March 2, 2-8pm in Toronto, EUC Professor Joseph Mensah will deliver a talk at The Victory of Adwa's 129th Anniversary on Black Independence Movements. The event is a celebration of African Resistance against Colonialism. The Battle of Adwa, fought on March 1, 1896, was a historic victory where Ethiopian forces, under Emperor Menelik II, decisively defeated the invading Italian army. This triumph preserved Ethiopia’s sovereignty, marking it as one of the only African nations to resist European colonization during the Scramble for Africa. Adwa became a symbol of Pan-African pride and resistance, inspiring movements for freedom and independence across the continent. The celebration will also include music, poetry, short play performance, exhibitions and more.

On Wednesday, March 5,12:30-4-30pm at Rm 1014 Osgoode Hall Law School, thirteen Osgoode professors will discuss the idea of crisis from their unique areas of expertise.

With myriad crises looming on every front, it seems like an apt time to see how the law can respond to these crises -- from Trump’s potential invasion of Canada to wildfires burning down cities to threats to democracy, Osgoode professors will share their insights and response on the crisis. EUC-Osgoode Professor Dayna Scott will discuss the topic Hope out of Ruins: Navigating the Backslide in Environmental Law. Register here.

On Friday, March 7, 1-2:30pm at HNES 140, CITY Institute presents Jakarta: The City of A Thousand Dimensions with Abidin Kusno and discussants, Kanishka Goonewardena, Stefan Kipfer and Kenneth Cardenas, moderated by Shubhra Gururani.

The conversation will revolve around issues concerning cities in the Global South. The forum uses the book as a conduit for raising larger questions and for brainstorming urban theories and practices. The book teases out some of the dimensions that have given shape to contemporary Jakarta, including the city's expanded flexibility in accommodating capital and labor, and the consistent lack of planning that can be understood as a result of both politics and the poetics of governing in the region.

IELFF Workshop Series: Methodologies of Subnational Applications of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity

The International International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab (IELFF) hosting a series of workshops that provide a deeper understanding of methodologies for generating subnational accounts of ecological footprint and biocapacity. Below are the dates and registration links:

Community scaling: March 20 at 11 am EDT = 15:00 GMT

Geographic scaling: April 10 at 11 am EST = 15:00 GMT

Environmental Studies Association of Canada (ESAC) 2025 Conference, Call for Papers

ESAC is accepting abstracts for their annual conference, as part of the Congress for the Social Sciences and Humanities at George Brown College (Toronto). The ESAC conference will take place from June 1-3, 2025. The conference theme is “Reframing Togetherness", reflecting ESAC’s interdisciplinarity. Several special events are planned, including an undergraduate research showcase, several keynote events, a joint session with the Canadian Sociological Association, and more. Submissions are being accepted until February 15, 2025. Abstract submission link here.

EUC Media Coverage and Other News

York University has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Geography at Adamas University in Kolkata, India, to advance shared leadership in the field of geography.

Dean Alice Hovorka expressed enthusiasm about the new partnership. "As part of EUC's global engagement strategy, we are excited to extend our collaborations to colleagues at Adamas Geography,” she says.

“Our respective strengths in global geography and geomatics will offer students and faculty from both institutions enhanced opportunities for research and training” she adds.

Ian Kamau, MES alumnus, recently brought his multimedia memoir, Loss, to New York City in partnership with Apollo Theater and Under the Radar Festival in January 2025. Loss is a deeply honest, live retelling of an intergenerational family story, which he wrote with his father Roger McTair. This multi-media performance begins as a mirror into a winter of depression, then slowly unravels the mystery surrounding the death of his paternal grandmother Nora Elutha Rogers. An orchestration of memories using live music, video, and storytelling, Loss is an exploration of grief in Afro-Caribbean communities and an immersive experience towards healing shared with the audience.

Ilan Kapoor wrote an article in The Conversation titled Trump’s lurking assault on Canada rests on endless lies and irrational populism. He notes that "Trump’s populism is built on irrational, if not dangerous, sentiments: blind fear, pridefulness, xenophobia, transphobia, racism and aggression. His lies are integral to his continuing attempts to paint the U.S. as a victim, despite its global supremacy in many areas, thereby justifying attempts at subordinating America’s putative “enemies” and even its friends. Populist sentiment, precisely because it is rooted in the irrational exuberance of pride and unity, cares little about facts, logic or veracity".

Mark Winfield penned an article in The Conversation highlighting that The biggest threat in the Ontario election isn’t Donald Trump, it’s voter disengagement. In calling an early election, he noted that the Ford government has provided Ontario voters with an unexpected opportunity to reflect on its record, and the potential paths forward for the province. He expressed hopes that Ontario voters will engage more deeply with questions and investigations relating to issues around housing, education, health care, infrastructure and electricity. Winfield also penned an opinion article in The Globe and Mail noting that Doug Ford's response to Trump’s tariff threat lacks credibility. He proposed that "If Canada is to avoid simply offering itself up as a fragmented, compliant and even annexed resource colony of the U.S., it needs to formulate a strategy that leverages its energy assets. Canada also needs to strengthen its wider economic and political alliances with the rest of the Americas, Europe and Asia, where there is also growing alarm over the signals coming from the new U.S. administration".

Adjunct Professor Bruce Campbell penned an article in The Conversation drawing attention to The impact of Donald Trump’s anti-climate measures on our heating planet. He noted that Trump's more than 200 executive orders including a so-called National Energy Emergency Declaration provided for a withdrawal of US from the Paris Climate Agreement, allowed his administration to fast-track permits for new fossil fuel infrastructure, blocked all new offshore wind power development, enabled new oil and gas development on federal lands, among a host of other anti-climate measures. Notwithstanding, he expressed optimism that a stronger climate action may now be possible without the U.S. at the table with many American states and municipalities continuing to push forward with aggressive emissions reduction measures.

Steven Tufts was interviewed in a CBC news story titled ‘Very ugly business’ says union expert of local Ironworkers union dismissals. In the article, Tufts explains that trusteeship is when a union’s international office takes control of a local branch, often due to issues like financial mismanagement, corruption, or internal conflict.

In this case, the Ironworkers Union Local 764 was placed under trusteeship, but the reasons weren’t specified. Tufts notes that while trusteeships are serious and disruptive, they aim to fix problems and restore proper leadership and hopes that the appointed trustee will investigate, correct any issues, and allow for new elections. 

Luisa Sotomayor was featured in YFile that highlighted lessons that Canada can learn from Colombia's housing crisis. “What we can learn from the Colombia experience is that when you're building housing, you need to think long term," said Sotomayor, EUC Professor and Director of the City Institute at York University. "It’s super important to consider planning and housing together and the realities of people’s everyday needs, including access to jobs, schools, social services, transportation and infrastructure,” she emphasized.

Anna Zalik recently gave a talk on Continental Power – The Struggle over Energy under the Canada US Mexico Agreement at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy at Western University in London, Ontario. Her talk examined the energy supply and infrastructural systems associated with 5 years of the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement drawing from her two decades of research examining power relations in the global extractive sector, considering questions of state, popular and Indigenous territorial sovereignty in the continental energy system with relation to environmental and climate justice. With Shiri Pasternak, they penned an article in The Narwhal titled Tariffs divide, but North America will soon be connected — by TC Energy’s natural gas pipelines highlighting that trade war is putting pressure on both Canada and Mexico to secure controversial infrastructure supported by the oil and gas sector and Trump administration.