Grant: Canada Research Chairs

My research program aims to advance understanding of interactions between human activity, pollution, and well-being by developing systems modelling frameworks, and to improve the utility of these frameworks in decision-support contexts. Over the next 5 years, I will address methodological challenges in impacts assessment, where innovations in weaving emerging data sources and quantitative and qualitative methods can yield insights for technology and policy interventions: holistic assessment of the environmental impacts of decarbonizing maritime transport; characterizing cumulative impacts of multiple air pollutants on human exposure and equity; and disentangling impacts of climate and human activity on contaminants in traditional Arctic foods. These three pillars of the research program focus on different application cases, but are unified in their aim of advancing impact assessment methods in a decision-support context. In the first, we will evaluate the potential environmental co-benefits or tradeoffs associated with decarbonization pathways, with a particular focus on air quality interactions. Decarbonization pathways will be modelled as bottom-up, technology-based emissions scenarios for greenhouse gases and air pollutants, and coupled to air quality modelling to understand impacts to coastal communities. In the second, we will develop screening tools for assessing the cumulative impact of multiple air pollutants and multiple social stressors in Canada, using geospatial data analytics and reduced complexity modelling derived from regulatory dispersion models. In the third, we will explore environmental change drivers in an ecosystem-based bioaccumulation model, informed by Western Science and Inuit Knowledge. This research program advances environmental impact assessment methods in specific use-cases, demonstrating how state-of-the-science modelling and data analytic approaches can be applied to answer policy-relevant questions. Through novel integration of a more diverse set of quantitative and qualitative data sources to inform model scenarios, structures, and output indicators and metrics, this research will also illuminate impacts, particularly for vulnerable communities, that historically have not been accounted for in decision-making. By engaging with stakeholders and rightsholders throughout the research process--design, data collection, and analysis--I aim to produce insights and tools that are actionable in use-contexts.