Negotiation to Innovation: Advancing Climate Action Through Research and Learning

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference is an opportunity for world leaders to negotiate agreements that respond to the challenge of climate change. Featuring UBC delegates who are attending COP in person and virtually, this opening session introduces the key themes and and action agenda items at this year's meeting happening in Belém, Brazil with brief presentations and a moderated discussion.

Location: Ponderosa Ballroom
Organizing Partner: Sustainability Hub

Speakers

Vikramaditya Yadav (he/him), Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science

Vikramaditya G. Yadav is an in-person UBC COP30 delegate, a pioneering climate tech entrepreneur, award-winning professor at UBC, and founder of multiple deep-tech companies that specialize in transforming waste into opportunity. His research and ventures tackle some of the world's most challenging sustainability issues across wastewater treatment, mining operations, textile production, and biomaterials development. He is also on the frontlines of training the next generation of climate innovators. Recognized as one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 and as Foresight's Climate Tech Educator of the Year, he connects research, policy, and industry to accelerate real-world decarbonization solutions. At COP30, he presents a bold vision for scaling science-driven innovations into global impact.

Kathryn McConnell (she/her), Assistant Professor, Sociology, Faculty of Arts

Kathryn McConnell (UBC COP30 Virtual Delegate) is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia, where she studies the intersection of climate hazards, the built environment, and human mobility. Much of her recent work is focused on wildfire-related migration, gentrification, and planned relocation. Outside of her research, Kathryn has contributed as an editor and an author respectively to the 5th and 6th U.S. National Climate Assessments. Her work is broadly motivated by finding ways that social science can inform equitable adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Michael Girum (he/him), J.D. Candidate, Peter A. Allard School of Law

Michael Girum is a UBC COP30 Virtual delegate and a JD candidate (2027) at Allard. Prior to law school, Michael completed a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in finance at the University of Calgary, where he completed research studies on sustainability education in business schools. Outside of school, Michael worked as the co-chair of the Environment & Climate Change Canada Youth Council, where he led a group of ten young Canadians in providing policy feedback to the federal Minister of Environment & Climate Change.

Maisha Morshed (she/her), Undergraduate student, Mathematics, Faculty of Applied Science

Maisha is a Bangladeshi Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow Scholar pursuing a degree in Mathematics of Information at UBC. She is the first Bangladeshi-born Youth Advisory Council Member at the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada and the founder of InfrastructHER, a venture partnered with Innovation UBC that works to redefine Canadian infrastructure while amplifying BIPOC voices. As a UBC Sustainability Ambassador, she advocates for environmental justice and inclusive city design. Passionate about the intersection of culture and data, Maisha blends her Bangladeshi identity with numerical analysis to address pressing social and environmental issues.

Kathryn Harrison (she/her), Professor, Political Science, Faculty of Arts

Kathryn Harrison, a UBC COP30 in-person delegate, is a Professor of Political Science whose research and teaching focuses on climate policy. Her current research projects include the politics of carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidy reform. She is a member of the BC Climate Solutions Council, chair of the mitigation expert panel of the Canadian Climate Institute, and a regular media commentator on climate and energy policy.

In 2024 – 2025, the UBC Disaster Resilience Research Network (DRRN) and the City of Vancouver Emergency Management Agency (VEMA) collaborated on a mixed-methods study exploring disaster preparedness and resilience across Vancouver. Through surveys and focus group discussions, the research team aimed to better understand how individuals and communities perceive, plan for, and act upon disaster risks in an increasingly complex hazard landscape. At this session, explore the findings of the first public report (released October 2025), which provide insights into Vancouverites' concerns about potential hazards, barriers to emergency preparedness, and desire for social support and connection.

Location: PCN 1001
Organizing partner: Disaster Resilience Research Network

Speakers

Sara Shneiderman, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Ivan Head South-North Chair, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

Sara Shneiderman is an Associate Professor and Ivan Head South-North Chair in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and cross-appointed with the Department of Anthropology. Sara is a sociocultural anthropologist whose current research focuses on community resilience and disaster governance in the face of ongoing environmental, social, and political transformation in both Canada and Asia.

Raahina Somani, Research Coordinator, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

Raahina Somani is a policy researcher focused on governance, disaster resilience, and human security, with experience spanning humanitarian response, gender equity, and community-based resilience planning. As Research Coordinator for the Ivan Head South-North IDRC Chair at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Raahina works on projects at both the UBC Himalaya Program and the UBC Disaster Resilience Research Network.

Forest carbon projects are touted as a nature-based solution to mitigate climate change and are oft-critiqued for their potential ineffectiveness. This workshop navigates forest carbon protocols, community development needs, verification and implementation processes through a collaborative exercise that explores the opportunities and challenges of offsets.

Location: PCN 1002
Organizing partner: UBC Faculty of Forestry

Speakers

Hisham Zerriffi, Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management

Dr. Hisham Zerriffi is a Professor in Forest Resources Management where he runs the Energy Resources, Development and Environment Laboratory (ERDELab) and is the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the Faculty of Forestry.  He has over twenty years of experience in research on the intersections between energy systems, the environment and human welfare, resulting in one book and over 60 journal articles. His interdisciplinary research has included projects on electricity and clean cooking access in low- and middle-income countries, energy justice and energy transitions, integrated assessment models and land-use sustainability modelling. He has training in engineering and public policy and uses mixed qualitative and quantitative research methods, including optimization and scenario modelling in his work. He is the Canada team lead for the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use and Energy (FABLE) research consortium. The FABLE consortium conducts bottom-up, country-led, modelling of land-use sustainability futures to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

Gregory Paradis, Assistant Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management

My research spans a wide range of forest management problems, with a common thread being the application of operations research (OR) methods to formulate and solve complex decision problems as mathematical optimization problems. I use a systems approach to modelling interactions between forest ecosystems, industrial supply chains, governments, and society. My research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of forest science, forest economics, forest and industrial engineering, data science, computer science, and operations research. I am always looking for motivated students, especially quantitative and creative ones who are not afraid to do something totally new.

Rethinking the Right-of-Way (ReROW) is a multidisciplinary research collaboration at UBC that focuses on streets as the locus of many urban issues, including climate, justice, and wellbeing. Drawing on a broad set of experiences, ReROW panelists will share how their partnered research can be an effective agent for climate action. The panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities in implementing university-community climate research with various interest-holders and the benefits for knowledge production and mobilization.

Location: PCN 1001
Organizing partner: Rethinking the Right-of-Way Research Cluster (ReRow)

Speakers

Kelly Clifton (She/Her), Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning

Kelly J. Clifton is an internationally recognized expert on transport and land use interactions, travel behaviour, pedestrian modelling, and equity in transportation policy. She has worked to elevate public impact research through partnerships with public agencies and community groups. Previously, Kelly was Professor of Portland State University’s Civil and Environmental Engineering, an affiliate of the Urban Studies and Planning Program, and a Fellow in the Institute for Sustainable Solutions. In addition to her faculty appointments there, she served as the interim Associate Vice President for Research for the campus and was the former Associate Dean of Research for the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. She has also held faculty positions at the University of Maryland and the University of Iowa. Kelly has a PhD in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin, an MS in Planning from the University of Arizona, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University.

Andi Binet (They/Them), Assistant Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning

Andi Binet is an Assistant Professor of Community-Engaged Research in the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC. Through community-based, participatory research processes, they collaborate with community members to ask, answer and act on research questions that matter to them. Since 2015, Andi has been a proud co-leader of the Healthy Neighbourhoods Study, a longitudinal Participatory Action Research project exploring the relationship between gentrification and community health in nine Boston-area neighbourhoods.

Amanda Giang (She/Her), Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES)

Amanda Giang is an Assistant Professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UBC. Her research addresses challenges at the interface of environmental modelling and policy through an interdisciplinary lens, with a focus on air pollution and toxic chemicals. She is interested in understanding how modelling and data analytics can better empower communities and inform policy decision-making. Current projects in her research group include developing digital tools to better understand and respond to environmental injustice in Canada, evaluating the impacts of technology and policy on air quality, and exploring how different kinds of knowledge are used in environmental assessment processes.

Theo Lim (He/Him), Associate Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning

Theo Lim is an associate professor at UBC SCARP. He received his PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University (China), and a bachelor’s degree in Immigrant Studies from Swarthmore College. From 2019 to 2024, he was an assistant professor of urban affairs and planning at Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs. While at Virginia Tech, he was the Principal Investigator on research projects funded by the US National Science Foundation and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, totalling ~ 2 million USD.

Yiyang Wang (She/Her), PhD Student, Faculty of Forestry

Yiyang is a PhD student in the Faculty of Forestry with a background in urban forestry. She is passionate about promoting equitable access to urban public spaces through mixed-method research. Since her master’s studies, she has focused on connecting communities to urban nature, through diverse travel modes, by holistic planning and inclusive urban design. She has worked as a UBC Sustainability Scholar for Metro Vancouver, contributing to policies that encourage sustainable travel to regional parks, and with UBC Campus and Community Planning on SEEDS’ knowledge exchange initiatives.

Rebekah Mahaffey (She/Her), Social Policy Planner at the City of Burnaby and the Executive Director of the Civic Innovation Lab 

Rebekah Mahaffey is a Social Policy Planner at the City of Burnaby and the Executive Director of the Civic Innovation Lab, a research partnership between the City of Burnaby and Simon Fraser University. Rebekah grew up in Indonesia, Libya and England and has called the West Coast home for over 20 years. Rebekah has degrees in International Development, Art History and Urban Planning (from UBC School of Community and Regional Planning!) and is an Adjunct Professor with the SFU School of Resource and Environmental Management. When not at work, she enjoys hiking, reading, and standing in the rain watching her child play soccer.

The transition toward a sustainable, climate-positive society demands transformative changes in how we source, design, and circulate materials. This panel, hosted by the UBC BioProducts Institute (BPI), explores how renewable resources and bio-based innovations can accelerate progress toward the COP30 Action Agenda, advancing decarbonization, responsible consumption, and resilient infrastructure.

We will highlight recent breakthroughs in circular materials science, from bio-derived polymers and nanostructured fibers to adaptive materials, that redefine our relationship with carbon, waste, and value creation. Drawing from research and industrial collaborations across forestry, agriculture, textiles, and packaging, the discussion will emphasize how circular design principles can replace fossil-based systems, integrate biodiversity protection, and foster inclusive economic growth.

Moderated by Dr. Emil Gustafsson, the session will bring together thought leaders to examine practical bioinnovations and pathways for scaling renewable material solutions. The goal is to identify actionable synergies between science, technology, and governance that align with COP30 objectives and advance Canada’s role in the global circular bioeconomy.

Location: PCN 1002
Organizing partner: BioProducts Institute

Moderator

Emil Gustafsson,  Senior Research Project Manager, BioProducts Institute

Emil Gustafsson is the Senior Research Project Manager at the BioProducts Institute (BPI). He focuses on building research partnerships by connecting BPI researchers with collaborators in industry, government and academia. He has a broad research background in renewable forest-based materials, both in the field of bio-based nanomaterials as well as in more traditional pulp and paper applications. Prior to joining UBC in 2019 he spent time as a Postdoctoral Fellow at LGP2 in Grenoble, France and at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he worked on research projects in close collaboration with industry. Emil holds a PhD in Fiber and Polymer Science from KTH in Stockholm, Sweden.

Speaker

Orlando J. Rojas, Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Professor Orlando J. Rojas is the Canada Excellence Research Chair at the University of British Columbia and Director of the BioProducts Institute. His research focuses on bio-based materials and soft matter, and he is internationally recognized for pioneering contributions to renewable materials science.

Qingshi Tu, Assistant Professor, Department of Wood Science

Dr. Qingshi Tu’s research combines industrial ecology principles with computational modeling to promote the sustainable development of bioeconomy. Specific foci include; (i) Transforming the information of engineering systems through process simulation, statistical methods and machine learning for sustainability modeling applications (e.g., life cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, material flow analysis); (ii) Building models and tools for analyzing the environmental, economic and social impacts of emerging technologies for bioenergy, biofuels and bioproducts at different scales; and (iii) Investigating the synergies and tradeoffs between bioeconomy, circular economy and climate change mitigation through a system modeling approach.

Marina Mehling, PhD Candidate, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Marina is a PhD Candidate in Chemical and Biological Engineering and a Sessional Lecturer in the Faculty of Forestry. Her research leverages microorganisms to create sustainable materials and natural products. She has trained across sectors, including academic labs, government laboratories affiliated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy, and the pharmaceutical industry.

This roundtable examines the connections between climate change, biodiversity, and food security, highlighting how shifts in climate influence the stability and sustainability of our ecosystems. Speakers will discuss the complex interactions among ecological systems, land use, and food production, exploring how nature-based solutions can mitigate climate impacts.

Location: PCN 1003
Organizing Partner: Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory

Moderator

Robert Vanwynsberghe (he/him), Professor, Educational Studies

Robert is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at UBC in the Adult Learning and Education program. His research expertise is in sustainability and the related areas of social movements and capacity building, and is rooted in an abiding interest in human action and social change. Since 2016, he has applied a neo-pragmatist approach to human action on sustainability programing; creating both a Masters (3x) and Bachelor’s (7x) program in Education for Sustainability as a result. These efforts entail his working shoulder-to-shoulder with students to step outside the traditional classroom to get involved in sustainability projects within Vancouver and neighbouring communities. The second strand is a SSHRC-funded study of social innovation as a transformative intervention in cities addressing the complex challenges of climate change, equity, and decolonization. From 2003-2012 he was also the PI on a study of the impacts of the Olympic Games hosting from a sustainability perspective.

Speakers

Navin Ramankutty (he/him), Professor, IRES & SPPGA 

Navin Ramankutty is a Professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. His research aims to understand how humans use and modify the Earth’s land surface for agriculture and its implications for the global environment. Using global Earth observations and numerical ecosystem models, his research aims to find solutions to the problem of feeding humanity with minimal global environmental footprint.

Tahia Devisscher (she/her), Assistant Professor, Dept of Forest Resources Management

Tahia Devisscher explores how to support equitable nature-based solutions that can contribute to more resilient and healthier futures through hyper-local and city-level greening actions. She is interested in how urban forests and other greenspaces foster human wellbeing and social-ecological resilience to climate change. She applies interdisciplinary approaches by combining methods from quantitative modelling, remote sensing, and spatial analysis with participatory visioning, action-research, and arts-based qualitative assessment. To present, she has collaborated with Indigenous groups, local communities and associations, national and municipal governments, non-governmental organizations, and several research institutes in more than 20 countries across the world.

Kai Chan (he/him), Professor, IRES

Kai Chan is a professor and Canada Research Chair at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. He is an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented sustainability scientist, trained in ecology, policy, and ethics from Princeton and Stanford Universities. In his research, he focuses on how social-ecological systems can be transformed to be both better and wilder. Kai leads CHANS lab (Connecting Human and Natural Systems), and is co-founder of CoSphere (a Community of Small-Planet Heroes).

In this session, UBC faculty from diverse disciplines will explore the role that academia can play in supporting the objectives of COP by breaking down internal and external barriers to advance climate solutions.  From clean energy advancements to legal commitments to climate action; from advancing adaptation and mitigation research across disciplines to decreasing polarization, speakers will discuss how they may use their role as researchers to drive climate solutions. The audience will be able to participate through a question-and-answer period, followed by an opportunity for continued informal discussion at the end of the event.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference brings together world leaders, policy experts, non-governmental organizations, and civil society to discuss climate action. These gatherings provide the opportunity for governments to officially negotiate international agreements, take stock of global progress on implementation, and present national climate plans. Civil society, including academia, plays an important role at COP, holding parties accountable for their commitments and working to advance climate solutions.

Location: Ponderosa Ballroom
Organizing Partner: Climate Solutions Research Collective

Moderator

Carol Liao, Associate Professor at Allard School of Law

Carol Liao is an Associate Professor at Allard Law and a Distinguished Fellow of the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at the UBC Sauder School of Business. Her research focuses on corporate law and sustainability, climate governance, and social justice. She is the Co-Director (Academic) of the UBC Centre for Climate Justice and the Chair and Principal Co-Investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative, dedicated to advancing director knowledge on the latest in climate risks and fiduciary obligations. She is also Principal Investigator of a SSHRC Insight Grant-funded empirical study on sustainable corporate governance and a UBC research excellence cluster member of the Future Minerals Initiative and Decision Insights for Business & Society. In 2024, she was recognized with the UBC Public Engagement Award for her communication of corporate governance, ESG, and equity issues. She was a member of UBC's delegation for COP29 hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Speakers

Robert Godin, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science

Robert Godin leads the SolarSpec: Solar Energy Conversion and Spectroscopy group where his research focusses on sustainable energy production, organic semiconductors, and photocatalysis. He teaches in the Department of Chemistry at UBC's Okanagan campus and is the Green Chemistry lead in the Bachelor of Sustainability Program. Since 2023, he has also acted as the Co-lead of the Solar Energy for Net Zero Research Cluster, a multidisciplinary group of researchers at both UBC campuses working collaboratively to advance our understanding of harnessing, converting, storing and using solar energy with the aim to accelerate vast deployment. He has been an active member of UBC’s Climate Research Working group and has been a Steering Committee member of the pan-university Climate Solutions Research Collective since its launch in 2023. In 2021 Robert was a part of UBC's delegation to COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Hisham Zerriffi, Professor, Faculty of Forestry

Hisham Zerriffi is a Professor in Forest Resources Management in the Faculty of Forestry, and the Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. He is the Principal Investigator of the Energy Resources, Development and Environment Lab which uses inter-disciplinary approaches to research problems at the intersection of technology, environment and development with the aim of tackling major issues in this area and developing evidence-based policy recommendations for all stakeholders (e.g. governments at all levels, households, private sector, donors, etc.). His research often explores questions around tradeoffs and decisions that have to be made that balance short and long-term development and environmental goals. He is a Faculty Associate of the Institute of Resources, Environment and Sustainability, the Clean Energy Research Centre and the BioProducts Institute at UBC.

Katherine White, Professor, UBC Sauder School of Business

Katherine White is a Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science and is the Senior Associate Dean, Strategy and Responsible Business at UBC Sauder. She is also the Academic Director of the Centre for Climate and Business Solutions, a dynamic hub for problem-driven research and climate-focused business education. Her research focuses on how social contexts, identities, and emotions shape how consumers make ethical, prosocial, and sustainable choices. Kate is the author of “The Elusive Green Consumer” in Harvard Business Review and she has published over 60 research articles. She was awarded a Canada Clean 50 Award for thought leadership in sustainability and the American Marketing Association’s Award for Responsible Research in Marketing.

Sean Smukler, Associate Professor, Applied Biology, Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Sean Smukler is the Principal Investigator at the Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes (SAL) Lab and Faculty Associate of the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. The focus of his research is to contribute to the understanding of the ecology of, and management for, agricultural systems that meet current needs without compromising the needs of future generations.  A major focus of the SAL lab is to evaluate the multiple environmental impacts and ecological interactions of various agricultural management options. Sean is also the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) at UBC Farm, a teaching and research centre that designs, facilitates and models sustainable food systems, while building community on campus and beyond. He recently co-led the development of a new Strategic Plan (2024-2029) and vision for the farm. Sean is also on the Steering Committee of the BC Agricultural Climate Action Research Network (ACARN), a province-wide initiative that brings together researchers, Indigenous knowledge keepers, producers, government agencies, and industry to work towards a thriving and resilient food production system across BC.