Conny is an Associate Professor in the Geography Department. Her research on changing environmental policies and governance ranges across several common themes reflected in the group's research activities. Her work tries to bridge academic and public policy knowledge and discussions, and she has published across a wide range from academic journals to policy reports, news and blogs, international field schools, local outreach, and an Emmy© award-nominated environmental documentary. Her work got her involved in projects on four continents, many of which examined different aspects of local and/or indigenous rights, perspectives and livelihoods in relationship to environmental goals. She joined the University of Calgary following research at University of Cambridge/UK, University of Victoria/BC, GTZ Quito/Ecuador, and GTZ Campeche/Mexico; and education at University of Dresden/Germany (PhD Environmental Policy / Dr. rer. nat.), University of Guelph/ON (MA Geography & International Development), and Kiel/Germany (BA Geography/Economics), (BA Fiscal Law).

CONTACT:  davidsen@ucalgary.ca      more info         +1 (403) 220 5591

Adeniyi is an Assistant Professor at UBC and collaborating Environmental Policy and Governance group fellow whose research investigates the climate-forest interface in Alberta and British Columbia, particularly how the forest gets constituted and governed as both a space of risk and of opportunity around forest fires and forest carbon economies respectively. How do these two main modes of apprehending and governing the climate-forest interface get assembled, mobilized, reconciled, and contested in these specific places and with what effects? This research builds on parallel work on REDD+ and natural climate solutions (NCS), bringing it into dialogue with the growing attempts to govern forest-climate risks of wildfire. Prior to his current position, he held a Postdoc Research Fellowship position in Global Environmental Politics at the Department of Politics, University of Sheffield; was a senior teaching fellow at SOAS University of London and King’s College London; and held a two-year SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in this group (2019-2021). He has a PhD in Human Geography from King’s College London, an MSc in Environment and Development from King’s College London and a BSc from the University of Ibadan.

CONTACT:      adeniyi.asiyanbi@ucalgary.ca          more info

Ana Watson is a doctoral candidate in Geography and focuses on the human dimensions of environmental conservation in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) extraction projects in Latin America. She holds an MA degree in Environment and Development from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), and a BSc in Life Science from the National Agrarian University La Molina, Peru (Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina). Her background includes more than 8 years as a biodiversity specialist with pastoralism and grassland ecology projects, as well as biodiversity conservation action plans for energy extraction in the Amazon. As a multicultural female researcher, her interest is understanding the narratives and power dynamics behind accepted levels of socio-environmental impacts of hydrocarbon and transition minerals projects in Latin America that typically affect indigenous rights, biodiversity conservation and climate change goals.

CONTACT:     ana.watson1@ucalgary.ca      more info          +1 (403) 220 5590

Danilo is a doctoral candidate whose research focuses on understanding changes in conservation and resource extraction policies in Ecuador's Amazon. His PhD project applies interdisciplinary approaches that combine political ecology and geospatial methods, funded by a Killam predoctoral scholarship. Prior to coming to Calgary, Danilo completed a BSc in Geographical and Environmental Engineering at the Armed Forces University ESPE, Ecuador, and a M.Eng in Mineral Resources and Energy Engineering at Chonbuk National University (CBNU), South Korea. During his Master´s, Danilo was a member of the COLINS laboratory at CBNU and a visiting student at CeBER and Hydrometallurgy research groups at the University of Capetown. During that time, he participated in various research projects related to bioremediation. He also has experience working with local communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon as a volunteer and as a professional geographer. 

CONTACT:    pablo.borja@ucalgary.ca     more info     +1 (403) 220 5590

Jeremy is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography. His research focuses on the cultural, social, and political power relations embedded within spaces and places, and its implications on identity, communication, and engagement strategies on socio-environmental issues. His current research leverages the importance of place-based experiences in how immigrants engage with climate action. Specifically, his project will determine the way(s) Filipino immigrants in Calgary, Alberta, perceive and prioritize climate change from one place to another, and how they communicate and dis/engage with climate action over time. He returned to post-graduate studies in 2018 following research work in the Philippines, Peru, and Canada, and international development work in Bolivia and Mexico. He is an avid traveller who has visited five continents. He speaks three languages and enjoys reading on his busy and spare time. He is also an active mentor and volunteer, giving his time to teach secondary students on diversity and geography, and advising various organizations on eco-literacy and sustainability.

CONTACT:  jjtorio@ucalgary.ca        more info       +1 (403) 220 5590

Sujoy is a doctoral candidate in the Geography Department and recipient of an Eyes High Doctoral Scholarship. His PhD  research examines nature-society relations with an explicit focus on climate justice, collaborative management of protected areas, governance of complex socio-ecological systems in changing forest carbon regimes, and rural livelihood adaptation in Bangladesh. He is also a member of Calgary's Graduate Student Associations' Award Committee and was selected tp be a scholar of UofC's selective Graduate College in 2021. Sujoy was originally born and raised in a poverty-prone remote village in the north-eastern district of Sunamganj, Bangladesh, surrounded by wetland and fresh-water swamp forests on which his local community depended for their survival and livelihood. His strong interest in sustainable environmental governance emerged from this early first-hand experience particularly on the politics and power struggles in  natural resource control and their effect on rural livelihoods, social identity, and environmental injustices. As the first student from his rural village to ever get enrolled in a university, he completed his BSc and MSc degrees in Forestry from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh. Upon graduation, he worked  with various NGOs, including a USAID funded Conservation and Development project and conducted extensive research fieldwork in various protected areas and mangrove forest in Bangladesh. Throughout his university education, he was also involved with numerous volunteer and non-profit organizations on campus, worked as a research assistant with a cross-disciplinary team, published several newspaper articles, and co-founded a social justice volunteer organization in his home district. In 2014, he received a prestigious Swedish Institute Study Scholarship that selects students and young professionals from developing countries who stand out as emerging global leaders. Then, he did a second MSc in Rural Development and Natural Resource Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

CONTACT:  sujoy.subroto@ucalgary.ca      more info      +1 (403) 220 5590

Daniel's research interest focuses on the sustainable development from natural resources with an emphasis on the connections between environment, geology, landscapes and cultures associated with territories. He is a trained Geological Engineer from the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia. His M.A. research project supervised by Dr. Conny Davidsen examines spatial relationships between nature, culture and energy extraction in Colombia in an analysis of the viability and implications of oil extraction and expansion pressures in the Colombian Amazon.

CONTACT:  daniel.buelvas@ucalgary.ca      more info      +1 (403) 220 5590

Emily is a MSc candidate in the Sustainable Energy Development program at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. Her areas of interest include climate change equity, policy and adaptation. Her MSc capstone project supervised by Dr. Conny Davidsen examines how a resilience network could benefit Alberta Indigenous communities’ wildfire mitigation efforts.

CONTACT: emily.hunter@ucalgary.ca          program website          

Manuel is a MSc in Sustainable Energy Development candidate at the University of Calgray. He has a background in business administration and holds an MBA degree with a focus on project management from the University of the Americas Quito, Ecuador and a BA degree in International Business from the University of Applied Sciences Trier, Germany. He lived and studied in Quito, Ecuador, for almost six years, working in various roles in public institutions such as the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Labour, the National Transit & Transportation Authority, and as an Organizational Development Consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank in the Secretaría Nacional de la Administración Pública. He is interested in issues such as energy, environment and international relations, with particular interest in disaster and risk management related to climate change and NGO engagement. His current capstone project on NGO participation in the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico is supervised by Dr. Conny Davidsen. 

CONTACT: manuel.schirmer@ucalgary.ca          program website         

• Dr. Asraf Siddique (PhD): Forest Governance & Carbon in Bangladesh
• Nathan Donald (undergrad research assistant): Wildfire Governance in Western Canada
• Farhana Mustafa (MSc Sustainable Energy Development): Advanced Biofuel Developments in Western Canada's Long-DIstance Transportation
• Joshua Mitchell (MSc Sustainable Energy Development): Forest Fires & Carbon in Western Canada
• Claire Hosford (MSc Sustainable Energy Development): Wildfire and Disaster Risk Preparedness in Western Canada
• Dr. Gabriela Alonso Yanez (postdoc): Conservation Research & Learning in a Mexican Biosphere Reserve
• Dr. Leith Deacon (postdoc): Canadian Oil Discourse & 'Oil Literacy'
• Dr. Rishi Bastakoti (PhD): Forest Governance & Carbon in Nepal
• Dr. Evans Ouko (PhD): Forest Governance & Management in Kenya
• Laura Kiff (postgraduate MA): Canadian Oil Discourse & 'Oil Literacy'; Environmental Policy Change in the Ecuadorian Amazon
• Jeremy Escobar Torio (MA): Indigenous Representation & Environment Discourse in the Peruvian Amazon
• Tsogo Battsengel (MGIS): Wildlife Distributions & Conservation in Mongolia
• Carla Incontri (MGIS): Indigenous Representation & Environmental Discourse in the Peruvian Amazon
• Pawan Paudyal (MGIS candidate): Forest Carbon & Policies in Nepal
• Kalpana Ghimire (MGIS): International Social Media Discourses of Forest Carbon Mechanisms
• Elizabeth Garza (MGIS): Energy, Oil & Conflict in Mexico
• Daniel Graham (MGIS): Climate Change and Ecological Modernization News Coverage in Canada