LEAP UBC

Congratulations to our recent LEAP MSc graduates!

• Claire Ewing: Environmental Justice and the Enforcement of Air Pollution Laws in Canada

• Erika Luna-Perez: A descriptive analysis of Mexico's crop species diversity

• Emma Gillies: An Arctic mercury myster: Exploring environmental drivers of methylmercury bioaccumulation in the Beaufort Sea food web 

Rivkah has been awarded with the prestigious Vanier Scholarship which will support her environmental justice research. 

Four LEAP members have been recently awarded with NSERC scholarships: 

Rivkah — Vanier Graduate Scholarship

Emma — CGS-M Scholarship

Imranul — CGS-D Scholarship

Tim

For her thesis, Rochelle did a trajectory analysis based on public odour reports in order to identify major odour sources in Metro Vancouver.

The Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s (CGS M) program helps develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies.

Since 2009, the Liu Institute has brought together exceptional PhD  students at UBC who are interested in using their research and  disciplinary expertise to work on public policy and global issues. Out of four new scholars this year, two are LEAP members! Congratulations! 

The article (in spanish) titled "Data Analysis: Objective science or patriarchal illusion?" explores how we can approach gender quantitative and qualitative research from a feminist perspective. 

Under three minutes, Mrinmoy explained how cooking and heating contribute to poor indoor air quality and how better ventilation design can more quickly alleviate the associated health impacts.

Congratulations to many group members on their awards and recognitions in 2020!

Rivkah Gardner-Frolick, BC Air Quality Robert Caton Scholarship

Imranul Laskar, Air & Waste Management Association Environmental Management or Policy Research and Study Scholaraship

Rudri Bhatt and Mrinmoy Chakraborty, Student Energy Leadership Fellows

Our new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, looks at the distribution of cumulative air pollution burdens in Vancouver, Montreal, and Canada. For a summary of our findings, check out this news release. 

Hannah recently defended her thesis titled "Knowledge Politics in Environmental Impact Assessment" where she explored a case study of the Muskrat Falls Hydroelectric Project. Congratulations Hannah!

Professors Zimmerman and Giang launch a new odour tracking app as part of a research project on air quality, odour, and health: "Smell Vancouver, or SmellVan, is a web-based app that can now be accessed at smell-vancouver.ca. We want to know when and where people in Metro Vancouver experience bad odours in their outdoor environment. Through SmellVan, members of the public have the opportunity to log odours and report on any health effects they are experiencing. We hope to identify odour “hotspots” in the region so we can take a closer look at these areas from an air quality perspective." 

For more info on the app, check out this release from UBC or news coverage (The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, CTV).