Supporting sustainable communities through climate innovation
SFU Climate Innovation is catalyzing community-centred climate action and innovation research-for-impact. Building on SFU鈥檚 research priority 鈥� community-centred climate innovation 鈥� our platform elevates supports and services to further enable transdisciplinary research with and for communities. SFU Climate Innovation's world-leading model is advancing transformative research and effective funding proposals with the goal of accelerating low carbon, resilient, and sustainable communitites across Canada and beyond.
On this Page
handshake CATALYZING INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
We support researchers to overcome traditional siloes by advancing systemic interdisciplinary research capabilities, connecting across disciplines, generating an engaged research network and proactively supporting high-impact collaborations between adaptation, mitigation, and sustainability research areas.
partner_exchange CO-CREATING WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS
We link researchers with community partners to advance high-impact research with and for communities, moving best available knowledge to practice.
public MOBILIZING KNOWLEDGE AND SCALING CLIMATE INNOVATION
We bridge the gap between communities, decision-makers, and researchers by mobilizing knowledge, sharing best practice and scaling innovation across diverse channels and across local and global networks.
Who We Are
We are a collaborative of researchers, staff, and students who are advancing world-leading climate action and innovation research with and for communities across Canada and beyond.鈥�
SFU Climate Innovation鈥檚 world-leading research-for-impact platform is a collaboration of units, institutes and hubs from across SFU who are aligning 360 degree supports and services needed to advance effective and community-centred climate action and innovation research-for-impact.
Collaborators include:
SFU International鈥�
Carol Zachs, Senior Director
Mark Keilthy, Director, Global Engagement
Research Intelligence Office鈥�
Mike Boleak, Director
Cici Du, Data Analyst
SFU Indigenous Initiatives and Reconciliation
Chris (Syeta'xtn) Lewis鈥�, Director
Rebekah Mahaffey, Executive Director
Kilim Park, Research Project Manager
SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue鈥�
Aftab Erfan, Executive Director
Brenda Tang, Director of Operations
Cameron Friend, Executive Assistant
ACT - Action on Climate Team鈥� (ACT)
Lauren Vincent, Associate Director
Community-Engaged Research Initiative鈥� (CERi)
Stuart Poyntz, Director
Tara Mahoney, Research and Engagement Manager
Joanna Habdank, Program Manager
SFU Communications鈥� & Marketing
Angela Wilson, Executive Director Strategic Communications
Justin Wong, Associate Director
Pam Lim, Communications Manager
Sam Smith, Communications Officer
Mitacs
Annika Rosanowski鈥�, Advisor, Business Development
Karina Chow, Senior Director
Paul Crosby, Director, Corporations & Foundations
Jennifer Breckon, Associate Director, Grants & Foundations
SFU Knowledge Mobilization Hub鈥�
Lupin Battersby, Director
SFU Public Square
Janet Webber, Executive Director
SFU Clean Hydrogen Hub
Laura Sloboda鈥�, Director, Operations
Pranshu Shelat鈥�, Project Manager
SFU Climate Innovation is part of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation Office. We thank Dugan O'Neil, Elicia Maine and Shelley Gair for their leadership. We also thank Jean Huang, Varundeep Chahal and Jennifer Gao for their support.鈥�
Our Vision
SFU Climate Innovation is leveraging SFU鈥檚 capacities and reputation as a leading research university to move the dial on climate action and innovation research with and for communities across Canada and beyond.
Our Mandate
SFU Climate Innovation effectively co-creates research-for-impact with and for community partners, mobilizing knowledges and scaling innovations that accelerate low carbon, resilient and sustainable communities across Canada and beyond.鈥� We aim to support communities as they address climate change challenges by:鈥�
- Overcoming siloes 鈥�
- Bringing needs and knowledges of community-centred partners into research鈥�
- Fostering systemic, integrated research-for-impact to minimize risk and emissions and to advance community sustainability鈥�
- Mobilizing climate action and innovation learnings across extended, cross-sector networks鈥�
- Scaling innovations that accelerate community transformations鈥�
Our Team
Alison Shaw
Executive Director, SFU Climate Innovation
As both a scholar and practitioner, Dr. Alison Shaw brings over two decades of experience in pioneering climate and sustainability action and innovation across diverse sectors and scales.
As the first authorized researcher to study science-policy interactions in the United Nation鈥檚 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)鈥檚 Third Assessment Report (2001), she saw firsthand the complexity of communicating science to policy and policy to science. Since, she has worked to develop pioneering approaches and models to encourage exchange and learning across diverse sectors and communities to co-create knowledge-for-action.
Alison spent a decade in academia, co-designing and managing three large-scale interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary research projects aimed at accelerating climate change and sustainability action in communities. These projects applied different research approaches and tools for action - using evidence-based data visualization to express climate risk in the鈥�, linking with municipal and First Nations policy objectives and priorities in the鈥�, and embedding risk, emissions, and co-benefits data into municipal and First Nations planning and decision processes in the鈥�Integrated Climate Action for BC Communities Initiative (2018-2021).
In 2012, Alison founded and for a decade co-created leading research-to-practice approaches with both public and private sector clients at international, national, and local scales. From 2018-2021, she worked as Research Lead at ACT 鈥� Action on Climate Team, SFU, co-creating leading low carbon resilience approaches with and for BC communities, and in 2022 became Executive Director of ACT, with a focus on implementing and refining low carbon resilience approaches and nature-based solutions. She brings a wealth of experience in interdisciplinary collaboration, cross-sector partnership-building, and operationalizing sustainability transitions research, policy and practice.
As the inaugural Executive Director of SFU Climate Innovation, through this platform Dr. Shaw is excited to operationalize SFU鈥檚 #1 research priority - community-centred climate innovation. Positioned in SFU鈥檚 Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, SFU Climate Innovation鈥檚 goal is to leverage SFU鈥檚 capacities and reputation as a leading research university to create effective and impactful climate action & innovation research with, and for, communities across Canada and beyond.
Jennifer Temple
Strategic Grants Writer, SFU Climate Innovation
Jennifer (she/her) brings over 20 years鈥� of project management and transdisciplinary facilitation experience to her role with the SFU Climate Innovation team. Jennifer鈥檚 training includes a B.Sc. in general science, a Post-Graduate diploma in environmental sciences and an MBA with an energy and sustainability lens. Professional development and experience in facilitation, participatory/impact evaluation and human behaviour have informed her understanding of the social dimensions of innovation and systems change.
Most recently, Jennifer worked with the Marine Plan Partnership of the North Pacific Coast (MaPP) as Regional Projects Coordinator, supporting the collaborative regional marine implementation activities of 17 First Nations and the Province of B.C. Previously, she worked on a portfolio of low carbon, resilience and resurgence projects in Kenya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Jennifer brings to her strategic grants writing role a blend of ecological knowledge, scientific research management experience, writing and editing expertise, a successful track record of proposals and grants, and a passion for working with individuals, networks and communities for the health and well-being of all.
jennifer_temple2@sfu.ca
Skye Vallance
Program Coordinator, SFU Climate Innovation
Skye (she/her) brings a decade of non-profit communications and community engagement experience to the SFU Climate Innovation team. Since completing her BAH in Health Studies at Queen鈥檚 University, she has contributed to advocacy campaigns advancing Indigenous-led conservation (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - British Columbia), agricultural food systems resiliency (Canadian Organic Growers), and youth-led climate action across Canada and globally. Skye enjoys connecting with neighbours through volunteer work and sits as Community Outreach Director for her local community garden.
Skye brings a spirit of collaboration to support SFU鈥檚 community-centred climate innovation network through communications, sustainability research and project coordination. She enjoys spending time with Nature by cheering salmon upstream, studying natural textile dyes or canoe tripping.
Climate Solutions Network
尤物视频 is part of the (PICS) network. PICS brings together the research strengths and capacity of a world-class university network to advance transformative climate solutions for B.C. and the world. The world-class universities that make up this network include: the University of Northern British Columbia; 尤物视频; the University of British Columbia; and the University of Victoria.
Our Advisory Group
The Advisory Group provides guidance and support to advance SFU Climate Innovation's community-centred research-for-impact approach.
Joanne de Vries
Founder and CEO of both Alliance Communications and
Vance Williams
Professor, Joint Affiliations with 4D Labs
Department of Chemistry
Sean Markey
Professor, Director of SFU's School of Resource & Environmental Management
Kenneth Porter
Manager of Communities, Climate Action Secretariat, Government of British Columbia
Steeve Mongrain
Associate Dean, Research and International
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Professor, Department of Economics