New climate change research fellowships across four BC universities

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) announced eleven new research fellowships awarded to eight PhD and three Masters students. The candidates were chosen from the four PICS collaborating universities, which comprise UBC, University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and the University of Northern British Columbia.

In addition to the 11 new fellowships are renewals of 25 existing awards.  The funding total for the 36 fellowships for 2011-12 is $645,000.  UBC students will receive more than $320,000 for 17 research projects related to climate change and sustainability. 

New fellowship recipients from UBC:

• Georgia Piggot, PhD candidate, sociology: Collaborative networks and climate change action: a British Columbia case study.
• Paul Teehan, PhD candidate, Resource Management and Environmental Studies: Greenhouse Gas implications of cloud computing: analyzing large data center construction in the Columbia Basin.
• Lisa Westerhoff, PhD candidate, Resource Management and Environmental Studies:  Governance for climate change: local decision-making for low-carbon, resilient communities.
• Lilia Yumagulova, PhD candidate, Resource Management and Environmental Studies: Resilient by design: the role of institutional adaptation to environmental risk in cities.
• Kevin Zhang, MSc candidate, Community and Regional Planning. The effect of urban design on transit rider perceptions and ridership.

PICS executive director Tom Pedersen says this year’s recipients will investigate a range of climate change-related issues from scientific, economic, environmental and social science perspectives.

For more information on the fellowships past and present, visit www.pics.uvic.ca/fellowships.php.