UBC experts on drought, wildfires, heat and associated issues
UBC experts are available to comment on wildfires, drought, heat and associated issues. Updated Aug. 10, 2023
- Climate change, forests and wildfires
- Climate change and heat
- Disaster planning and response
- Drought
- Fire behaviour and fire management
- Health impacts of wildfires, heat and extreme conditions
- Urban impacts of fire and heat
- Wildlife and ecosystem impacts of fire and heat
Climate change, forests and wildfires
Dr. Lori Daniels
Professor, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Email: lori.daniels@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Wildfires and wildfire management
- Forest fires, past and present
- Impacts of climate change on forests
*limited availability
Dr. Greg Garrard (he/him)
Professor, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies
Tel: 250-863-2822
Email: greg.garrard@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Environmental literature
- Culture and climate change (including skepticism)
- Cultural ecology of wildfire
- Political polarization
Dr. John Innes
Professor, Faculty of Forestry
Tel: 604-603-5916
Interview language(s): English
- Climate change and wildfires, boreal forests, forest management
*unavailable until Aug. 25
Climate change and heat
Dr. Rachel H. White (she/her)
Assistant Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Email: rwhite@eoas.ubc.ca
Tel: 604-230-3504
Interview language(s): English
- Climate change, atmospheric circulation and heat waves, B.C.’s forecast for the summer
Disaster planning and response
Dr. Werner Antweiler
Associate Professor, Sauder School of Business
Email: werner.antweiler@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English, German
- Economic costs of wildfires including higher insurance costs
* unavailable until Aug. 29
Maya Daurio (she/her)
PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology
Email: spinosese@gmail.com
Interview language(s): English
- Lived experiences of wildfire
- Cascading hazards and consequences of disaster
- Human-environment dimensions of wildfire and disaster
- Member of the UBC Disaster Resilience Research Network
Dr. Sara Shneiderman (she/her)
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Email: sara.shneiderman@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Social elements of disaster preparedness and response
- Disaster governance
Dr. Babak Mohamadpour Tosarkani
Assistant Professor, UBCO School of Engineering
Tel: 647-551-7732
Email: babak.tosarkani@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Emergency supply chain preparedness
Drought
Dr. Younes Alila
Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management
Email: younes.alila@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Climate and land use change effects on droughts, floods and landslides
- Logging and forest practice effects on droughts, floods and landslides
Dr. Werner Antweiler
Associate Professor, Sauder School of Business
Email: werner.antweiler@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English, German
- Water economics and management
* unavailable until Aug. 29
Dr. Sean Fleming
Adjunct Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Email: sfleming@eoas.ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Water resource science and management
- Flood and water supply forecasting
- Climate variability and change
- Machine learning
- Snow and glaciers
Dr. Michael Healey
Professor Emeritus, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Phone: 250-317-7839
Email: healey@mail.ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Reduced stream flow and higher water temperature in rivers and lakes, and effects on salmon
- Increased surface temperature in the ocean, and effects on salmon
Dr. John Janmaat (he/him)
Professor, Department of Economics, Philosophy and Political Science
Email: john.janmaat@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Environmental economics
- Natural resource economics, including water resource economics
Dr. John Richardson
Professor, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Email: john.richardson@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Effects of droughts on natural ecosystems
- Effects of flooding and water supplies on streams and lakes, water quality and debris torrents
- Urban impacts of drainage patterns and loss of natural stream networks in many parts of the Lower Mainland
- Ways to conserve water this summer
Dr. Sean Smukler (he/him)
Associate professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Email: sean.smukler@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Effects of droughts on agriculture and farming in B.C.
- Adapting farming practices in a changing climate
- Role of agriculture in climate change
Dr. Eric Taylor
Professor, Department of Zoology
Email: etaylor@zoology.ubc.ca
Phone: 250-393-2486
Interview language(s): English
- Effects of drought on fish
Fire behaviour and fire management
Jen Baron (she/her)
PhD Candidate, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Email: jenbaron@mail.ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Wildfire ecology and management, past and present
- Forest fire behaviour, fire risk and fuel treatments
- Climate change impacts on wildfires
Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais
Assistant Professor, Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
Email: Mathieu.Bourbonnais@ubc.ca
Tel: 778-583-0272
Interview language(s): English, written French
- Wildfire risk and fire suppression and mitigation
- Firefighting and use of satellites for wildfire detection and monitoring
Dr. Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz (she/her)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Tel: 604-363-9863
Email: kelsey.copes-gerbitz@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Proactive wildfire management, coexisting with wildfires, sharing responsibility for wildfire management
- Community wildfire resilience
- Historical fires and wildfire management
Dr. Sarah Dickson-Hoyle (she/her)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Email: sarah.dickson-hoyle@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Wildfire recovery
- Ecological impacts of wildfires
- Community wildfire resilience and proactive approaches
Dr. Kevin Hanna
Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
Tel: 250-807-9265
Email: kevin.hanna@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Vulnerable infrastructure
- Risk and disaster assessment wildfire management and policy
- Climate change and risk events
Dr. Kira Hoffman
Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Forestry
Tel: 250-876-8440
Email: kira.hoffman@bvcentre.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Fire behaviour, pyrodiversity and prescribed burning; proactive wildfire management
Dr. Dwayne Tannant
Professor, School of Engineering
Tel: 604-801-4301
Email: dwayne.tannant@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Landslides, rockfalls
- Below debris field flood mitigation
- Post-wildfire debris flow mitigation
Health impacts of wildfires, heat and extreme conditions
Dr. Philip Ainslie
Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences
Tel: 250-878-6171
Email: philip.ainslie@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Heat, pollution and their isolated and combined influence on physiology and health
- Effect of temperature and oxygen availability on physiology, pathology and performance
- Acclimatization, adaptation and maladaptation to environmental stress
Dr. Jennifer Baumbusch (she/her)
Professor, School of Nursing
Email: jennifer.baumbusch@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Protecting seniors and other vulnerable people from extreme heat
Dr. Michael Brauer
Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Email: michael.brauer@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Health effects of extreme heat, approaches to minimize impacts
- Air quality and health impacts from smoke
- How to minimize exposure to smoke
Dr. Emily Brigham
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Email: emily.brigham@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Lung health, asthma and COPD, pollutant exposures from wildfires, co-exposure with heat
Dr. Christopher Carlsten
Physician; Professor and Head of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine
Tel: 604-839-1561
Email: christopher.carlsten@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Adverse health effects related to heat, smoke, ozone and allergens
- How heat, smoke, ozone and allergens are climate-change related
Dr. Wendy Hall (she/her)
Professor Emeritus, School of Nursing
Email: wendy.hall@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Effects of heat on sleep
- Promoting good sleep, particularly for children
Dr. Sarah Henderson
Associate Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Tel: 604-910-9144
Email: sarah.henderson@bccdc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Health impacts of wildfire smoke and extreme heat and ways to protect health
Dr. Mary-Ann Murphy
Associate Professor, School of Social Work and the Department of Sociology
Tel: 250-807-8705
Email: mary-ann.murphy@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Dealing with the emotional trauma of wildfires
- Lessons from evacuees
- What to pack when evacuating
- Caring for seniors in extreme heat
Dr. Michael Schwandt
Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Population and Public Health; Medical Health Officer, Vancouver Coastal Health
Email: michael.schwandt@vch.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Health impacts of wildfire smoke
- Community and personal actions for health protection
Dr. Angela Yao
Adjunct Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Email: angela.yao@bccdc.ca
Interview language(s): English, Mandarin, Cantonese
- Health impacts of wildfire smoke
Urban impacts of fire and heat
Dr. Melissa McHale (she/her)
Associate Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management
Email: melissa.mchale@ubc.ca
Tel: 604–827–3150
Interview language(s): English
- Urban heating and urban heat mitigation, urban ecology, sustainability and carbon cycle
Wildlife and ecosystem impacts of fire and heat
Dr. William Cheung
Professor and Director, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Email: w.cheung@oceans.ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English, Cantonese
- Warming seas
- Effects of extreme heat on marine life
- Impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and dependent human communities
- Climate solutions for the ocean and fisheries
- Biodiversity
Dr. Karen Hodges (she/her)
Professor, UBC Okanagan Department of Biology
Tel: 250-807-8763
Email: karen.hodges@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Post-fire habitats
- Wildlife impacts from heat, drought and fire
- Salvage logging and impacts on wildlife
Dr. Alison McAfee
Postdoctoral Fellow, Michael Smith Laboratories and North Carolina State University
Tel: 778-995-2151
Email: alison.n.mcafee@gmail.com
Interview language(s): English
- Honey bee biology and fertility
- Impact of high temperatures on bee fertility and survival
Dr. Matthew Mitchell (he/him)
Research Associate, Centre for Sustainable Food Systems
Tel: 778-580-8222
Email: matthew.mitchell@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Biodiversity, smoke/pollutant impacts on animal activity, ecosystem services
*unavailable until Sept. 5
Dr. David Scott
Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
Email: david.scott@ubc.ca
Interview language(s): English
- Effects of wildfire on hydrology and erosion
- Evaluation of fire site rehabilitation methods in terms of controlling erosion and sedimentation
Note: Dr. Scott is only available for interviews via email
