Environment, Development and Health

The environment, development and health cluster focuses on the ways that human societies are transforming the natural world, and the ways that biophysical changes, political environments, and social inequality together impact human health and well-being. Research in health geography is generally more focused in Canada, including both Indigenous and settler communities, and examines a range of topics including: environmental hazards, risk perceptions, inequalities, air pollution, processes of environmental dispossession, and relations between urban form and children’s health and quality of life. Environmental justice is a prominent theme in the development-oriented research in the cluster, both in Indigenous and settler communities in Canada, as well as in a range of international settings. This involves work on agriculture and food systems, energy systems and resource extraction, environmental repossession, Indigenous knowledge, and water management – all of which increasingly interrelate to climate change at some level.

Faculty members in the EDH cluster employ a range of methodologies and approaches, and have collaborative links with the physical geography, urban studies and Geographical Information Science clusters within the department. They also have active connections to researchers in other departments and faculties across the university and at other universities inside and outside of Canada, and several members work closely with government, private sector, communities and non-profit organizations.

Find Faculty Supervisors in this Area:

Godwin Arku

Associate Professor Western Faculty Scholar garku@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 85343 Room 2427, SSC
Research Areas Housing and economic development; Urban development and policy analysis; Regional and local economic development policy and planning; Third World development issues (esp. Africa) Teaching People, Places and Landscapes; Urban Development; Urban Economic Development; Urban Geography of the Developing World

Jamie Baxter

Professor Associate Dean Graduate Affairs (Social Science) jamie.baxter@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 81241 Room 1407, SSC
Research Areas Social construction of risk, community responses to technological hazards, renewable energy policy, noxious facility siting, and methodology Teaching Environmental Hazards & Human Health; Qualitative Methods; Research Design, Environment, Economy and Society

Michael Buzzelli

Associate Professor Western Teaching Fellow mbuzzell@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 85329 Room 2429, SSC
Research Areas Higher education policy, research on teaching and learning, society-space relationships with a focus on housing, health and GIS Teaching Housing, The Geoweb & Geomedia, Research Design and Methodology

Jason Gilliland

Professor Director, Urban Development Program Cross Appointed with School of Health Studies and the Department of Paediatrics jgillila@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 81239 Room 2432, SSC
Research Areas Urban studies, health geography, children's environments, GIS Teaching Land Use and Development Issues; Graduate Seminar in Urban Geography; Advanced Urban Social Geography

Carol Hunsberger

Associate Professor chunsber@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 85020 Room 2409, SSC
Research Areas Political ecology, energy justice, biofuels, pipeline politics, environmental governance Teaching Environment and Development Challenges; Energy and Power; Research Methods in Geography; Graduate Seminar in Development Geography

Isaac Luginaah

Professor Distinguished University Professor iluginaa@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 86944 Room 1409, SSC
Research Areas Environment and health, air pollution, GIS and health, HIV/AIDS Teaching Geography of Health and Health Care; Environment and Health; Advanced Studies in Environment, Development & Health

Katrina Moser

Associate Professor kmoser@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 80115 Room 2407, SSC
Research Areas Paleolimnology, climate change, paleoecology, quaternary environments, water quantity and quality, limnology Teaching Paleolimnology and Global Environmental Change; Paleolimnology (Graduate)

Chantelle Richmond

On sabbatical July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023
Associate Professor
Canada Research Chair, Indigenous Health and the Environment
Cross Appointed with Indigenous Studies
chantelle.richmond@uwo.ca

519-661-2111, x. 85324
Room 2433, SSC

Research Areas
Indigenous health, environmental change, Indigenous knowledge, environmental repossession, relational accountability, decolonization, structural determinants of health, community-based research, Indigenous methodologies, health training environments

Teaching
Indigenous Environments; Geography 4900-4901 (Undergraduate Thesis); Indigenous Health (Graduate); Qualitative Methods (Graduate)

Dan Shrubsole

Professor Assistant Dean to Faculty of Social Science dashrubs@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 83126 Room 9438, SSC
Research Areas Integrated resource management (water) Teaching Research Design and Presentation (Graduate)

Roza Tchoukaleyska

Assistant Professor rtchouka@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 85030 Room 2413, SSC
Research Areas Urban planning, Cultural geography, Public spaces Teaching Cultural geography, urban planning, experiential learning, community engaged teaching

Tony Weis

Associate Professor aweis@uwo.ca	519-661-2111, x. 87472 Room 1403, SSC
Research Areas Global agro-food systems, industrial agriculture (especially livestock production), political ecology Teaching Climate Change; Animal Geographies; Globalization and Uneven Development; Biodiversity Conservation; Agriculture and Food

Lewis Williams

Tony Weis

Associate Professor
Cross Appointed with Indigenous Studies
Email: Lewis.Williams@uwo.ca

519-661-2111, x. TBD
Room TBD, SSC

Research Areas
Indigenous and cultural studies; cultural-ecology and globalization; socio-ecological resilience; and social innovation

Teaching
Indigenous Knowledge and Traditions; Indigenous Research Methodology