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:
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Graduate Chair
Professor
(On Sabbitical - July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025)
Western Faculty Scholar
garku@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 85343
Room 2427, SSC
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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
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(Acting) Graduate Chair
Professor
jamie.baxter@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 81241
Room 1407, SSC
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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
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Associate Professor
Western Teaching Fellow
mbuzzell@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 85329
Room 2429, SSC
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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
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Professor
(On Sabbitical - July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025)
Director, Urban Development Program
Cross Appointed with School of Health Studies, the Department of Paediatrics and the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
jgillila@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 81239
Room 2432, SSC
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Research Areas
Healthy Communities, Active Transportation, Children's Geographies, Food Environments, Health Geography and GIS
Teaching
Healthy Cities; Land Use and Development Issues; Graduate Seminar in Urban Studies; Advanced Urban Social Geography; Systematic Reviews for Environment, Development and Health
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Associate Professor
chunsber@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 85020
Room 2409, SSC
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Research Areas
Political ecology, energy justice, biofuels, pipeline politics, environmental governance
Teaching
Environment and Development Challenges; Energy and Power; Climate Change and Collective Action; Environmental Justice
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Professor
(On Sabbatical - January 1, 2025-June 30, 2025)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences
Co-Director of the Western Centre for Climate Change, Sustainable Livelihoods and Health (WeCLISH)
iluginaa@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 86944
Room 1409, SSC
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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
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Department Chair
Associate Professor
kmoser@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 80115
Room 2407, SSC
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Research Areas
Paleolimnology, climate change, paleoecology, quaternary environments, water quantity and quality, limnology
Teaching
Paleolimnology and Global Environmental Change; Paleolimnology (Graduate)
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Professor
Canada Research Chair, Indigenous Health and the Environment
Joint Appointed with Indigenous Studies
Co-chair, Indigenous Faculty Advisory Council
chantelle.richmond@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 85324
Room 2433, SSC
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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)
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Professor
Assistant Dean to Faculty of Social Science
dashrubs@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 83126
Room 9438, SSC
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Research Areas
Integrated resource management (water)
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Assistant Professor
rtchouka@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 85030
Room 2413, SSC
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Research Areas
Urban planning, cultural geographies, public space, food cultures, community-engaged research
Teaching
Economic geography, qualitative methods, sustainable urban planning
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Professor
(On Sabbatical - July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025)
aweis@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 87472
Room 1403, SSC
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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
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Lewis Williams
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Associate Professor
Joint Appointed with Indigenous Studies
Email: Lewis.Williams@uwo.ca
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519-661-2111, x. 88570
Room 3210, SSC
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Research Areas
Indigenous and cultural studies; cultural-ecology and globalization; socio-ecological resilience; and social innovation
Teaching
Indigenous Knowledge and Traditions; Indigenous Research Methodology
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