Building a New Generation of Equity-Informed Climate Change Evidence
2021, Innovations in Research
We work upstream to understand the impacts of climate change on equity-deserving groups. Defining characteristics of our mixed-methods research include the use of intersectionality and Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) approaches to work with big data, develop predictive modeling approaches, and conduct place-based qualitative research.
Our team works with partners ranging from community-based organizations to the Climate Action Secretariat of British Columbia and Women and Gender Equality Canada. For our partners, we provide recommendations on how to take more holistic approaches to centring equity within climate change responses. Through this work, we are developing a new generation of equity- and intersectionality-informed methodological tools. For policy development, we take a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) approach to big data analytics and to developing guiding principles to guide the design of equity-informed predictive models that can be used to understand the impacts of climate change on women and other diverse groups. We also use qualitative approaches to fill equity data gaps on how climate change is impacting different communities and equity-deserving populations. Our interdisciplinary team is comprised of scholars with varied theoretical, empirical and methodological competencies, enabling us to learn, measure and comprehensively inform climate change policy and practice.
To date, our research group has created a series of research outputs, including policy briefs, evidence-based schemas for developing predictive models, training workshops, reports, webinars and journal articles. We continue to work on government contracts and are producing a series of manuscripts informed by our theoretical and methodological approaches and research findings. Our goal is to share our knowledge and processes about producing theoretically informed approaches to equity and climate change with those driving climate change research and policy formation in the Canadian context.
Our research and production of methodological tools has advanced scholarship and practice around ensuring that climate change responses are equity- and theory-informed. When there is a paucity of numeric data to draw upon, and to ensure that data used reflect the complex realities of the people they represent, our team integrates qualitative knowledge and seeks guidance from Indigenous advisors. Using these approaches, our work is developing strategies for researching specific impacts of climate change being experienced by a range of equity-deserving populations.
We bring an interdisciplinary and theory-informed lens to providing equity-focused approaches to developing policy recommendations to community-, government- and research-based organizations and institutions. We are committed to decolonizing our work through ongoing reflection, collaboration, partnership development and strengthening our competency in Two-Eyed Seeing approaches. In that the guiding frameworks of our research and practices are intersectionality, health equity and GBA+, we are in a unique position to mentor students, consult with governments, and share knowledge with the research community about how to move health equity theory into practice. To date, it is acknowledged that there is a great deal of variability in how to interpret and practice the mandates of conducting equity-informed work, including putting the theory of intersectionality and GBA+ into practice. While our team continues to learn how to do this work, we have also been at the forefront of these efforts and along the way have learned a great deal that we would like to share with others in an attempt to amplify efforts in generating equity-informed approaches to understanding and responding to the impacts of climate change in Canada.
About the project
Presentation at Innovations in Research, April 13, 2021
RESEARCHER
Maya Gislason
SFU AFFILIATION
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences
AREAS OF RESEARCH
Climate change, intersectionality, equity, mixed methods, GBA+, evidence
Researcher
Maya Gislason
Dr. Maya Gislason (she/her/hers) has been an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU since September 2014. Her areas of interest include intergenerational climate equity, critical pedagogy, ecosystem approaches to health, cumulative impacts of intensive resource extraction, and epistemic justice.
Other contributors to this research include Angel Kennedy, Dawn Hoogeveen, Jordan Brubacher, Stephanie Witham, Kerri Klein, Alexis van der Waall, Alexander Rutherford, Jillian Andersen, Katie Bauder, and Kelly Nolan—a passionate group of dedicated graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, environmental change leaders, health consultants, mathematicians, spatial analysts, big data developers and analysts, and equity-driven qualitative researchers.
-
"Your Neighbourhood, In Your Eyes"
Lainey Martin
Undergraduate Student, Faculty of Environment
-
AIRWISE
Sonya Cressman
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences
-
Building a New Generation of Equity-Informed Climate Change Evidence
Maya Gislason
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences
-
COVID-19 Risks in British Columbia's Neighbourhoods
Valorie Crooks
Professor, Department of Geography
-
Can a city be a school?
Cary Campbell
Faculty of Education
-
Comprehensive Patient-Centred Pain Education (CoPPE) Project
Zahra Ofoghi
Postdoctoral Fellow, Pain Studies Lab
-
Construction of the Gendered Household
Freshta Ahmadzai
Alumnus, Department of Political Science
-
Craft Workers Organize
Benjamin Anderson
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Communication, and Lecturer, Labour Studies Program
-
Equity Is NOW
Nada El Masry and Yara Younis
Refugee Livelihood Lab, RADIUS SFU
-
Gender Vectors
Travers
Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
-
Geographic Distribution of Conversion Therapy in Canada
Amrit Tiwana
Undergraduate Student, Faculty of Health Sciences
-
Health Equity Impact Assessment of Virtual Health Care Services at SFU
Sarah Chae, Aleisha Fernandes, Elisabeth Avery, Serena Bains, Misha'a Khan, and Shabnam Raufi
Student Health Advisory Committee
-
Maintaining Respect and Dignity?
Jake Castro
Alumnus, School of Criminology
-
Project ABC
Xin Tong
Ph.D. Student, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, and Research Associate, Pain Studies Lab
-
Skateboarders and the City
Jenna Aujla
Graduate Student, Urban Studies Program
-
The Dehumanization of Suicide Attempt Survivors by Crisis Line Responders and Laypeople
Spencer Chen
Undergraduate Student, Department of Psychology
-
The Impact of End-Demand Criminalization on Client Behaviour and Sex Worker Health and Safety in the Sex Industry in Metro Vancouver, Canada
Jenn McDermid
Graduate Student, School of Public Policy
-
The Politicization of Human Trafficking Laws
Sydney Brown
Graduate Student, School of Criminology
-
The Right to "Vancouverism"
Cheryl-lee Madden
Alumnus, City Program
-
The creative edge of restorative justice
Brenda Morrison
Director, Centre for Restorative Justice
-
Towards a Regional Strategy on Gender Inclusivity
Moji Adurogbangba and Michelle Green
BC SUPPORT Unit Fraser Centre
-
Transit subsidies, downtown commuting and equity
Peter Hall and Steve Tornes
Urban Studies Program
-
Understanding Precarious Work in BC
Kendra Strauss and Iglika Ivanova
Labour Studies Program and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (BC Office)
-
University Leadership Pipeline
Genevieve Fuji Johnson
Professor, Department of Political Science
-
Vision Zero Art & Road Safety for Surrey's Newcomer Youth
Hanah Damot, John Vincent Flores, Paola Ardiles, and Nancy Clark
Faculty of Health Sciences
-
What is so-called “conversion therapy” and how can we stop it?
Travis Salway
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences