EDI in Teaching, Research & Modeling

When: April 3, 2025 | 9 am – 1:30 pm PST
Where: FSC 2916 (CAWP Caseroom) & Online via Zoom

This event is free, but registration is required. Registration deadline – March 26, 2025.

This half-day hybrid Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) event is hosted by the UBC Faculty of Forestry and made possible through the generous funding support of the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS). Take part in engaging talks and a plenary session on EDI in teaching, research and modeling.

Speakers

Abstracts

EDI in Action – Life Stories

Dr. Garry Merkel

Garry will speak to life lessons he has learned around EDI from his close involvement with large social movements like Indigenous-Canada reconciliation, creating successful aboriginal post-secondary education, implementing gender equity in the workforce, shifting land stewardship paradigms, and fostering earthbased land ethics and approaches. One important life lesson is that any EDI movement requires a shift in thinking before real change will happen on the ground; otherwise, the movement often ends up being an unsupported, intrusive, and empty collection of regulations, policies and rules. Paradigm shifts are the essential first step of any societal change.

EDI and Accessibility in a Changing World: Adapting Teaching for a New Era

Dr. Neil Leveridge

As academia faces shifting student needs, rapidly evolving technology, and calls for decolonization, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDI&A) must adapt. This keynote explores practical strategies for making education more inclusive and accessible in forestry and beyond. From rethinking assessment and grading to integrating diverse perspectives and AI tools, we’ll examine how small but meaningful changes can create learning environments where all students can thrive.

EDI in Research Practice and Research Design

Dr. Hisham Zerriffi

Granting agencies are increasingly requiring applicants to address how Equity, Diversity and Inclusion are incorporated into the research approach (EDI in Research Design) and into the how the research is conducted (EDI in Research Practice). In this talk I will review some of the justifications for such approaches and how they contribute to strengthening research. I will also discuss how current attempts to reverse course on EDI in research can have wide-ranging negative impacts on research more generally.

Equity and Justice in Modelling

Dr. Amanda Giang

In this talk, I highlight progress in integrating equity into systems modeling for sustainability as on example of equity in models, as well as key challenges, tensions, and future directions. I present a conceptual framework for equity in modeling, focused on its distributional, procedural, and recognitional dimensions. I then share selected examples of how modelers engage with these different dimensions throughout the modeling process. These include: community-engaged air quality modelling processes that involve a wider range of stakeholders in determining what is important to represent; drawing on Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science to develop environmental change modeling scenarios for fisheries management; and advances in water resources modelling that can illuminate distributional impacts of climate change on urban water affordability at the household level. I also identify future directions, such as an increased focus on using models to identify pathways to transform underlying conditions that lead to inequities and move toward desired futures.

Program

Time	Title	Description
9:00am – 9:10am	Opening Remarks	Welcome address by Dr. Taraneh Sowlati, Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, Faculty of Forestry, UBC
9:10am – 9:45am	Keynote Speech 1	Speaker: Garry Merkel Title: “EDI in Action – Life Stories”
9:45am – 10:15am	Keynote Speech 2	Speaker: Dr. Neil Leveridge Title: “EDI and Accessibility in a Changing World: Adapting Teaching for a New Era”
10:15am – 10:45am	Coffee Break
10:45am – 11:15am	Keynote Speech 3	Speaker: Dr. Hisham Zerriffi Title: “EDI in Research Practice and Research Design”
11:15am – 11:45am	Keynote Speech 4	Speaker: Dr. Amanda Giang Title: “Equity and Justice in Modelling”
11:45am – 12:15pm	Open Discussion	Theme: “Open discussion on equity and justice in Operations Research” Moderator: Dr. Hisham Zerriffi
12:15pm – 12:30pm	Closing Ceremony	Summary of key takeaways. Thank-you notes to participants and keynote presenters.
12:30pm – 1:30pm	Networking Lunch

Event Organizer

Dr. Taraneh Sowlati (she, her)
Associate Dean, Research and Innovation | Faculty of Forestry | University of British Columbia
Website: https://ierg.forestry.ubc.ca