April 25-26, 2018, University of Waterloo

WORKSHOP PLANNING COMMITTEE
Scott Janzwood, PhD candidate
Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo Scott is a Global Governance PhD candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs where his research examines the governance of global catastrophic risks, such as infectious disease outbreaks, runaway climate change, and asteroid impacts. His dissertation research addresses the challenge of prioritizing scientific research tasks that aid decision-making when dealing with time constraints and deep uncertainty. Learn more about Scott. |
Sharon Kirkpatrick, PhD RD
School of Public Health and Health Systems Sharon's research program in public health nutrition primarily focuses on understanding dietary patterns in populations and influences on these patterns, using a systems thinking lens to consider the array of factors at play. Much of her work is aimed at improving methodologies for measuring diet to foster a more robust evidence base on the influence of diet on health and the impact of interventions on diet. This includes facilitating the development of methods to address the complexity of diet, both in terms of multidimensionality and dynamism. Learn more about Sharon. |
Kirsten Lee, BSc, PhD student
School of Public Health and Health Systems Kirsten's research interests are primarily focused on understanding the influence of food environment interventions on food selection and dietary patterns. In her doctoral studies, she will investigate the influence of interpretive menu labelling formats on food selection and purchasing behaviour among post-secondary students. More broadly, she is interested in investigating the interplay of social and environmental influences on the food system and how they influence our overall health. Learn more about Kirsten. |
Amanda Raffoul, MSc, PhD candidate
School of Public Health and Health Systems Amanda's research interests include psychosocial contributors to weight status, such as dieting, body image, and weight bias, and how they influence our overall health. She has investigated patterns of co-occurrence between dieting and various health-compromising behaviours among adolescent girls in a national school-based study, and works with Dr. Kirkpatrick in investigating the complexities of nutrition that impact dietary assessment. In her doctoral studies, she will investigate the potential unintended consequences of obesity prevention initiatives on weight-related attitudes and behaviours among Canadian young adults. Learn more about Amanda. |
Vanessa Schweizer, PhD
Knowledge Integration Vanessa's fundamental training was in Physics, and she holds minors in Mathematics, Philosophy, and Speech Communication. She also holds a Masters in Environmental Studies and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy. She blends these interdisciplinary interests through her work on scenarios, which are common tools for collective decision-making. Vanessa has ongoing projects around problems in long-term decision-making such as forecasting and discontinuities (that is, developments that could be considered "game changing" compared to the status quo). Her recent work has included the influence of occupational, interpersonal, and cultural conflicts on climate change attitudes. Learn more about Vanessa. |
Katharine Zywert, PhD student
Social and Ecological Sustainability Katharine's research investigates health and care practices (some long-standing, others newly emerging) that could offer alternative trajectories for health systems coming to terms with the ecological and social dynamics of a novel geological epoch. She is particularly interested in approaches, techniques, and designs that reduce reliance on state and market mechanisms while building community resilience. Her research takes a problem-focused, transdisciplinary approach that brings together knowledge from anthropology, sociology, economics, ecology, social psychology, philosophy, medicine, and complexity science. Learn more about Katharine. |