Celebrating faculty and staff advancing sustainability at the university

Earlier this year, we asked our faculty and staff community to tell us who among them were taking steps or making efforts to advance sustainability at UBC. In this five-part series, we've explored a few of their stories.

Thank you to everyone who shared their ideas with us. Unfortunately, we were unable to profile everyone, but you can learn more about our colleagues and their stories in a gallery recognizing their efforts.

Getting down to the business of climate change
Dr. Justin Bull spearheads UBC's new MBA Climate Career Track

UBC's new MBA Climate Career Track was recently launched at the UBC Sauder School of Business. Hear from its creator, Dr. Justin Bull, about how the program will help train the next generation of climate leaders working in the private sector.

Planning and planting ideas for a more sustainable future
How Kevin Kubeck, the Botanical Garden’s Nursery Horticulturalist, is taking steps to reduce harm while enhancing plant and people health at UBC

Find out how Kevin Kubeck, a nursery horticulturalist at the UBC Botanical Garden, is enhancing plant and people health. Having worked at UBC for over 20 years, he continues to advocate for safer and more sustainable choices.

Turning the taps to clean water from Kelowna to Kolkata
UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Robert Godin has devised a low-cost method to help remove arsenic from drinking water

Dr. Robert Godin, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UBC Okanagan, has devised a low-cost method to remove arsenic from drinking water. Find out how a trip to Kolkata, India, inspired him to embark on this journey.

Climate action can be as simple as collecting stationery
How Daniela García created a stationery recycling initiative for the Geography department

Discover what inspired Daniela García, Geography Department Assistant, to initiate an accessible stationery recycling program at her workplace. The program eventually evolved into a Faculty-wide digital awareness campaign promoting sustainability at UBC.

Fuelling a sustainable solution to save energy and preserve food
How Dr. Hamid Rezaei’s efforts are transforming sustainable food systems

Find out how Dr. Hamid Rezaei’s passion for food, combined with his research and career path, have driven him to devise an innovative way to preserve energy and reduce food waste.

Learn more about faculty and staff advancing sustainability at UBC in this gallery.

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Debra Locke
UBC School of Information
UBC Vancouver

Debra brings together students, faculty and staff over the summer months for beach and park cleanups, as a way to support community building while helping save the planet.
Find out more
Contact Debra

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Kate Andrews
Sustainability & Engineering, Campus + Community Planning
UBC Vancouver

Kate works with the Green Labs Program to support researchers to reduce the environmental impact of laboratory-based activities by implementing sustainable practices and technologies.
Find out more
Contact Kate

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Taranjit Singh Dhillon
Asian Library
UBC Vancouver

Taranjit has implemented a range of creative initiatives (e.g. craft workshops and creating bookmarks/holiday cards using recyclable products) at the Asian Library to help incorporate sustainability into library operations.
Find out more
Contact Taranjit

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Dr. John Nomellini (NOMO)
Life Sciences Institute, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
UBC Vancouver

Having worked at UBC for over three decades, John has made a significant impact by ensuring that freezer gel packs are recycled and reused regularly, instead of being wasted.
Find out more
Contact John

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Rachael Donovan
Facilities Planning
UBC Vancouver

As part of UBC's Furniture Reuse Program, Rachael and her team have made a direct and tangible impact on several climate reduction targets, such as waste, energy and community engagement.
Find out more
Contact the team

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Hailey Rilkhoff
Campus Planning
UBC Okanagan

As part of the Campus Planning team at UBCO, Hailey encourages the use of transit by providing discounted transit passes through the ProPASS program for the UBCO community.
Find out more
Contact the team

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Md Al Imran
Chemical and Biological Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
UBC Vancouver

Imran's research and development is focused on advancing the adoption and implementation of eco-friendly construction materials to support sustainability and net-zero emissions.
Find out more
Contact Imran

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Georgia Stanley
SEEDS Sustainability Program, Sustainability & Engineering, Campus + Community Planning
UBC Vancouver

Georgia co-creates campus applied research partnerships to help advance UBC policies and practices relating to biodiversity, climate change and well-being, including recent efforts to promote bat-friendly infrastructure on campus.
Find out more
Get in touch

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Liska Richer
SEEDS Sustainability Program, Sustainability & Engineering, Campus + Community Planning
UBC Vancouver

Liska and her team launched the Climate-Friendly Food Labels program, the first of this kind at a Canadian university, to help raise awareness about sustainable food choices among the UBC community.
Find out more
Get in touch

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Mehdi Golzar Ahmadi
Mining Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
UBC Vancouver

Mehdi is working to develop a metal recycling process for electronic waste that can be applied to other solid wastes, such as mine waste, to achieve sustainability.
Find out more
Contact Mehdi

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Melissa Tang
Campus + Community Planning
UBC Vancouver

As the Sustainable Transportation Program Lead, Melissa hopes to be a catalyst that encourages sustainable transportation (carpooling, e-biking, etc.) within the UBC community in the years to come.
Find out more
Contact Melissa

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Dr. Reinhild “Reini” Kappelhoff
Centre for Blood Research / Life Sciences Institute
UBC Vancouver

Reini and her lab colleagues recycle and help with water and energy conservation, and hope to inspire other research and teaching labs to embed more sustainability into their daily research activities.
Find out more
Contact Reini

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Sumer Seiki
Okanagan School of Education
UBC Okanagan

Sumer leads the PROSPERS project, which is focused on preserving diverse native and cultural seeds through a living plant collection and aims to promote sustainability and land-based learning, emphasizing the importance of decolonization.
Find out more