Practitioner members

Ainsley Archer's research interests are in the application of information and knowledge to facilitate decision-making.  He has applied these interests mainly in the domain of agriculture and ecological systems.  He has a PhD from McGill University in Information Systems and Decision Support Tools in Animal Breeding and a M.Sc. in Animal Breeding and Genetics. He has over 10 years of research experience in agricultural and ecological systems modelling and decision support tools development. This included stints in Australia with the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) using complex systems models to create decision support tools for agricultural value chains and sustainable resource use in Northern Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef Region.  Before returning to Canada, he spent a year as Research Director at the Ministry of Agriculture in Jamaica.

He currently works for the Ontario government in various roles as a champion for the application of information and performance measurement frameworks as effective information system tools.  Currently, he works in the Farm Finance Branch, where he supports Business Risk Management programs and policies.  He has been implementing the Ministry’s BRM performance measurement framework and seeks to use this platform for innovation in the policy decision-making space. 

Robert holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies and a Master of Arts in Planning from the University of Waterloo. During his time at Waterloo, he developed the residential valuation sub-model for a regional land-market transportation microsimulation project.

Currently working as a researcher and data analyst at the Grenoble Ecole de Management in France, Kariappa Bheemaiah‘s previous experiences include working as a marine engineer, a French foreign legionnaire, and as a business professional.

Robert M. Cutler is an energy consultant, political anyalyst, communications strategist and organizational designer. Beyond the theory of complex systems, his applications of complex-systems anaysis include international energy geo-economics and organizational resilience and antifragility, emphasizing evolutionary perspectives.

Mark Damm, Founder and CEO of FuseForward, has over twenty-five years of experience implementing and operating complex systems for critical infrastructure providers. As an experienced Systems Architect, Mark is passionate about technology for the utility sector.

He is a noted subject matter expert in the critical infrastructure field, regularly speaking and writing on asset management systems, cybersecurity and the industrial Internet of Things at industry and academic conferences. Mark is focused on using his experience to help critical infrastructure providers move towards a digital future, with expertise across cloud, intelligent systems, real-time analytics, cybersecurity, machine learning, streaming data, automation and much more.

David Edwards, CEO of Purpose Built Communities, is interested in how complexity science can be applied to redefine how the problem of intergenerational urban poverty is addressed in our cities. Distressed urban neighborhoods are complex adaptive systems out which emerge the outcomes that we worry about: high crime, under performing schools, health disparities, and low levels of economic mobility. Through an improved understanding how these “neighborhood effects” generate these outcomes, we can perhaps design more effective interventions.

Mr. Edwards is  looking to partner with academics, private sector leaders and other community development practitioners interested in applying complexity science to deepen our understanding of the relationship between neighborhood conditions and improved social outcomes.

Dr. Sami Houry is a senior research officer and project manager with Institutional Data Analysis at Athabasca University. He holds a BSc in physics from the University of Toronto (1997), an MBA from Memorial University of Newfoundland (2000), and a certified analytics and insights professional designation from CAIP Canada. In 2018, he earned his doctorate from Athabasca University.

Xiongbing Jin is interested in the complexity arising from the interactions among urban land use, transportation infrastructure and individual choices and preferences. During his postdoc at the School of Planning, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Jin was the lead developer of the agent-based Waterloo Regional Model (WARM) which aims to simulate the relationships among residential location choices, trip decisions and landscape management, and the influences of urban infrastructure and policies on these decisions. He was also a lead developer of the Digging into Data (DiD) project MIRACLE (Mining the relationships among variables in large datasets from complex systems) which aims to provide a data analysis, visualization and management platform for the big data generated by agent-based models (ABMs). He received his PhD in 2010 from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Jamie is an award-winning designer and founder of Biomimicry Frontiers. He has been trained by Janine Benyus (the author of “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature”) and has been building biomimicry in Ontario through his consulting, lectures, and workshops since 2007.

Kirsten Moy is a Senior Fellow with the Aspen Institute. Her most recent research initiative, conducted for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco as a Visiting Scholar, focuses on the application of complexity science to community development.

Dr. Naresh Singh is a Professor in the Jindal School for Government and Public Policy and Director of the Centre for Complexity Economics, Applied Spirituality and Public Policy at O.P. Jindal Global University;  Special Adviser on Sustainability at the Toronto Centre for Financial Leadership,  and Senior VP at Global Development Solutions Canada, a strategic advisory services firm.

Glenn Smith, P.Eng., is a University of Waterloo engineering graduate.

Kevin Yeung is fascinated with mobility and the way it shapes cities. He strives to improve the way people move whether it be by foot, bike, car, bus or train. Yeung completed his Master of Applied Science in civil engineering and planning at the University of Waterloo.