Sharmalene Mendis-Millard (she/her) is the Director of Partners for Action, an initiative of the Faculty of Environment at University of Waterloo that aims to empower Canadians to become flood resilient through applied research with an equity lens, and by promoting awareness and preparedness actions that are inclusive and evidence-based. A mixed-methods geographer by training, she worked for several interdisciplinary research centres that aim to advance community well-being and social justice through partnerships, program evaluations, and learning programs.
She is passionate about applied research and about the not-for-profit sector, having served as a volunteer, employee and now as a Board member. Her research focused on community-engaged research on adaptive community capacity and the role of not-for-profit biosphere reserve organizations. Sharmalene previously worked for a Reep Green Solutions, a local environmental non-profit in Waterloo Region to pilot the Green Communities Canada RAIN program to educate people on stormwater management as a tangible climate adaptation strategy.
Sharmalene also developed an applied research agenda on equitable approaches to evaluation, and coached not-for-profits on how to collect and store social identity data and on other ways to think of and embed equity in data projects at We All Count. Her work now focuses on multi-hazard resilient retrofits, community engaged preparedness, and equity in climate risk reduction and adaptation.
sharmalene.mendis-millard@uwaterloo.ca
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