Rob de Loë

Rob de Loë is Associate Dean, Research, for the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, and a Professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability. He’s been a passionate water researcher for nearly four decades. Rob spent most of his career studying how we can do a better job of protecting and managing water resources and responding to new threats and pressures such as climate change. Starting in 2020, he wound up his water governance research program and started in a new direction that explores how art and science can be brought together through photography to help people better understand water challenges.

• environmental photography

• civic engagement

• art-science integration

My current research program explores how photographs can be used as boundary objects to build understanding around challenging science and policy questions in the environmental domain. This work involved two interrelated activities: (1) Scholarly research on strategies for bridging art and science; integrating art into public engagement programs relating to environmental sustainability; and the ways in which photography has been, and can be, used to deepen understanding around challenging environmental sustainability questions. (2) Photographic practice relating to environmental sustainability challenges.

• Ph.D., Geography, University of Waterloo (1995)

• Master of Arts, Geography, University of Waterloo (1989)

• Bachelor of Arts (Magna Cum Laude), Honours Geography, University of Ottawa (1987)

• 2016 University of Waterloo Outstanding Performance Award

• 2010 Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision, University of Waterloo

• 2010 Arts in Academics Award, Faculty of Arts, University of Waterloo

• 2009 University of Waterloo Outstanding Performance Award

• 2008 University Research Chair, University of Waterloo

• 2023-2026 Associate Dean, Research

• ERS 101 - Approaches: Environment, Resources and Sustainability
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• ERS 215 - Environmental and Sustainability Assessment 1
  • Taught in 2026
• ERS 318 - Photography for Sustainability
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Grant, B., R.C. de Loë and K. O’Connor. 2026. Picturing place: using creative photography to explore community perception and connection to Hamilton Harbour. Journal of Great Lakes Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2026.102753

• de Loë, R. 2025. Crawford Lake: Where Waters Gather. An exhibition at Blue: 2025 Fundraising Gala for Conservation Halton, June 12, 2025. https://www.robdeloephotography.com/Works/Crawford-Lake

• de Loë, R. 2023. Three Channels: Hanlon Creek, Howitt Creek and Willow West Creek. An exhibition of 24 photographs at the 7th Natural Channel Systems Conference. June 25-28, 2023. Guelph, ON.

• Isaac, B.N. and R.C. de Loë. 2024. Water governance and immigrants in Western democracies: A systematic review. International Journal of Water Governance. 11. https://doi.org/10.59490/ijwg.11.2024.6782

• Alvarado-Revilla, F. and R. de Loë. 2024. Sustainable finance, water governance, and water policy objectives in Ontario municipalities. International Journal of Water Resources Development. 40(6): 1006-1031. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2024.2385577

• Garrick, D., F. Alvarado-Revilla, R.C. de Loë, and I. Jorgensen. 2022. Markets and misfits in adaptive water governance: how agricultural markets shape water conflict and cooperation. Ecology and Society 27(4):2.https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss4/art2

• Alvarado-Revilla, F. and R. de Loë. 2022. Non-water factors in water governance and their implications for water sustainability: The case of Ontario’s water use reduction policy. Journal of Great Lakes Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2022.02.007

• Isaac, B.N. and R.C. de Loë. 2021. Exploring the influence of agricultural actors on water quality policy: The role of discourse and framing. Environmental Politics (FENP). 10.1080/09644016.2021.1947634

• Eger, S.L., R.C. de Loë, J. Pittman, G. Epstein, and S.C. Courtenay. 2021. A systematic review of integrated coastal and marine management progress reveals core governance characteristics for successful implementation. Marine Policy. 132 (104688).

• Isaac, B.N. and R.C. de Loë. 2021. Institutional contexts and policy discourses: a case of water quality governance in Lake Erie Basin. International Journal of the Commons. 15(1), pp. 63–81