Jamie Sandison

PhD Canadiate
Jamie Sandison

Email: jsandiso@uwaterlo.ca

Research Interests

My main research interests are in problems that require leveraging big geospatial datasets to fill knowledge gaps in climate change and risks from natural disasters to the public. This interest led to joining Public Safety Canada shortly after graduating from my master’s where I was able to help develop a first-of-its-kind financial risk data product that identified the highest-risk properties for flooding in Canada. In my professional position, I continue to be involved with numerous research projects related to flood and wildfires under Public Safety Canada’s mandate to keep communities safe from natural disasters.

My experience has fostered the development of a unique combination of technical and thematic skills to create impactful, data-driven products relevant to geospatial science and public policy. In my PhD project, I am building upon years of experience as a leading researcher in the field of natural disaster and emergency management. I am currently researching methods in geospatial artificial intelligence for the automatic extraction of flood defense features and critical attributes across Canada for enhance flood risk assessment.

Education

  • Ph.D. student in Geography, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, August 2025 – August 2029.
  • M.Sc. in Environmental Sustainability, School of the Environment, University of Ottawa, September 2020 – May 2022.
  • B.Sc. in Environmental Science, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Winnipeg, September 2012 – May 2018.

Publications

* Contributions were prepared under my professional position at Public Safety Canada. These contributions and works are managed by the Federal Government of Canada and I claim no copyright or ownership of these items. 

  • Sandison J.*, Hayes S., Darlington C., and Chastko K. (in preparation). Canada Structures: A comprehensive dataset of building footprints for Canada. Manuscript in preparation for submission to Nature Scientific Data.
  • Lu, H., Gaur, A., Benichou, N., Erni, S., Sandison, J.* (in preparation). Changes in Future Wildfire Hazard and Implications for Resilient Building Design. Manuscript in preparation for submission to Building and Environment.

Non-peer-reviewed contributions

* Contributions were prepared under my professional position at Public Safety Canada. These contributions and works are managed by the Federal Government of Canada and I claim no copyright or ownership of these items. 

Conference Presentations