Leadership and Faculty

Director (2023-2025)

Senior Manager, Research Partnerships & Evaluations (2022-2023)

Sharmalene Mendis-Millard is a former director of P4A and continues her work in advancing collaborative partnerships and resilient communities. She is a mixed-methods geographer who is passionate about non-profits and harnessing the resources of academia for community benefit. She worked for several interdisciplinary research centres that aim to advance community well-being and social justice through community partnerships, program evaluations, and learning opportunities, and helped develop the pilot RAIN program to engage communities in stormwater management at Reep Green Solutions. Sharmalene joined P4A in 2022 as the Senior Manager, Research Partnerships and Evaluations before becoming the Director in 2023. Sharmalene expanded P4A’s mandate to further engage in multi-hazard resilient retrofits, multi-solution approaches, and equity in climate risk reduction and adaptation.

Associate Director (2019-2025)

Jason Thistlethwaite is an Associate Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) at the University of Waterloo, the Associate Director, Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Environment, and a former Associate Director of P4A. His research focuses on innovative strategies designed to reduce the economic impacts of extreme weather and climate change, and he has advised Canada’s Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation. He explores the role of insurance and government risk transfer in promoting climate adaptation and reducing economic vulnerability, having worked directly with business and government leaders in the insurance, banking, real estate, building, and investment industries. Jason is also a frequent speaker, a media contributor on Canada's growing vulnerability to extreme weather, and a self-described weather geek. Jason was instrumental in the development of Partners for Action, leading many P4A research projects and initiatives throughout the organization’s ten-year-long mandate. Currently, Jason is a Co-PI on the P4A-supported and NFRF-I funded project, Retreating from Risk. 

Director (2020-2023)

Julie Wright is a former director of P4A and now works as the National Director of Our Living Waters, a Canada-wide organization uniting water leaders towards the ambitious goal of all waters in Canada being in good health by 2030.  Between 2010 and 2020, she led the Waterloo Global Science Initiative (WGSI) through its start-up phase to successfully launching a summit series and catalyzing collaborations related to each event, including; Energy 2030 (2011), Learning 2030, OpenAccess Energy (2016), Generation SDG (2018), and the relaunch of Together|Ensemble (2020), Canada's national, all-of-society conference on the implementation of the SDGs. She has more than 10 years of experience in communications and public affairs roles for companies, clients, and campaigns in the tech, cultural and non-profit sectors at the forefront of sector disruption. Beginning in 2022, Julie has served as a city councillor in Waterloo, Ontario.

Director (2018-2020)

Anna Ziolecki is a former P4A Director and adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo. Anna is an advocate for solutions to climate change challenges with expertise in financial management, strategic planning, and organizational leadership. Anna has conducted interdisciplinary research on many contemporary policy issues, including property buyouts, municipal stormwater management programs and related government economic incentive programs, vulnerable populations and disasters, and the challenges of communicating extreme weather events to the public. As of 2023, Anna has worked as a Senior Policy Advisor within the Resilience and Economic Integration Division of Public Safety Canada.

Director (20215-2018)

Shawna Peddle was the first Director of P4A and now works as the Associate Vice-President of Citizenship at Co-operators. She is a social innovator focused on the execution and evaluation of corporate partnerships for shared value toward the goals of sustainability and social responsibility. She developed and executed a three-year signature initiative supporting employability for marginalized populations under the Co-operators Community Funds, a pan-Canadian program in disaster risk reduction (DRR) for the country’s largest non-profit, and a successful university-based research and engagement network nationally towards understanding and communicating disaster risk, strengthening effective risk governance, enhancing preparedness, and fostering community resilience. Shawna is an accomplished strategic leader and engagement specialist and a respected subject matter expert in community impact and partnerships, the social sector in Canada, DRR, climate change impacts, and mitigation and adaptation opportunities.

Affiliated projects: 

• Water is Our Friend

• Retreating from Risk

Brent Doberstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo and has over 15 years of experience in climate adaptation research. His research focuses on disaster recovery, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation, with a special concentration on managed retreat (aka ‘planned/strategic relocation’). Brent is a co-principal investigator on a P4A-supported New Frontiers in Research Fund-Exploration project, Water is Our Friend, which explores amphibious housing retrofits as a potential adaptation strategy for First Nations communities seeking to adapt in place. Brent is the principal investigator on a P4A-supported NFRF-International project entitled “Retreating from Risk: Decision Supports For The Equitable Implementation of Retreat to Build Climate Resilience, which will run from 2024 until 2028. The Retreating from Risk project, a research partnership between Canada, the United States, and Indonesia, aims to build decision-support capacities among communities who are exploring managed retreat as a potential flood adaptation approach.

Affiliated projects: 

• Canadian Voices on Flood Risk
• Retreating from Risk

Daniel is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and is the co-lead of the Climate Risk Research Group. He has over 20 years of experience with applied policy analysis in complex policy areas such as climate change adaptation, emergency management and flood risk management, including contract research for Global Affairs Canada, Health Canada, Infrastructure Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Public Safety Canada and others. He has also advised Canada’s Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation.

Affiliated projects: 

• Canadian Voices on Flood Risk

Daniel Scott is a Professor and Research Chair in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. He is also an International Research Fellow at the School of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of Surrey (UK). Daniel has worked extensively on sustainable tourism for 25 years, with a focus on the transition to a low-carbon tourism economy and adaptation to the complex impacts of a changing climate. In 2021, he was ranked among the world's top 250 climate scientists by Reuters.  His tourism research publications have been downloaded over half a million times and have been featured in many leading media outlets, including The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Time, Scientific American, and National Geographic. Daniel conducted research on public flood risk perceptions as part of two P4A national “Canadian Voices on Flood Risk” surveys.

Affiliated projects:

• Water is Our Friend

Elizabeth English is a professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo with an educational background in civil engineering, architecture, and planning. She is the founder and director of the Buoyant Foundation Project, a not-for-profit organization based in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, and Cambridge, Ontario, and the founder and organizer of the Building Resilience Workshops in New Orleans. Both projects promote strategies that work with water to enhance community resilience. English’s current research focuses on developing amphibious foundation systems as a flood mitigation and climate change adaptation strategy that supports the preservation of traditional housing forms and cultural practices via the P4A-supported and NFRF-E funded project, Water is Our Friend. 

Affiliated projects:

• Inclusive Resilience
• Flood Resilience Challenge Game - Cambridge

Evalyna Bogdan is the Associate Director of the York Emergency Mitigation, Engagement, Response, and Governance Institute, and an Assistant Professor of Disaster & Emergency Management at York University, where her research focuses on flood-risk management, global climate change, emergency management and sociology. As an environmental and disaster sociologist, she has studied and practiced at the intersection of society and the environment, focusing on topics such as floods, fuels, food, and farming, around the world in the Netherlands, Namibia, New Zealand, and various parts of Canada. Evalyna is particularly interested in creating innovative educational and engagement strategies to strengthen societal disaster resilience. As a former Postdoctoral Fellow and P4A contract researcher at the University of Waterloo, Evalyna developed the Flood Resilience Challenge Serious Role-Playing Game and conducted research on the Inclusive Resilience project. In 2023, Evalyna partnered with P4A, in collaboration with York University’s Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders (CIFAL) and with funding from Waterloo Climate Institute’s TRANSFORM project, to train student facilitators and deliver an in-person game workshop in Cambridge, ON.

Affiliated projects:

• Inclusive Resilience

Jean Andrey is a retired Professor in Geography and Environmental Management and the former Dean of the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo with expertise in climate change adaptation, planning, sustainable transportation, hazard and risk assessment, and weather-transport interactions. She is experienced working with federal, provincial, and municipal governments as well as industry, community, professional and not-for-profit organizations on sustainable development and climate change. Jean's research is concerned with the implications of climate change for transportation infrastructure and operations, and she is highly regarded as a teacher and mentor to undergraduate and graduate students alike. Jean was the PI of P4A’s Inclusive Resilience project with the Canadian Red Cross, funded by Public Safety Canada.

Affiliated projects:

• Retreating from Risk

Johanna Wandel is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and an Associate Professor in the University of Waterloo’s Department of Geography and Environmental Management (GEM). Johanna joined GEM in 2008, having previously worked on high-impact climate change adaptation research studies in Canada. Her research examines the critical relationship between humans and the environment and specifically addresses vulnerability and adaptation assessments in relation to climate change. Johanna’s research focuses on a) community-level vulnerability assessment in light of climate change and other stresses in various economic sectors and geographic contexts; and b) proactive adaptation planning to reduce anticipated vulnerability. Johanna is a Co-PI on the P4A-supported and NFRF-I funded Retreating from Risk project.

Affiliated projects:

• Retreating from Risk

Rodrigo Costa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Rodrigo’s research investigates how communities' physical, economic, and social systems interact to create disaster risk and exacerbate socioeconomic and racial inequalities. Rodrigo works in the interface between engineering, planning, and the social sciences, investigating previous disasters using machine learning and survey data, and future risks using scenario-based, analytical, and computational models with applications to earthquake, wildfire, and flood hazards, accounting for climate projections. Rodrigo is a co-PI in the Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded Center of Excellence in Climate Resilient and Equitable Housing. He is a co-PI on the P4A-supported and NFRF-I funded Retreating from Risk project.

Affiliated projects:

• Faculty grant-writing support

Vanessa Schweizer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Knowledge Integration at the University of Waterloo with a diverse educational background that includes fundamental training in Physics, Mathematics, and Speech Communication. She also holds a Master's in Environmental Studies and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy. Vanessa blends these interdisciplinary interests through her work on scenarios, which are common tools for collective decision-making. Her research focuses on the problem of cross-disciplinary knowledge integration and the design of scenarios for the human dimensions of large-scale environmental change. Vanessa’s recent work has included the influence of occupational, interpersonal, and cultural conflicts on climate change attitudes. Vanessa has collaborated with P4A on grant development.