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Associate Professor & Associate Director, Graduate Studies
School of Environment, Enterprise, & Development, Faculty of Environment
University of Waterloo
Jason is an Associate Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo, Associate Director of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Environment, the co-lead of the Climate Risk Research Group, and the Associate Director for Partners for Action. He has also advised Canada’s Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation.
Jason's research 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. His work focuses on assessing the economic effects of climate change, natural disasters, and extreme weather with a specific interest in measuring local costs of extreme weather, and the viability of property insurance and disaster assistance as a means of reducing vulnerability in the era of climate change.
Recently, Jason led a Max Bell Foundation-funded project examining effective property buyouts for flood risk reduction, providing recommendations for relocation programs in Canada through a comparative case study analysis of post-disaster property buyout programs in Grand Forks, BC, High River, AB, and Gatineau, QB.
Select Publications
- Cottar, S., Henstra, D., Thistlethwaite, J., Doberstein, B., & Wandel, J. (2025). Navigating land use after managed retreat: Decisions facing local governments in the post-buyout environment. Environmental Hazards.
- Thistlethwaite, J., Le Geyt, M., Martin, G., Cottar, S., & Whittaker, L. (2023). Buying out the floodplain: Recommendations for strategic relocation programs in Canada. Partners for Action, University of Waterloo.
- Raikes, J., Henstra, D., & Thistlethwaite, J. (2023). Managed retreat from high-risk flood areas: Exploring public attitudes and expectations about property buyouts. Environmental Hazards 22 (2).
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Thistlethwaite, J., Henstra, D., & Ziolecki, A. (2020). Managed retreat from high-risk flood areas: Design considerations for effective property buyout programs. CIGI Policy Brief No. 158.
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Henstra, D., & Thistlethwaite, J. (2019). Managing urban flood risk: A framework for evaluating alternative policy instruments. CIGI Policy Brief No. 147.
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Henstra, D., & Thistlethwaite, J. (2018). Buyer beware: Evaluating property disclosure as a tool to support flood risk management. CIGI Policy Brief No. 131.
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Thistlethwaite, J., Henstra, D., Brown, C., & Scott, D. (2017).How flood experience and risk perception influences protective actions and behaviours among Canadian homeowners. Environmental Management 61.