Jason Thistlethwaite

Jason Thistlethwaite is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo whose research helps communities and industries understand and manage the rising risks of extreme weather and climate change. He has published widely on the policy, technology and data needed to inform intelligence tools identifying where risk is concentrated and resilience investments deliver the greatest value. Jason works closely with governments, insurers, and industry to translate climate risk data into practical, cost-effective strategies that strengthen public policy and support long-term community resilience.

• Risk, Disaster Management, Climate Change, Decision Intelligence

My scholarly research examines the governance and management of flood risk in Canada, with particular attention to how governments, insurers, and communities understand and respond to the growing financial and social consequences of climate-related flooding. This work combines policy and governance analysis with quantitative assessments of flood exposure to investigate both the scale of risk and the institutional mechanisms available to manage it. Recent research has assessed the economic exposure of Canadian residential properties to flooding and used high-resolution flood modelling and climate projections to identify current and future patterns of exposure. A complementary stream of research examines innovations in flood risk governance, including public-private data-sharing platforms designed to improve the availability and affordability of flood insurance and strengthen access to risk information. My research also investigates public attitudes toward flood risk management policies, including support for different policy instruments and expectations surrounding managed retreat and property buyout programs. Collectively, this research contributes to understanding how evidence, policy design, insurance, and public preferences can be integrated to improve flood risk governance and strengthen climate resilience in Canada.

My industrial research focuses on the practical challenges of identifying, communicating, and managing the financial impacts of flood and climate risk, particularly within the property and insurance sectors. This work examines how high-resolution flood modelling, property-level exposure data, climate projections, and public-private data-sharing arrangements can support more effective risk assessment and decision-making. A central area of focus is the insurance protection gap, including how improved access to reliable flood-risk information can enhance the availability and affordability of residential flood insurance and enable insurers, governments, and property owners to make better-informed decisions. My research also evaluates the economic exposure of residential properties to flooding and the implications of changing climate risk for insurance, real estate, and public policy. By connecting academic research with industry data, tools, and implementation challenges, this work seeks to develop practical approaches for translating climate-risk information into improved financial resilience and risk management.

• 2011 Doctor of Philosophy (Global Governance), University of Waterloo.

• 2006 Master of Arts (Political Science), University of Western Ontario.

• 2001 Bachelor of Arts (Honours Political Science and History), University of Western Ontario.

• Associate Director, Graduate Studies

• DEVP 601 - Foundations of Sustainable Development Practice
  • Taught in 2025
• ENBUS 408 - Best Practices in Regulations
  • Taught in 2025, 2026
• ENBUS 410 - Engaging Stakeholders
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• GEOG 675 - Selected Topics in Geography
  • Taught in 2023, 2024
• INDEV 308 - Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023
• SUSM 601 - Foundations for Sustainability Management
  • Taught in 2021, 2024, 2025

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

• Morin, Gabriel, Mathieu Boudreault, Jason Thistlethwaite, Michael Bourdeau-Brien, Jacob Chenette, Daniel Henstra and Jonathan Raikes. 2025. “Economic Exposure of Canadian Residential Properties to Flooding,” Journal of Flood Risk Management 18 (1): e70012.Minano, Andrea, Jason Thistlethwaite and Daniel Henstra. 2024. “Evaluating a Public-Private Data-Sharing Platform for Improving Flood Insurance Availability and Affordability,” Regional Environmental Change, 24(102): 1-14.Darlington, Connor, Jonathan Raikes, Daniel Henstra, Jason Thistlethwaite and Emma K. Raven. 2024. “Mapping Current and Future Flood Exposure Using a 5m Flood Model and Climate Change Projections,” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 24(2): 699-714.Minano, Andrea, Jason Thistlethwaite and Daniel Henstra. 2024. “Conceptualizing and Evaluating the Role of a Data Platform as an Entry-Point for Strengthening Flood Risk Governance in Canada.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 103 (March):104297.Raikes, Jonathan, Daniel Henstra and Jason Thistlethwaite. 2023. “Public Attitudes Toward Policy Instruments for Flood Risk Management.” Environmental Management 72(5): 1050-1060.Raikes, Jonathan, Daniel Henstra and Jason Thistlethwaite. 2023. “Managed Retreat from High-Risk Flood Areas: Exploring Public Attitudes and Expectations about Property Buyouts.” Environmental Hazards 22(2): 136-151.

• Risk Management in a Changing Climate
• Toronto's Secret Flood Map