Katharine McGowan is an associate professor of social innovation at Mount Royal University‘s Bissett school of business in Calgary/Mohkinstis, Alberta. Her research focuses on social innovation, resilience and complexity, connecting current questions such as just transitions, transformation and reconciliation to historical patterns, events and arrangements. She teaches social innovation, systems leadership and systems thinking using a mix of eccentric examples, dialogue, exercises and experiential learning. She is on the advisory board of Alberta Social Innovation Connect and a research fellow at the Institute for Community Prosperity.
As the lead researcher on the Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo project, Katharine contributed significantly to the development of social innovation theory at Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience (WISIR) based on historical case studies.