Robin Cox, PhD
Dr. Robin Cox is the Director of the ResiliencebyDesign Lab. She is a Professor and Core Faculty Member of the Disaster and Emergency Management Program at Royal Roads University. Her background in theatre, film, and research have inspired her to pioneer the Creative Action Research methodology, an approach to participatory action research that combines the transformative potential of creative process and social innovation. Her research focuses on disasters, climate change, and community resilience.
Vivian Forssman, MBA
Vivian Forssman is Program Manager with the Lab. She is also a Consultant offering specialized services to post-secondary clients with her expertise in higher education program development, online learning strategy, learning design, and technology operations. Her work intersects knowledge mobilization, curriculum change and technology-enabled learning. From 2013 – 2017, Vivian was Director, Centre for Teaching and Educational Technologies at Royal Roads University, in which she worked to advance faculty development services; implement and maintain learning technologies; and improve curriculum alignment. She has held similar roles at UBC Sauder School of Business, SAIT Polytechnic, and BCIT.
Nigel Deans
Nigel’s interest in climate change adaptation stems from his first-hand experience of disaster. Following the flooding in southern Alberta, and his hometown of High River, in 2013, he and his family were evacuated and spent two weeks living with nearby friends and relatives. In the following months and years, he witnessed the lasting impact of the Southern Alberta floods on the people and places affected by them. His love of nature, experience with the impacts of climate change, and grounding in the behavioural sciences have since grown into a passion for the environment, focused on the extreme risks of our changing climate.
Nigel is an avid backpacker, and recently concluded over a year of living and working in the mountains of Perú by solo-trekking a 130 km circuit in the Cordillera Huayhuash, during the area’s wet season. Despite camping at an altitude of between 4000 m and 4500 m every night, he’s never had a better night’s sleep.
Brigit Forssman
Brigit is the Program Coordinator for the Inspiring Climate Action project at the RbD lab. She provides day-to-day coordination of the project including logistical support, network building, and communication with our stakeholders. Brigit holds a Diploma of Tourism: Adventure Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Management from Capilano University. Brigit also has a background in Anthropology and Gender Studies.
Brigit has spent time as a Grizzly Bear naturalist and interpretive guide on Vancouver Island north coast and BC’s central coast and has witnessed firsthand the undeniable effects of climate change on sensitive ecosystems. Since her years in the remote regions of the province, she has worked in environmental education focusing on youth engagement. Brigit’s interest has been in facilitating young people’s relationships with their local wild space to try to give them a more intimate understanding of the flora and fauna that surrounds them.
Brigit is an avid outdoors person who loves to spend time hiking, snowboarding, surfing, and sailing as much of beautiful British Columbia as she can.
Researchers
Sarah Fletcher, PhD
Sarah Fletcher is a Medical Anthropologist and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the ResiliencebyDesign Lab at Royal Roads University. Sarah’s research interests include youth perspectives on stress and resilience, healthy communities, and the participation of youth in research and community engagement processes.
Cheryl Heykoop, Doc Soc. Sci.
Cheryl Heykoop is an Assistant Professor in the School of Leadership Studies at Royal Roads University and a Research Associate with the International Institute for Child Rights and Development. Her research engages children and youth to explore their lived realities of disaster, conflict, violence, healing, and recovery. Cheryl’s research interests include youth perspectives on stress and resilience, healthy communities, and the participation of youth in research and community engagement processes.
Leila Scannell, PhD
Leila Scannell is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in the ResiliencebyDesign Lab at Royal Roads University. As an Environmental Psychologist, Leila’s research interests include place attachment, disaster resilience in children and youth, attitudes toward climate change and sustainable behavior.
Tamara Plush, PhD
Tamara Plush is a Mitacs Elevate Fellow in the ResiliencebyDesign Lab at Royal Roads University. She has worked extensively in climate change communication and community-driven visual storytelling facilitation in international development contexts. She holds a PhD in Communication for Social Change from the University of Queensland in Australia and a Masters from the Institute of Development Studies in the UK. Her research interests include participatory media, citizen engagement, the politics of listening and social justice.
Tiffany Hill
Tiffany Hill is Filipino-Canadian and has been a guest on Coast Salish territory for most of her life. She acknowledges the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples for allowing her to create a life, learn and play on their ancestral and unceded territories. Tiffany is a storyteller, researcher, and writer who supports and engages children and young people to explore their lived experiences of grief, love, and leadership using participatory and creative methods. She works with the ResiliencebyDesign Lab, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia, and studies in the Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Program at Royal Roads University. Tiffany is currently writing her thesis on The art of grief: An autoethnography exploring sibling bereavement.
Laura Wright
Laura Wright holds a MEd in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, from the Ontario Institute School of Education, University of Toronto and is a candidate from the MA in Global Leadership at Royal Roads University. She is a Child Protection Specialist at Right To Play International and is an active member of multiple international child protection organizations. Laura’s research interests include children and youth’s meaningful participation, leadership, education, play and child protection.
Susanna Niederer Moeini
Susanna is in her second year of the Masterís Program in Disaster and Emergency Management with Royal Roads University and writing her thesis on ìTransformative Climate Adaptation among Youthî. She also works as Strategist with the City of Calgaryís Climate Program Unit and coordinates the Climate Change Adaptation Plan development for the city. Prior to her current role Susanna worked as Business Continuity & Recovery Planner with the Calgary Emergency Management Agency. She has an academic background in Business Administration, Marketing and Environmental Management.
Antonia Pacquin
Bio forthcoming.
The RbD team includes a fluid, interdisciplinary group of changemakers, researchers, students, practitioners, youth, and community members who come together to generate knowledge and address the complex and interrelated dimensions of disasters, climate change, and youth engagement. This team includes:
Associates
Crystal Tremblay
Bio forthcoming.
Brooks Hogya
Bio forthcoming.
Mark Altermann
Bio forthcoming.
Royal Roads University
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The ResiliencebyDesign (RbD) Research Innovation Lab at Royal Roads University rests on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) and Lkwungen (Songhees) families, now known as Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
