Professor Ann Dale, Principal Investigator, held her university's first Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Community Development at Royal Roads University, School of Environment and Sustainability from 2004-2014. A former Trudeau Fellow Alumna (2004), she is a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science, chairs the Canadian Consortium for Sustainable Development Research (CCSDR), a Board Member of the World Fisheries Trust. and the founder of the National Environmental Treasure (the NET). Current research interests include governance, social capital and agency, biodiversity conservation, place-based and virtual sustainable communities. She is a recipient of the 2001 Policy Research Initiative Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Policy for her book, At the edge: sustainable development in the 21st century. Professor Dale is actively experimenting with research dissemination and social media, and has recently launched HEADTalks.
Reaserch team2
Jim Hamilton is a seasoned consultant with extensive experience in the governance and financing of public institutions, especially in relationship to questions of sustainability. Jim’s experiences stem from over twenty-five years in analyzing and advising on financial, environmental and sustainability matters while with Hamilton, Thomas and Associates Ltd and previously as a senior executive and analyst within the Treasury Board Secretariat within the Government of Canada. Included among his major contributions is co-founding the Federal Buildings Initiative within Natural Resources Canada. The Federal Buildings Initiative is a government-wide initiative to take advantage of alternative techniques to finance energy and water savings investments, which presently enjoy widespread application within provincial governments, municipalities, hospitals, schools and universities across Canada. Jim was also instrumental in the initial development of federal built heritage policy as well as Treasury Board policies with respect to environmental matters. Jim’s primary interest today is in assisting others, including governments and organizations, in understanding how their decisions, and in particular their decision processes, impact sustainability over the longer term. He also has an abiding interest in demonstrating how sustainability can be self-financing. When, not involved in these, his focus quickly changes to the outdoors and writing. development.
Kevin Hanna brings program and administration experience from academe and the Federal Public Service. Hanna’s research centres on impact assessment, integrated resource management, social capital and planning, and the role of local planning in community transition. His research has been supported by Infrastructure Canada, SSHRC, and CMHC. Most recently, he is the editor of books on impact assessment, integrated resource management, and parks and protected areas. Hanna has served as a policy advisor and analyst at Environment Canada and brings strong project management experience to the application, broad knowledge of community transitional planning, and good links to federal and provincial agencies.
Bill Dushenko, Ph.D., Biology, Queen's University at Kingston. M.Sc., Biology, Queen's University at Kingston. Honors B.Sc., Ecology and Evolution, University of Western Ontario. Bill is an environmental biologist and Professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability (formerly the Science Technology and Environment Division) at Royal Roads University. Previous to that, he worked as a research faculty member in the Applied Research Division in the Center for Economic Development and Applied Research at RRU. As an environmental biologist and freshwater ecologist working in an interdisciplinary field, his research interests include, ecological sustainability, terrestrial/aquatic ecology and biodiversity; the role of plants as ecosystem indicators and in the environmental cycling and fate of contaminants in aquatic and terrestrial systems; contaminant/nutrient relationships between plants and soils/sediments; effects of land use on sediment and water quality; contaminated site investigations; environmental impact assessment, and risk management for the public and private sector; and coastal wetland and macrophyte research. Bill has also been instrumental in setting up and operating long-term atmospheric, ecological and biodiversity monitoring plots for research and education purposes at Royal Roads University under the Smithsonian Institute/Man and the Biosphere Program in support of the National Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN). More recently, he has been involved with the Chinese government in helping them reduce their use of organochlorine pesticides for termite control as part of a national integrated pest management strategy. In his spare time, Bill likes to retreat to his new home in Sooke and spend time in the garden and community with his partner and their three pets.
Nancy Averill is a policy wonk, convener and writer. As Director of Research and Methodology at the Public Policy Forum she undertakes research on a host of public sector policy and management issues and convenes leaders from all sectors of Canadian society to find collaborative solutions to public policy challenges. She has published on natural resource management, ocean policy, climate change and a host of governance and public sector management issues. Her career has spanned both the public and private sector and has included policy and management experience at the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy and the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology. Her career began at the City of Ottawa in community development where she developed a healthy respect for the wisdom of citizens in making collective decisions on planning issues.
Nancy is an active volunteer in her community. She currently chairs the Ottawa Women’s Executive Network, is Vice-President of the Ottawa Distress Centre, an executive member of Equal Voice, an organization promoting the political participation of women and is a cook in the Sunday Supper program of a local downtown church.
She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University and a Diploma in Architectural Technology from Algonquin College. Born into the Métis Nation of Red River, she currently holds citizenship in the Métis Nation of Ontario.
Dr. Marilyn Hamilton is Founder of integralcity.com, TDG Global Learning Connections, and TDG Global City Strategies. She meshworks wellbeing in the global village through researching, writing, teaching and facilitating.
Marilyn is a Founding Member of the Integral Institute and Integral-Ecology, Canadian Sponsor of Spiral Dynamics in the Integral Age, a Certified Spiral Dynamics III Facilitator, and Certified Cultural Transformation Tools Consultant. She has 25+ years of multi-sector, international organization development experience.
Marilyn is Alumna of the Foundation for Community Encouragement and Past-CEO/Chair of Consulting Resource Group International Publishers. She has authored and co-authored several books, discovery games and assessments on learning, leadership and wellness. Marilyn teaches and/or supervises graduate research at Royal Roads University, The Banff Centre, California Institute of Integral Studies and the Adizes Institute. She is a graduate of University of Toronto (BA English, Diploma in Translation) and a Certified General Accountant. She completed her Ph.D. (Administration and Management) in 1999, researching learning and leadership in self-organizing online community systems.