McGill University
Postdoctoral fellow candidate
Supervisor: Elena Bennett
Start: 2024-08-12
End: 2026-08-31

Project

Data and Storytelling in Environmental Decision-Making
Despite technological advances and the increasing availability of data, there remains a disconnect between scientific knowledge and environmental policy decisions (Martinez-Harms et al. 2015; Adelle et al. 2020). This science-policy gap is partly due to the limited involvement of non-academic experts in the research process and institutional barriers that prevent the inclusion of diverse perspectives early in project design. In Canada, this challenge is compounded by the use of complex concepts like ecosystem services, which can seem abstract and disconnected from the practical needs of decision-makers (Kerr et al., 2021). To address this gap, my research seeks to understand how different types of evidence shape environmental decisions across governance levels in Canada. We aim to uncover patterns in how decision-makers use various forms of evidence and how their preferences vary depending on the context of the decision. These insights will help us guide the development of the Ecosystem Service Observatory System for Canada (ESOS-C), a platform designed to make ecosystem service data more accessible, relevant, and actionable.