This year’s conference, from Nov. 9 to 20, comes amid a backdrop of a Super El Niño and follows confirmation from scientists that the world is on track to exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming threshold, according to the United Nations.

Western University has experts available to provide insight on climate policy, sustainable energy, environmental science and the social and economic dimensions of a changing planet.

Health impacts of climate change
Dr. Anna Gunz
Associate professor, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry

• Climate change and health
• Wildfire smoke and health
• Extreme heat and health
• Health system implications of climate change
• Nature prescriptions and interventions to promote health

Abe Oudshoorn
Associate Professor, Nursing

• Climate change and migration of vulnerable populations
• Extreme heat and homelessness
• Community health
• Global health

Nicole Redvers (COP31 attendee)
Western Research Chair, Associate Professor and Director of Indigenous Planetary Health, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry

• United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report author (AR7 WGII)
• Indigenous health
• Planetary health
• Indigenous knowledge translation

Science, technology and innovation
Diane-Laure Arjalies
Associate Professor, Ivey Business School

• Conservation finance
• Channelling of capital towards the protection of ecosystems

Gordon McBean
Professor Emeritus, Geography and Environment

• Climate change science and policy
• Natural hazards-prediction and mitigation
• Weather and environmental prediction systems

Reza Najafi
Professor, Engineering

• Hydroclimatic extremes including floods and drought
• Intensity and frequency of hydroclimatic extremes
• Climate change and water systems

Joshua Pearce
Thompson Chair of Innovation, Professor, Electrical Engineering and Ivey Business School

• Agrivoltaic crop protection from climate change

James Voogt
Professor, Geography and Environment

• Urban heat islands and urban heat maps
• Cities and extreme heat
• Mitigating heat in urban areas
• Urban climatology

Societal adaptation
Bipasha Baruah
Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies

• Climate change and social justice
• Equity, diversity, and inclusion in low-carbon economies
• Global environmental issues

Evan Bowness
Assistant Professor, Geography & Environment; Canada Research Chair in Sustainability and Equity

• Community-led climate adaptation
• Traditional food systems
• Environmental justice
• Just transitions

MEDIA CONTACT: Jacquelyn Mitchell, Media Relations Officer, Western University, (226) 386-9683, j.mitchell@uwo.ca

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Western University experts are available to speak with media on a range of topics.

Affordability
Danielle Battram
Associate Professor, Director, Brescia School of Food and Nutritional Sciences; registered dietitian

• Cost of living
• Household economics
• Effective nutrition and food education
• Food literacy in children and adolescents

Kate Choi
Professor, Sociology; Director, Centre for Research on Social Inequality

• Housing affordability
• Population aging
• Family policy

Business, entrepreneurship, and the economy
Colin Campbell
Professor Emeritus, Law

• Corporate tax law
• Tax law

Rory Gillis
Assistant Professor, Law

• Tax law
• Tax policy
• Federalism

Eric Morse
Professor, Ivey Business School; Executive Director, Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship
• Founders
• Scaling ventures

Sergio Ocampo
Assistant professor, Economics

• Taxation
• Capital taxation
• Trade

Brandon Schaufele
Associate Professor, Ivey Business School; Director, Ivey Energy Policy and Management

• Productivity Mega Deduction and its impact on investment decisions
• Energy and resource investment
• How tax policy interacts with regulation and climate goals
• Competition policy and regulated utilities

Stephen Williamson
Professor, Economics; Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair in Central Banking; former Bank of Canada Fellow 2018-2022

• Financial economics
• Monetary economics
• Large-scale economies (GDP, inflation, consumption, investment, etc.)

Employment
Audra Bowlus
Professor, Economics

• Labour market
• Training programs
• Skill shortages
• Employment Insurance changes

Finance and budgets
Mahmood Nanji
Lawrence Centre Policy Fellow, Ivey Business School; former Associate Deputy Minister at Ontario’s Ministry of Finance (note: on Nov. 5 he is only available after the budget lockup lifts)

• Development of budgets
• Tariffs and trade
• Tax administration

Immigration
Victoria Esses
Professor, Psychology; Director, Centre for Research on Migration and Ethnic Relations

• Border measures
• Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) responses to refugees
• Immigration and cultural diversity
• Ethnic relations

Michael Haan
Professor, Sociology; Director, Statistics Canada Research Data Centre at Western

• Demographics
• Education
• Labour force
• Research on immigrant and refugee settlement

Politics of budgets
Laura Stephenson
Professor and Chair, Political Science

• Canadian politics
• Public opinion
• Electoral engagement with politics

Privatization of airports
Geraint Harvey
Professor, DAN Department of Management & Organizational Studies; Dancap Private Equity Chair in Human Organization

• Privatization of airports
• Employment relationships
• Changing nature of work

Technology
Joshua Pearce
Professor, Ivey Business School and Engineering; John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation

• Economic savings from adoption of open-source computer systems, software, and hardware

MEDIA CONTACT: Jacquelyn Mitchell, Media Relations Officer, Western University, (226) 386-9683, j.mitchell@uwo.ca

The post Western experts available on topics related to the federal budget appeared first on Media Relations.

Lebo, an expert in American politics, is available to media to explain the significance of the 2026 midterm election results and to outline what can be expected in the final two years of the Trump presidency.

“It was a huge night for the Democrats who won big House and Senate majorities as well as governorships and state houses,” said Lebo. “Donald Trump had asked voters to pretend he was on the ballot and that seems to have happened with huge turnout among angry Democrats and Independents.”

Lebo also said this could mean significant pushback from Congress on tariffs and hostile policies towards Canada.

Lebo added that the most surprising results include Democratic senators being elected in traditionally Republican-held states such as South Carolina, Iowa and Kansas, and possibly even Mississippi (that race has yet to be called as of publication time).

“The U.S. will have its first African American woman governor in Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia. There will be over 100 women members of Congress for the Democrats, a record for the party.”

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed will also become the first Muslim senator after winning in Michigan.

Lebo says he expects the next two years to be contentious, and as previously noted in his explanation of the significance of the U.S. midterms, Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate will likely be “more than confrontational.”

Commentary reflects the perspective and scholarly interest of Western faculty members and is not an articulation of official university policy on issues being addressed.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jacquelyn Mitchell, Media Relations Officer, Western University, (226) 386-9683, j.mitchell@uwo.ca

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