Joe Ament (UVM) – Graduated

Joe Ament is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences and Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont. Joe’s current research seeks to operationalize the concept of social embeddedness in the context of small- and medium-sized farms in Vermont. Drawing from ecological economics, economic sociology, and anthropology, Joe’s work measures the complex social, cultural, and place-based interactions that take place in our food systems. 
Joe completed a Ph.D. in Natural Resources at UVM in 2019 under the supervision of Professor Joshua Farley (UVM). Joe’s doctoral research focused on ecological macroeconomics with a specific emphasis on monetary theory in the context of social and ecological justice. Alongside his Postdoctoral work, Joe’s research considers macroeconomic policy through the lens of ecological monetary theory, including public banking, monetary policy, and fiscal policy.
PDF CV
 Keywords: monetary theory, rent theory, monetary policy, public money, ecological economics
Contact: joseph.ament@uvm.edu

Janica Anderzèn (UVM)

Janica is pursuing a PhD in Agroecology at UVM. Her research is linked to a three-year, collaborative and participatory research project, Assessment of Diversification Strategies in Smallholder Coffee Systems of Mesoamerica. The project explores economic, ecological and social impacts of selected diversification strategies in smallholder coffee communities in Mexico and Nicaragua. As a proponent of inclusive and action-oriented processes of knowledge building, she is applying the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to her research. Janica holds a BA and a MA in Latin American Studies, and an M.Soc.Sc. in Development Studies from the University of Helsinki. Her Master’s thesis in Development Studies explored social and economic impacts of coffee rust on small-scale coffee farmers’ livelihoods in Chiapas, Mexico. Between and during her studies, she has worked in several environmental, cultural and human rights NGOs in Finland and abroad. Janica enjoys hiking, walking, biking, foraging mushrooms and picking berries, growing vegetables, preserving food, reading, photography, and arts & crafts. Coming from a country of forests and lakes, she feels home around trees and water, and is excited about exploring the nature of Vermont.
Keywords: Smallholder coffee systems, rural livelihoods, climate change resilience, livelihood diversification, participatory action research
Email: janica.anderzen@uvm.edu

Benjamin Dube (UVM)

Ben is pursuing a PhD in Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. He has an undergraduate degree in Agriculture and Food Systems from Green Mountain College. He continued working there after graduation as a farmer, educator & researcher on energy issues in small scale farming systems. His research investigates the multifunctionality of agricultural landscapes in both producing food and ecosystem services and implications for government policy in supporting farmers.
Keywords: Philosophy of Science, Agroecology, Ecological Economics
Twitter:@benjamintdube/Email: benjamintdube@gmail.com

María Juncos (York)

María Juncos is a Ph.D. Candidate at the York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies who have successfully culminated the required course work and comprehensive examinations. After a summer internship in 2017 at the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) of the University of Vermont (UVM) in the City of Burlington, VT, USA, María was invited to become a Research Associate at the ALC under the guidance of Dr. Ernesto Méndez, UVM faculty member, ALC’s Director, and Interim Chair of UVM’s Department of Plant and Soil Science. He is also a well-known scholar in agroecology and Participatory Action Research. As a Research Associate at ALC, María is presently working on her doctoral research fieldwork on urban agroecology with the Intervale Center (IC), an exemplary case study located in Burlington. While she pursues the completion of her doctorate, María is also working part-time as researcher and consultant for the Office of Sustainability (OoS) at UVM. She was hired by OoS because of her previous vast experience as Director of the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) at Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, her homeland. She initiated the CSDS after she finished her master’s degree in Environmental Management (MSEM) in 2002.
Email: mjuncos@yorku.ca

ALIA KARIM (YORK)

Alia is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. She has a Master of Environmental Studies from Dalhousie University and Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Mount Allison University. She also studied urban agriculture, particularly organopónicos (i.e. intensive urban gardens) and cooperatives in Cuba where she recently completed a Permaculture Design Course. She is currently working for CUPE Ontario in their research department.

Twitter: @aliankarim
Email: alia.karim@dal.ca

Stefano Menegat (McGill)-GRADUATED

Stefano is a PhD graduate of Renewable Resources at McGill University. He received his master degree in Cooperation and Development (specialization in Environmental Economics) from the University of Turin in 2014, with a thesis on Alternative Food Networks in urban contexts. His research interests focus on the relationship between agri-food and socio-economic systems. Through the E4A program he aims to develop a new approach for the design of food policy for the Anthropocene.
Keywords: agri-food system, social metabolism, complexity sciences, ecological economics, modeling
Twitter:@uomo_macchina
Email:stefano.menegat@mail.mcgill.ca

Romain Svartzman (McGill) – GRADUATED

Romain Svartzman completed his Ph.D. at McGill University, Canada. He works as an Economist for the French central bank, on climate-related risks and sustainable finance. His academic research aims to develop the field of ecological macroeconomics, at the crossroad between ecological economics and endogenous money approaches, including post-Keynesian and institutionalist perspectives. His work revolves around topics such as the assessment of the historical connections between energy systems and financial systems, the limitations of green finance, and the implications of a global ecological transition for the international monetary system. Prior to starting his Ph.D., Romain worked for the International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group) as an environmental and social consultant (2012-2015), and as an investor in clean technologies for a French venture-capital firm (2007-2011). He also has experience in asset management, corporate social responsibility for the banking sector, and in the assessment of business regulations for small businesses (World Bank). Romain holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business (2007) and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), as well as a degree in Economics and Law of Climate Change from FLACSO Argentina (2015).
Keywords: monetary institutions, financial instability, socio-ecological systems, commons
Email: romain.svartzman@mail.mcgill.ca

Caleb Gingrich Regehr (McGill) – Graduated

Caleb recently graduated from McGill with a Masters of Science in Natural Resources.  Caleb’s research was on the carbon cost of the necessary global transition to a low-carbon socially-just energy system. His work began with assessments of previously published plans for a global renewable energy system and incorporates life cycle assessment data of energy technologies to estimate the carbon emissions required to build a new energy system. He also holds a BASc from University of Waterloo in Systems Design Engineering.  He has studied agroecology and worked on an organic vegetable farm. He has studied corporate sustainability movements (Fair Trade, Cradle to Cradle) and the institutional barriers to environmental sustainability created by current firm structures. He currently works at the Waterloo Region District School Board as the Supervisor of Energy Conservation, coordinating the program that will allow the school board to meet its goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2029.
Keywords: renewable energy; energy transition; life cycle assessment; energy system; feasibility
Email: caleb.gingrich@mail.mcgill.ca  

EMERY HARTLEY (MCGILL) – GRADUATED

Emery Hartley is a Master’s graduate with the Economics for the Anthropocene partnership at McGill University. He has a BSc Environment from McGill with a focus on Biodiversity and Conservation. After his undergraduate degree, he returned to coastal British Columbia to work for a small environmental NGO. As a campaigner for the Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Emery worked on a range of conservation issues with the goal of protecting old-growth temperate rainforest of Clayoquot Sound. He was privileged to work with local First Nations on issues including a campaign against mining and forest conservation actions. His work at E4A focuses on governance systems for the Anthropocene, specifically, he is curious about what governance in indigenous communities can teach us about governing for a place.
Keywords: corporate mapping, power mapping, decolonization
Twitter: @hartley_emery / Email: emeryhartley@gmail.com

Sophia Sanniti (York) -Graduated

Sophia is currently pursuing a PhD in Ecological and Social Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. Her work employs a critical ecofeminist frame to problematize some of the gendered assumptions in ecological economics research and policy proposals. Sophia is particularly interested in exploring the implications of a degrowth imperative for Canadian care workers in the household. She holds a B.E.S. from UWaterloo in Environment and Business studies, and a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University which she completed in partnership with E4A and CUSP.
Keywords: environmental psychology; human-nature relations; behavioural economics; cultural anthropology; radical political ecology.
Twitter: @sophiesanniti
Co-founder of blog on social marketing: I CTRL SHIF
Email: srsanniti@gmail.com
Linkedin: sophiasanniti