The Public Humanities Hub Graduate Research Showcase is a semi-annual series in which interdisciplinary graduate research on thematic topics is presented and celebrated. The Winter 2026 term’s thematic showcase is co-organized with UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice.
This mini-symposium featured seven-minute lightning presentations by graduate researchers who include climate justice and climate action as key themes in their research, spanning the humanities and social sciences. Climate justice research encompasses diverse topics associated with socio-economic consequences of the climate crisis including: disproportionate impacts of extreme weather; cost of living; gaps in education; gender and racial inequity; Indigenous rights; law and policy; more-than-human protections; and so much more. We invite students whose research addresses systemic roadblocks to advance climate action at local, national, and international scales to present their work and engage with faculty and other student researchers across campus.
Presenters
Panel 1:
Romina Tantaleán-Castañeda, PhD in Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice
Indigenizing Environmental Justice: Towards the Rights of Mother Nature Guided by Indigenous Women’s Leadership of the Peruvian Central East Amazon
Hayley Simpson, MA in Resources, Environment, and Sustainability
Green is for Girls: Masculine Gender Norms and Pro-Environmental Attitudes
George Ferreira, PhD in Geography
Tackling Deforestation Criss: Financial, Technological, and Enforcement Solutions
Panel 2:
Tamanna Maqsood, MA in Education, Curriculum Studies
What Do We Teach, and What Do We Leave Out? – Rethinking Climate Education Through Curriculum
Charlotte Taylor, MA in Planning
Powering Up Communities: Mapping the Pre-Conditions for Sustainable, Locally-Governed Energy Systems in British Columbia, Canada
Daniel Hackborn, PhD in Library, Archival, and Information Studies
Last responders: libraries as long-term recovery infrastructure