WSP Team Members
Oliver M. Brandes has been part of the University of Victoria’s POLIS Project on Ecological Governance since 2002. He serves as Co-Director and leads the Water Sustainability Project. Oliver's current work focuses on water sustainability, sound resource management, and ecologically based legal and institutional reform. He provides strategic water policy advice to all levels of government, as well as numerous national and local non-governmental and funding organizations. Oliver has authored over 100 academic and popular articles and major research reports. In 2009, he helped lead the writing of Making the Most of the Water We Have: The Soft Path Approach to Water Management which brought together the results of the first-ever, international comprehensive water soft path study. Oliver holds a Masters in Economics from Queens University, a Law Degree from the University of Victoria, and has diplomas in ecological restoration and international relations.
Dr Michael M’Gonigle is the founder of POLIS. At the University of Victoria, he holds the Eco-Research Chair in Environmental Law and Policy and is cross-appointed between the School of Environmental Studies and the Faculty of Law. A lawyer and political ecologist, his work with Greenpeace in the 1970s led to the international moratorium on commercial whaling, during which time he also co-founded Greenpeace International. In the 1980s, he was a leader in wilderness conservation and forestry reform in British Columbia. As Chair of the Board of Greenpeace Canada, he initiated its forests campaign in 1990. A co-founder of SmartGrowth BC, Forest Futures (Dogwood Initiative), and the Sierra Legal Defence Fund. His work on campus sustainability reflects his search for new strategies for policy change, in this case by creating a micro-level, place-based example of “comprehensive local innovation” that has broader ripple effects. Michael has written widely on environmental and resource management issues (particularly in forest policy), international and environmental law, and theories of ecological political economy (political ecology). He is author, most recently, of Planet U: Sustaining the World, Reinventing the University (with Justine Starke) (New Society Publishers) (2006).
Ann Zurbrigg joined the POLIS Project in March 2006 and provides the general administrative and bookkeeping support on a part time basis. She works with the research associates and staff to ensure the efficient financial operation of the office. Before joining POLIS, Ann held administrative positions at the University of Victoria with the Aboriginal Liaison Office and the regional office of the International Development Research Centre. From 1999 to 2002 Ann was the project manager at the International Project Office of the Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project, an interdisciplinary research program based at UVic. She has been Board Treasurer since 1990 for a community NGO concerned with providing affordable housing and support for women and children who have experienced family violence. Ann received her MA in Sociology in 1988 from Carleton University. Her research focused on gender and equity issues in the workplace. After the completion of her Masters, she lived in Peru from 1988 to 1990.
Carol Maas joined the POLIS Water Sustainability Project in late 2006, bringing her technical expertise in water and wastewater to the team. Carol completed her undergraduate degree at McMaster University in Chemical Engineering and Society specializing in water and wastewater engineering and the societal implications of technology. She has worked in the water and wastewater field for ten years in various capacities including consulting, research and development, and process engineering. In 2006, Carol completed her Masters of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo and has since been investigating appropriate technologies for water treatment and conservation at the POLIS Project. She was appointed in 2011 as a board member to Ontario's Water Technology Acceleration Project. Her current research focus is on the energy and carbon footprint of water use, application of alternative water sources such as rainwater harvesting and reuse, and regional and provincial water conservation policy.
Dr. David B Brooks recently retired after 14 years with the International Development Research Centre. IDRC is a Canadian crown corporation that supports research on international development proposed and carried out by people in developing countries. He was educated in geology and economics, and now advises several Canadian non-governmental organizations on Canadian and international issues related to fresh water. David is the Director of Soft Path Research at the POLIS Water Sustainability Project and also works with the International Institute for Sustainable Development. His past positions have included: Founding Director of Canada's Office of Energy Conservation, Principal with the firm of Marbek Resource Consultants Ltd., and Senior Advisor–Fresh Water at Friends of the Earth Canada. His main research interests are water soft paths and water demand management in the Middle East, with particular emphasis on Israel and Palestine. Among his books are Zero Energy Growth for Canada (McClelland & Stewart, 1981), Watershed: The Role of Fresh Water in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (IDRC Books, 1994, co-author), Water: Local-Level Management (IDRC Books, 2002), and Making the Most of the Water We Have: The Soft Path Approach to Water Management (Earthscan, 2009) which he co-edited with Oliver M Brandes and Stephen Gurman.
Laura Brandes began work at the POLIS Project in early 2011, bringing her expertise as a writer, editor, and science communicator. She provides communications and outreach support to the Water Sustainability Project. Her work focuses on disseminating new policy research and effectively engaging communities, governments, and practitioners on water conservation and policy issues. Prior to joining the POLIS team, Laura worked as a freelance writer and web content developer. She has researched and written about a range of environmental and conservation issues including watershed-based water management, natural heritage systems, food security and sustainable food systems, invasive species, and renewable energy initiatives. Laura completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph where she studied wildlife biology and musicology. She is an alumna of the Banff Centre's Science Communications program.
Dr. Jon O'Riordan is a former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management in the British Columbia Provincial Government. He has completed 35 years in the public service, mostly with the Provincial Government in environmental management and land and resource planning. In his most recent position in Sustainable Resource Management he was responsible for completing six regional land and resource management plans. Dr. O'Riordan joined the water team as a strategic water policy advisor in 2007 and will be focusing on provincial water policy reform and the ecological governance of water management.
Kirk Stinchcombe is the founding director of “econnics – eco-efficiency specialists”, a company that provides cutting-edge demand management, social marketing, drought planning and project management services to water utilities, government and the private sector. Kirk has held various public sector management positions in the water and natural resource industries. Before founding econnics, he was Manager of Policy and Planning with the British Columbia Ministry of Environment’s Water Stewardship Division. A joint Canadian-Australian citizen, he spent much of the last decade in South East Queensland. There, he successfully developed and delivered critical large-scale demand management projects as part of the response to the Millennium Drought. He advises the team on topics including water conservation, social marketing, water reuse and water use accounting.
Jesse Baltutis joined the POLIS Water Sustainability Project in November 2011 as the Policy and Governance Research Assistant, bringing with him several years of experience in international development and policy research. In 2009, he completed his Master of Science in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where his research focused on fairness and equity in transboundary water management in the Jordan River basin. Before coming to POLIS, Jesse worked with the United Nations Environment Programme in Kenya, Friends of the Earth Middle East in Palestine, and most recently with Innovolve in Toronto, Canada. His work with POLIS focuses on policy development and stakeholder engagement in the Water Act Modernization process in British Columbia, network development and issue identification on water-energy nexus issues, as well as support and development of POLIS’ water soft path projects and volunteer coordination.
