Meet Alison Shaw, Executive Director, SFU Climate Innovation

What do you enjoy the most about being part of the SFU community?

I am motivated by the research community at SFU and the strong innovation ecosystem we have. There’s a real sensibility and culture among researchers, staff, and students oriented toward building partnerships and producing research to solve real-world challenges. I feel privileged to work with an incredibly collaborative community of climate-related researchers, including world-leading hydrogen scientists, Indigenous scholars, climate hazards modelers, and researchers across planetary health, policy, business, economics, and equity, as well as leading communications and knowledge mobilization experts. The culture is ripe for co-designing research that crosses a diverse range of disciplines and sectors.

Can you tell us more about the work you and your colleagues are doing in climate action and innovation research?

Our mantra at SFU Climate Innovation is to “think globally, act locally.” While climate change is a global issue, its effects and the resources available to adapt need to be addressed at the local level. While some communities will be pressed to adapt to drought and fire, others will be combatting floods and landslides. Some will have access to local renewable energy sources, and others will not. By connecting researchers with communities, we can truly work together to find different paths to a brighter future.

For instance, the joint Civic Innovation Lab combines the expertise and resources of SFU and the City of Burnaby. Working together, our Clean Hydrogen Hub is making great strides to advance the transition to green hydrogen and clean energy. We’re also collaborating on the Sustainable Community-Resilient Alternative Mobility project to redefine how we think about community transportation. To do that, we brought in a group of researchers across various disciplines to partner with the city, TransLink, Mobi Bike Share, and Evo Car Share to better understand how to get people out of their cars and into using diverse mobility options in their neighbourhoods. These are two of many local, national, and international projects we have underway that are piloting novel and potentially transformative research. Our goal is to take these findings out of academic publications and into communities everywhere.

From your perspective, what impact can donors have by investing in climate action and innovation research?

By investing in SFU Climate Innovation, you are helping to shape a low carbon future by accelerating solutions that are resilient, scalable, and equitable. This includes being able to offer seed funds for faculty and students to co-create high-impact research with Indigenous and community partners, and advance climate innovation ranging from integrated and equitable energy transitions, to multi-hazard risk assessment and community resilience. Of course, investing in students and enabling them to engage across disciplines and sectors is vital for experiential learning, making a difference for upcoming professionals in both researcher and practice roles. The very real potential of this work is the reason I stepped out of the private sector and back into academia.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

One of my most memorable achievements was an initiative I worked on with Deborah Harford, co-founder of SFU’s ACT – Action on Climate Team, in 2018. Together we piloted low carbon resilience approaches in nine B.C. local governments and one First Nation, embedding climate risks, emissions, equity, and other sustainability priorities into policy, planning, and strategy development. At the end, we were able to show how decision criteria for things like climate risks and emissions can streamline work and lead to more coherent and cost-effective decisions. The results were shared as resources and tools, and distributed across professional practice networks, funders, and governmental agencies. Currently, low carbon resilience approaches are being advanced in communities and organizations nationally and internationally.

That said, I would have to say my greatest achievement and greatest hope is mentoring the next generation of leaders—including my own fabulous son—who are now part of legions of young people interested in stepping into uncertainty to advance toward a more sustainable future.

Who would you say inspires you the most, and why?

I’m inspired by systems-thinkers who recognize the interdependence between communities and ecosystems. I was raised in a small town by the Columbia River, and my family’s small black and white television only had one channel, CBC. I always tuned in on Wednesday nights for The Nature of Things. Whether he knows it or not, David Suzuki has been a very important inspiration to me, and plays a role in why I’ve pursued this career, along with other Canadian climate action leaders like Dr. John Robinson. I admire people who are motivated by the challenge of this lifetime: being a good ancestor. This means proactively rolling up our sleeves today and changing norms, practices and worldviews—to do what it takes to ensure our children and future generations inherit a livable, regenerative, and sustainable world.