MEDIA KIT

Our work

The Cascade Institute is a Canadian research centre addressing the full range of humanity’s converging environmental, economic, political, and technological crises. Using advanced methods for mapping and modeling complex global systems, Institute researchers identify, and help facilitate, high-leverage interventions that could rapidly shift humanity’s course towards fair and sustainable prosperity.

Founded in 2020 by Thomas Homer-Dixon at Royal Roads University, the institute is named after both the Cascadia bioregion and the institute’s use of complexity science in its work, particularly as it pertains to “cascades” of virtuous (high-leverage interventions) or pernicious (risks and crises) changes across complex global systems. Cascade Institute research programs investigate how issues such as pandemics, climate change, growing wealth inequality, economic disruption, social upheaval and political instability are interconnected, with a common thread of supporting swift, transformative change through initiatives that anticipate pernicious cascades and trigger virtuous cascades.

The institute is non-partisan and ideologically non-aligned approach in its research focused on the polycrisis, ultradeep geothermal energy, energy transformation scale-up and acceleration, and anti-polarization.

The Cascade Institute is a registered charity under Canadian tax law, affiliated with Royal Roads University.

Leadership contacts

Thomas (Tad) Homer-Dixon, Founder and Executive Director (Victoria-based)

Tad’s areas of expertise include threats to global security in the 21^st century (including economic instability, climate change, energy scarcity, ideological polarization, and mass violence), and how people, organizations, and societies can better resolve their conflicts and innovate in response to complex problems.

Scott Janzwood, Research Director (Montreal-based)

Scott’s areas of expertise include science policy, risk and uncertainty, global catastrophic risk governance, model-based decision support, and applications of complexity thinking in the social sciences.

  Polycrisis

The Polycrisis program examines causally entangled global crises which produce emergent harms greater than the sum of their parts. The interdisciplinary team studies these interconnected systemic risks and their impacts, addressing blind spots created by the siloed nature of governments, academic disciplines, and institutional approaches. They actively consult with business leaders, Indigenous communities, frontline actors, and other experts to identify both potential harms and opportunities for positive outcomes.

Michael Lawrence, Fellow (Waterloo-based)

Michael’s areas of expertise include global security, violent conflict and peacebuilding, societal collapse, transformations of world order, and applications of complexity thinking in the social sciences.

Megan Shipman, Fellow (Toronto-based)

Megan’s areas of expertise inclu/de neuroscience and psychology, learning and behaviour, global health systems, and systems analysis and modelling.

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  Ultradeep Geothermal Energy

The Ultradeep Geothermal Energy program examines an emerging renewable energy system that can supply both heat and dispatchable baseload power by drilling beyond 5 km into igneous and metamorphic rock. The interdisciplinary team, with expertise across drilling technology, geophysics, geology, social sciences, and energy transformation, studies technological, regulatory, financial, and social obstacles facing geothermal development in Canada, They actively support stakeholders—including communities, energy companies, and governments—by providing timely research, strategic advice, and policy leadership through their Geothermal Energy Office in Ottawa to identify promising opportunities, highlight key gaps, and guide investment in rapidly advancing this technology.

Peter Massie, Director, Geothermal Energy Office (CI-GEO) (Ottawa-based)

Peter’s areas of expertise include geothermal power, energy systems and technology, innovation and R&D, energy modelling, and energy policy.

Emily Smejkal, Fellow (Alberta-based)

Emily’s areas of expertise include geothermal energy, subsurface regulation, energy policy, sedimentary geology, scientific communications, and renewable energy advocacy.

Rebecca Pearce, Fellow (Victoria-based)

Rebecca’s areas of expertise include the next-generation geothermal energy research frontier, geothermal resource exploration, electromagnetic geophysical methods, Canadian energy landscape, and deep drilling technology gaps.

Leighton Gall, Fellow (Victoria-based)

Leighton’s areas of expertise include Indigenous-led energy transformation and sustainable geothermal and advanced drilling techniques.

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  Scale Up and Acceleration

The Scale Up and Acceleration program examines the complex interactions between technological and social systems to accelerate multiple sustainability transitions moving at different speeds across industries, sectors, and scales. The interdisciplinary team explores the technological, institutional, and worldview components of energy systems to identify systemic barriers and leverage points for non-linear change. They provide timely research and advice to frontline actors including policymakers, financial institutions, and activists to effectively guide R&D, investment, and implementation of key energy technologies.

Dave Lovekin, Energy Systems Program Lead (Victoria-based)

Dave’s areas of expertise include energy systems and the complex nature of energy transitions, renewable energy technologies and techno-economic transitions, global clean energy transition and Canadian energy landscape, community-based energy transitions and distributed energy resources, decarbonization of remote community energy systems, and energy policy and regulation.

Simone Philpot, Scale Up and Acceleration Fellow (Vancouver-based)

Simone's areas of expertise include systems theory and analysis, decision sciences, values-based decision making, maritime shipping, water resources management, and conflict modeling and resolution.

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  Anti-Polarization

The Anti-Polarization program investigates the key forces driving increasing polarization worldwide, examining the problem from an ecological perspective that encompasses individual, community, political, and cultural vulnerabilities. The team of subject matter experts recognizes that polarization stems not merely from digital technologies or communication issues, but from deep human needs for security, community, and stability. They develop and implement scalable solutions to counter the anti-democratic effects of growing polarization and restore social cohesion.

Shandell Houlden, Anti-Polarization Fellow (Victoria-based)

Shandell's areas of expertise include anti-polarization and governance, media studies and education, community-engaged research, and energy transition and climate change.

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  Revitalizing and Defending Democracy

The Revitalizing and Defending Democracy program addresses democracy as more than institutions and electoral procedures, but as a set of beliefs, moral commitments, and practices that require a thriving economy and society to remain resilient. The interdisciplinary team examines how epistemic fragmentation, declining institutional trust, political polarization, and social divisions reinforce each other, creating opportunities for exploitation by opportunistic actors. They identify leverage points where small interventions can create large beneficial changes, developing strategic frameworks to help strengthen democratic systems that are fair, prosperous, plural, and free.

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  Permafrost Carbon Feedback

Permafrost Carbon Feedback program examines the critical permafrost carbon feedback loop, where northern regions warming four to seven times faster than the global average release trapped carbon dioxide and methane, further accelerating climate warming. The team works in collaboration with the Woodwell Climate Research Center and the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, studies strategies for mitigating permafrost thaw and the links between thawing permafrost and increased wildfire activity. They provide guidance to policymakers, community leaders, and researchers to raise awareness of this climate threat and build political will and incentives to develop technologies and strategies that can slow the rate of permafrost thaw.

The Guardian, March 6, 2025

The Guardian's Matthew Cantor highlights Cascade Institute's research programs, interconnected by "high leverage intervention points" where small investments yield significant impact.

Cascade Institute's proposals target key polycrisis drivers like polarization and climate change through improving school curricula to combat disinformation and expanding deep geothermal power.

Based at Royal Roads University in British Columbia, Cascade Institute has developed an analytical framework for understanding polycrisis and manages polycrisis.org, a hub for diverse perspectives—including critiques—on these interconnected crises. According to Executive Director Thomas Homer-Dixon, the site compiles resources from academic papers to blogs exploring polycrisis, reflecting on 2025 events including Gaza's tenuous ceasefire, California wildfires, Trump's impact on global order, an AI-bubble selloff, and bird flu outbreaks.

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