TEAM
STAFF
Founder and Director
Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon’s research focuses on threats to global security in the 21st century, including economic instability, climate change, and energy scarcity. He also studies how people, organizations, and societies can better resolve their conflicts and innovate in response to complex problems.
Claire Abanto
Administrative Assistant
Claire Abanto manages the Cascade Institute's office and leads the development of its administrative systems. She is passionate about building an organizational environment capable of producing ideas that can steer the world towards a better future.
Research Director
Dr. Scott Janzwood leads the development and management of the Cascade Institute's research projects. His own research focuses on how scientists and policymakers communicate uncertainty and collaborate to address global catastrophic risks such as climate change, pandemics, and other emerging threats.
FELLOWS
Ellen Quigley
Senior Fellow
Dr. Ellen Quigley is an Advisor to the Chief Financial Officer (Responsible Investment) at the University of Cambridge and a Senior Research Associate in Climate Risk and Sustainable Finance at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER). She holds a PhD in Economic Education from the University of Cambridge.
Ian Graham
Senior Fellow
Dr. Ian Graham is a former IT and business consultant and has held management and leadership positions at the Bank of Montreal, University of Toronto, National Research Council, and small Toronto-based startups. He holds a PhD in Physics from McGill University.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Michael Lawrence uses complexity science to understand the coevolution of conflict, violence, and social structure, and through this work he has developed expertise on global governance, societal collapse, the psychology of dehumanization, transnational organized crime, and peacebuilding.
Jinelle Piereder
Doctoral Fellow
Jinelle Piereder is a doctoral candidate in global governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Jinelle uses complexity science and network theory to study the relationships between worldviews and social networks, especially in emerging and rapidly evolving areas of governance, such as climate change and energy transition.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
Featured Members
Frances Westley
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Frances Westley is Professor and Director Emeritus at the Waterloo Institute on Social Innovation and Resilience at the University of Waterloo. She is a renowned scholar and consultant in the areas of social innovation, strategies for sustainable development, strategic change, visionary leadership, and inter-organizational collaboration.
Vanessa Schweizer
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Vanessa Schweizer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Knowledge Integration at the University of Waterloo. She is the Associate Director of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation and sits on the Council of the Society for Risk Analysis. Her socioeconomic research focuses on strategic foresight and opportunities for resilient transitions, both globally and locally.
Jonathan Leader Maynard
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Jonathan Leader Maynard is a Lecturer in International Politics in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. His core research focuses on the role of ideology in political violence, mass atrocities and armed conflict.
![Jennifer Welsh-Max Bell School[1] (1)](https://cascadeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/Jennifer-Welsh-Max-Bell-School1-1-circle.jpg "Jennifer Welsh-Max Bell School[1] (1)")
Jennifer M. Welsh
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Jennifer M. Welsh is the Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security at McGill University and a Senior Research Fellow at Somerville College at the University of Oxford. From 2013-2016, she served as the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, on the Responsibility to Protect.
Johan Rockström
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Professor Dr. Johan Rockström is the Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam. He helped lead the internationally renowned team of scientists that developed the planetary boundaries framework.
Angela V. Carter
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Dr. Angela V. Carter is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on environmental policy and politics surrounding oil extraction in Canada’s major oil producing provinces.
AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS
Norman Kearney
Affiliated Researcher
Dr. Norman Kearney is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern. His research identifies leverage points for sustainability transformation using modeling tools like cross-impact balance (CIB) analysis. He holds a PhD in Social and Ecological Sustainability from the University of Waterloo.
Michelle Lee
Affiliated Researcher
Michelle Lee is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health and Health Systems, specializing in health information systems, global policy, and health governance in low and middle-income countries.
Amy Janzwood
Affiliated Researcher
Dr. Amy Janzwood is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia and a visiting fellow at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies. Her work explores the contested politics of fossil fuel production and the policy pathways that move us towards decarbonization.
Tom Deligiannis
Affiliated Researcher
Dr. Tom Deligiannis is a Lecturer in Global Studies at Wilfred Laurier University and is a global expert on environmental conflict. His research explores the conflict impacts of human induced environmental and demographic change.
