Graduate Fellows

Desmond Adjaison is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University. His research examines the climate change–housing–health nexus in informal settlements in Ghana. He integrates systems thinking, situated urban political ecology, and intersectionality frameworks into his research to understand the complexity of slums. Desmond has published in peer-reviewed journals on urban climate policy and local climate adaptation governance.

E. Victoria Bomberry (Kanien’kehá:ka from Six Nations of the Grand River) is an Indigenous Health Geographer and PhD Candidate in the Geography and Environment Department at the University of Western Ontario. A community-engaged study, Victoria’s dissertation, “Reclaiming Cities: How Indigenous Urban Leadership Shapes Urban Environments and Contributes to Indigenous Urban Health & Well-Being,” examines how reclamation and assertions of Indigenous identities and rights shape and are shaped by urban environments. Motivated by her lived experiences, Victoria is committed to research that connects academic scholarship to meaningful and community-guided impact for Indigenous peoples in urban spaces in Canada.

Jérémy Gilbert is a PhD student in political science at Western University. His research interests cover public opinion, transit policies and local governance. He is a research assistant for the public policy pillar in the Canadian Municipal Barometer.

John Hutchenreuther is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University. His research is focused on the resiliency of the 15-Minute City when facing great challenges. Additionally, his studies include urban morphology, neighbourhood dynamics, and economic geography. His Masters thesis examined the evolution of neighbourhood polarization through analyzing the value ascribed to location in housing transactions. Currently, John is working with the City of London to assess the societal cost of transportation by various modes. Additionally, he is a contributor to research projects on regional economic resilience, the impact of plant closures on small and medium sized municipalities, and adoption of green roof infrastructure.

Lindi Jahiu is a PhD Candidate and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University. With an academic background in human geography and a focus on urban and digital geographies, his research explores the interdisciplinary topics of territorial stigma, gentrification, platforms, and surveillance in city spaces and places. To complement their investigation, he deploys methods that bridge the quantitative-qualitative epistemological divide, ranging from critical GIS to urban semiotics. His peer-reviewed works and collaborations have appeared in urban journals such as Urban Geography, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems.

Craig Mutter is a PhD Candidate in Western University’s Department of Political Science, whose primary research interests include political institutions, federalism, and urban politics in Canada. His current research focuses on examining the evolving relationship between municipal and provincial governments in Canada, with particular attention to the forms, causes, and effects of provincial intervention in municipal politics. Through this work, he aims to explore important questions related to accountability, multilevel governance, and the extent – and limits – of municipal autonomy in Canada.

Desmond Oklikah Ofori is an emerging scholar and a SSHRC doctoral fellow in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University. His research integrates antiracist-feminist intersectionality, EDI-foci and Social Network Analysis (SNA) to better understand complex issues related to immigrants, housing, health, food (in)security among others. Desmond, through his works, aims to centre, document and deconstruct the narratives and lived experiences of minoritized groups by highlighting urban inequalities and spatial injustices that impede lived realities, especially the “successful” integration of immigrants in Canada. Desmond holds a Master of Arts in History from the University of Guelph, Ontario and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, where he graduated as best student. His research has been published in diverse journals including Canadian Geographies, Journal of International Migration & Integration, and Gender, Place and culture.

Katie McCoy is a political science PhD Candidate whose work examines the intersection of Canadian politics and political geography. Her dissertation The Losers of Urbanization? The Dynamics and Consequences of the Urban-Rural Cleavage in Canada explores the operationalization and measurement of urban and rural place-based identities in Canada, and how these identities impact the behaviour of both citizens and political elites.

Reforce Okwei is currently a PhD candidate and SSHRC Vanier Scholar in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University, Canada. He is also a graduate fellow with the Western Centre for Climate Change, Sustainable Livelihoods and Health (WeCLISH), the Africa Institute, and the Centre for Environment and Sustainability at Western University. His current research examines the intersection between climate change, institutional governance, and resilience within the context of informal urban settlements, particularly in the Global South.

Luis Patricio is a PhD student in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University. His research applies Critical Pedagogy and Time Geography to examine the urban (im)mobilities of young people, focusing on spatial movement, socially constructed meanings, and embodied experiences. Luis holds a Master of Arts in Urban Management from the Catholic University in Brazil and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the Federal University of Maranhão, Brazil. He pursues diverse knowledge mobilization strategies, including academic publications (Journal of Environmental Management and Sustainability), book chapters (Performance Metrics for Sustainable Cities), media articles (Hill Times), cross-sector collaborations (Unseen Commuters), and children’s books (Yellow Bicycle).

Stefano Toffoletto is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science. Originally from Vancouver, he completed my undergraduate studies at the University of British Columbia, where he developed an interest in federalism, multilevel governance, and municipal politics. During my master’s, those interests developed into a research focus on Canadian health policy, especially its position within the Canadian federal system and the intergovernmental dynamics it produces. My time at Western has renewed my broader interest in urban and municipal questions, particularly in relation to governance, institutions, and intergovernmental relations.