Lecture series in winter 2025:
Building Climate Resilience: Public Health Solutions for a Changing EnvironmentÂ
This series is presented as a collaboration between the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the McGill Centre for Climate Change and Health.
February 20, 2025 - 12-1
Hybrid - 2001 McGill College, 11th floor, room 1140 or via ZOOM
Preservation engineering and climate change-adapted building design
Abstract: This talk explores how preservation engineering adapts current buildings to withstand more extreme weather, altered trends in temperature fluctuations and environmental stresses, while also guiding the design of new structures built to endure the increasing impact of climate change. Dr. Daniele Malomo’s research combines sustainable retrofit and repair methods for existing buildings with climate-adaptive principles in new designs. Through innovative engineering strategies and digital tools, this approach provides practical solutions for a resilient built environment that meets the demands of a changing climate.
Speaker biography:
Professor Malomo is the director of , a cutting-edge structural engineering research lab at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ working on earthquake engineering, old structures, climate change-adapted design, numerical and experimental simulations. Since 2021, he serves in the Board of Directors of the Canadian chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), as well as an expert member of the International Scientific Committee on the Analysis and Restoration of Structures of Architectural Heritage (ISCARSAH). His work has recently been awarded by The Masonry Society (TMS), Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE).
March 20, 2025 - 12-1
Hybrid - 2001 McGill College, 11th floor, room 1140 or via ZOOM
Unraveling the biophysical mechanistic links between climate change and infectious disease transmission
Abstract: There is clear evidence that climate change will alter the timing, intensity, and geographic range of infectious disease outbreaks with important implications for public health. Nevertheless, the mechanistic links between climate and infectious disease transmission, particularly for respiratory infections, remain incompletely resolved. Consequently, models that incorporate climate into disease transmission largely rely on the use of statistical methods to regress the time-varying transmission rate derived from epidemiological data against climate variables, despite there being many insufficiencies to these approaches. In this talk, we will discuss known climate-sensitive biophysical drivers of a broad range of infectious diseases, including vector- and water-borne infections. We will then focus on our work in the area of respiratory infections, unraveling the biophysics of aerosol-based transmission in complex mucosalivary fluids.
Speaker Biography:
Caroline Wagner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. She holds an MSc and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, where she used experiment and theory to study the microscopic and macroscopic rheological properties of mucus. She then trained as a postdoctoral fellow in mathematical disease modeling at Princeton University. Her research program focusses on understanding interactions between pathogens and biological fluids, and modeling the effect of such interactions on population-level disease transmission and dynamics. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Caroline and her colleagues developed models to explore the effect of various factors including immune responses, vaccine dose spacing, and vaccine nationalism on the future burden and timing of Covid-19 infections. This work resulted in three publications in the journal Science, and has been covered in numerous media outlets including Quebec Science, La Presse, and Wired.
April 3, 2025 - 12-1
Hybrid - 2001 McGill College, 11th floor, room 1140 or via ZOOM
The potential of carbon offsets in agriculture: promoting the adoption of technologies and best management practices
Abstract: Carbon sequestration practices have the dual benefit of replenishing soil organic matter levels while simultaneously mitigating greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and storing carbon in agricultural soils. Despite their potential, these practices are far from being widespread. The first part of the talk will examine how uncertainty and risk play a part in farmer’s decisions to adopt intercropping, a practice shown to enrich soils and absorb carbon. The second part of the talk will examine how carbon offsets might be designed to incorporate agriculture and promote the adoption of practices, like intercropping, that offer producers benefits while helping offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaker biography:
Aurélie Harou is an agricultural, development and resource economist. Some of her recent research examines farmer behavior and incentives to reduce groundwater consumption in India, quantifies the effects of cultivating multiple seasons on resiliency, nutrition and food security in Malawi, and estimates the effect of climate change on cooperation among farmers in an irrigation scheme in Tanzania. She has published in leading journals including the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, among others, and is an associate editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. She partners with local organizations as well international ones, including the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the United Nations World Food Program and the World Bank, CIAT, CIMMYT, IMWI. She holds a BSc in Geography and Environmental Science from the University of Sussex, an MS in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California Davis and a PhD in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University. Before joining the faculty in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill, she was an Earth Institute post-doctoral fellow at the Agriculture and Food Security Center and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University.
April 29, 2025 - 12-1
Hybrid - 2001 McGill College, 11th floor, room 1140 or via ZOOM
Climate change, extreme heat, and health
Abstract: Climate change has resulted in an increase in the global mean temperature. In recent decades, Canada has seen a rise in the frequency, duration, and intensity of heat waves. In order to provide patient care and health care delivery with broader strategies for mitigating and adapting to rising temperatures, a comprehensive understanding of the wide range of health impacts of extreme heat exposure is crucial. This presentation will summarize the epidemiological evidence on the health risks associated with heat, its disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, and the protection strategies that can be taken at both the individual and community-level to prevent these risks.
Speaker Biography:
Eric Lavigne is a Research Scientist with Health Canada and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. His research interests include the interconnections between air pollution and climate change, particularly in the context of early life exposure and children's health. The research is aimed at being policy-relevant and contributing to well-informed decision-making to improve the protection of human health.
The Policy Talks Webinars were recorded on Zoom and uploaded to our .