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Yann le Polain de Waroux (Lab head)
I am an Assistant Professor at McGill University, jointly appointed by the Institute for the Study of International Development and the Department of Geography. I am a development and environmental geographer specializing in issues of land use and livelihood changes in rural areas. I have a PhD in Geography from the Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research (TECLIM) at Uclouvain, Belgium, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University, USA, before joining McGill (see Curriculum Vitae). |
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Olivia del Giorgio (PhD)
I am a human geographer and land use scientist, with a background in ecology. My work examines the social and ecological implications of globalization and land-use change in the Gran Chaco region of South America. Motivated by my interests in environmental and social justice, humanitarian mapping, and agrarian reform, the focus of my PhD research is to investigate the drivers and social-ecological repercussions of land control changes in regions experiencing the expansion of large-scale, industrial agriculture. To do so, I am combining remote sensing and GIS with political ecology and ethnographic methods. |
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Lily Shebell (MA)
I am interested in examining the connections between global commodity chains, local land use change, and migration in the Gran Chaco. My thesis will consider rural-urban migration among smallholder farmers in response to the encroachment of industrial agriculture in the region. I seek to disaggregate rural-urban migration patterns and consider the motivations and agency of the individual actors involved. I am also interested in considering the influence of agrarian social movements on community building, social resilience, and livelihood success among recent rural migrants in cities. |
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Patrice Matthews (MSc)
I am interested in understanding the natural processes and geopolitical contexts that impact the availability of surface water and rural populations’ access to this resource in the Pilcomayo basin of the Gran Chaco. My master’s research has two primary goals: 1) to characterize surface water bodies in this sub-region according to their spatial-temporal distribution, and 2) to determine and describe how changes in the distribution of surface water and the advance of the agricultural commodity frontier have impacted rural communities’ access to surface water. |
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Marie-Claude Carignan (MSc)
I am interested in the intersections between sustainability, climate change mitigation, and equity. My thesis investigates how community and household decisions lead to successful participation in a McGill-sponsored carbon offset project in Ipetí, Panamá. More specifically, I will analyze indirect land-use change dynamics and livelihood adaptations linked to the project to calculate the net carbon leakage from the program. I will also examine the socio-economic determinants and conditions that lead to the adoption and participation in the project and its impact on community capital distribution. |
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Michelle Hahn-Baker (MA)
I am interested in agricultural systems and the social, cultural and political factors that influence them, as well as their sustainability implications. My current research is focused on the beef industry in Alberta, looking at perspectives on the industry from key stakeholders and examining the centrality of the industry to life and politics in Alberta. I am co-supervised by Professor Graham MacDonald at the Land and Food Lab. |
Group Alumni & Visitors
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Christian Levers
Visiting Research Fellow Summer 2019 |
Diego Cabrol
Visiting Research Fellow Summer 2019 |
Victoria Junquera
Visiting PhD Spring 2019 |
Vivian Valencia
Visiting Research Fellow Spring & Summer 2018 |
