Julia Baird

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Tourism and Environment

Office: MCC422
E-mail: jbaird@brocku.ca

Education
B.Sc. (Distinction) University of Alberta (Crop Science); M.Sc. University of Saskatchewan (Soil Science); Ph.D. University of Saskatchewan (Agri-environmental policy planning, School of Environment and Sustainability)

About Julia
Julia Baird is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brock University. Her current research focuses on the social aspects of policy transfer, collaborative and adaptive environmental governance, and climate change in the Niagara region.

Julia's Ph.D. research project, “Performance-based approaches to agri-environmental policy for water quality management” highlighted the influence of social perceptions on the success of implementing new policy instruments to manage water quality on agricultural landscapes, as well as the need for positive environmental outcomes from those instruments. Throughout the course of her Ph.D. research project, Julia increasingly recognized the potential for collaborative governance approaches to improve environmental outcomes. Her current research interests arose from curiosity around the potential for, and outcomes of, collaborative governance for water and other environmental resources.

<b> How does your research relate to sustainability/ESRC? <br></b> I am interested in how social networks form and change over time, and how the outcomes of governance approaches are affected, especially as these outcomes relate to water, climate change, and adaptive capacity. These issues are embedded within the greater goals of sustainability and shifting institutions and actions towards more sustainable pathways.