The Transdisciplinary Political Ecology working group is managed by students and early career researchers at the University of Calgary. The membership include Doctoral and Post-doctoral researchers from the Faculty of Arts, Cumming School of Medicine and Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.
Convenors
- Sujoy Subroto (PhD Candidate, Department of Geography)
- Saurabh Chowdhury (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology)
- Ana Watson (Postdoctoral associate at the Department of Political Science)
Members
- Paul Walter (PhD Student, Department of Geography)
- Mohammad Raihan (PhD Candidate, Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine)
- Jaime Paredes Paez (PhD Student, Werklund School of Education)
- Bakenga Maksudi (PhD Student, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology)
- Chetna Khandelwal (PhD candidate, Department of Sociology)
- Dr. Abiba Yayah (Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Political Science)
Convenors
Sujoy Subroto is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at the University of Calgary, Canada. He has conducted research on various aspects of forest governance and conservation politics, emerging nature-society relations, rural livelihoods, and climate justice in diverse settings, ranging from tropical forests to mangroves, including Bangladesh, India, Sweden, and Canada. He is a strong advocate for social justice and, as an activist and researcher, believes that research is a tool to actively engage with Indigenous and marginalized communities, amplify their voices, rights, and representation, and bring about transformative changes responsibly. He is a co-convenor of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH) Working Group on Political Ecology. For more information, click here.
Saurabh Chowdhury is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary. He is specializing in forests and livelihoods with an interest in the impacts of climate change mitigation, especially nature conservation, on forest-based communities in central India. He has worked with rural communities both as a researcher-collaborator and a development sector professional allowed him to engage with various stakeholders including donors, government institutions and civil society organizations. The transdisciplinary nature of his research enables him to bring in different perspectives, including diverse voices and forging connections beyond academic disciplines/spaces. He is a co-convenor of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH) Working Group on Political Ecology. For more information, click here.
Ana Watson is a postdoctoral associate at the Political Science department at the University of Calgary. Through her research, Ana aims to uncover the underlying conditions and power dynamics for a sustainable and equitable transition to low carbon futures. Ana’s expertise in political ecology and participatory environmental governance is grounded in her extensive experience as a biodiversity specialist, transdisciplinary researcher and her passion for environmental justice. With a PhD in Geography, and more than 10 years of professional experience as an engineer, she brings a unique blend of academic experience and practical knowledge to her work. She has been involved in international transdisciplinary research projects and networks that identify the conditions that enable participatory environmental governance in the Americas. Dr. Watson has developed transdisciplinary and science-policy skills in her role as a Science, Technology and Policy Fellow at the InterAmerican Institute for Global Change Research. Her goal is to bridge the gap between transdisciplinary knowledge production and decision-making to facilitate effective and equitable science-policy. For more information, click here.
Members
Paul Walter, a PhD Student at the University of Calgary, researches spatial disability in urban pedestrian experiences. Drawing on his neurodivergence, lived disability experience, and over 17 years as a software engineer, he offers unique insight into the widening gap between equity-deserving groups (like the disability and aging populations) and economically-driven ones, particularly in how technology and human behavior intersect within urban environments. His work seeks to decolonize urban planning tools and academic research by developing a privacy-focused, data-sovereign, open-source methodology for community-based collective scenario mapping via storytelling. This approach proactively addresses emergent global challenges, cultivating greater sustainability, inclusivity, and vibrancy in our everyday communities. For more information, click here.
Mohammad Raihan is a PhD candidate in Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. His research centers on addressing barriers to primary healthcare access among immigrant communities in Canada. With a strong academic background in sociology and public health, his work is deeply informed by his lived experience as a settler of color and lifelong engagement with structurally disadvantaged communities. Raihan employs a social justice lens to examine the social determinants of health, highlighting how overlapping socio-cultural, systemic, and structural forces shape disparities in healthcare access and outcomes. His research is grounded in community-based participatory research approach that emphasize equal and empowered partnerships with grassroots organizations, and community members. Beyond his academic work, Raihan plays leadership roles in initiatives aimed at empowering racialized populations, building community capacity, and amplifying the voices of those often excluded from policy and research. By integrating scholarly rigor with community-rooted insights, Raihan seeks to co-create knowledge and strategies that challenge dominant healthcare paradigms and promote more inclusive, culturally responsive, and equity-oriented models of care. For more information, click https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/mohammad-raihan
Previous Members
Sammy Sanchez is a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on small farmer communities in the Amazon region of Colombia. She investigates issues related to deforestation, socio-environmental conflicts in protected areas, and the impacts of green policies and land grabbing on social reproduction, with a particular emphasis on gender and generational dynamics. Additionally, she has explored topics such as militarization, counterinsurgency, and drug policies in Colombia. She was a co-convenor of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH) Working Group on Political Ecology till March 2025.
