Kai Chan

Biography

Kai Chan is an associate professor and Canada Research Chair (tier 2) at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Kai received his PhD from Princeton University in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a concurrent certificate in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy. He subsequently did a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in Conservation Biology. His research is interdisciplinary and policy-relevant, in four primary areas: (1) biodiversity and ecosystem services (the processes by which ecosystems benefit people, directly and indirectly), with a particular focus on cultural/intangible values; (2) sustainability science, connecting ecosystems to human producers and consumers; (3) biological infestations and invasions; and (4) applied environmental ethics. In all, he strives to understand the workings of and values associated with social-ecological systems, in order to facilitate decision-making that promotes human well-being and social and ecological justice. Kai leads CHANÕS lab (www.chanslab.ires.ubc.ca), Connecting Human and Natural Systems; he is a director on the board of the BC chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), a champion of the ecosystem-based management challenge dialogue of PacMARA, and a senior fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program. Kai is currently the Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara.