Research Associates

Key Interests: Population Health;  Youth, Gender and HIV/AIDS;  Community Risk Assessment and Resilient Recovery

Carol Amaratunga was appointed the first Dean, Applied Research, JIBC in 2008 and held this position until her retirement in 2011. During her tenure as Dean, Carol helped to build institutional research capacity at the JIBC, to mentor a cadre of JIBC faculty and researchers,  and manage a research portfolio in excess of $10 million dollars.  As a JIBC Research Associate ‘Emerita’, Carol will continue to serve as a JIBC Principal Investigator/Co Investigator on a number of national and international research projects and initiatives.  She will continue to represent the JIBC as a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment (University of Salford, UK) and the Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Journal (Cambridge University).  In addition Carol will continue in her role as a member of the CIETCanada Research Ethics Board.  She currently holds honorary adjunct professor/faculty appointments with the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa and the School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria.

Dr. Carol Amaratunga's bio

Key interests: Driving, Aging, and Neuropsychological Functioning

Dr. Rishi Bhalla's clinical and research interests are focused in the assessment of cognitive and functional abilities in older adults.  This includes the assessment of cognition and mood and their relationship to driving fitness and capacity.  To date, his primary focus has been in the assessment of driving in individuals with dementia, and primarily Alzheimer’s disease. In collaboration with the Justice Institute of British Columbia, it is his plan to focus on driving fitness and capacity in normal aging and aging professional drivers.  Dr. Bhalla is a Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UBC.

Dr. Rishi K Bhalla Bio

Key Interests: Protection (first responder safety and security), Interoperability (multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional), Accreditation (institutional accreditation and individual certification)

Main Interests:

• The interface between the natural and social sciences and research that cross these two disciplines. Much of the research that the JIBC undertakes has elements of both.  While the research methodology may vary, depending on the focus of the initiative, the outputs of the research must have practical application, directed towards problem solving. 
• The interplay between applied research and academic programming. This would include creating opportunities for research at the higher levels of education (the JIBC degree path programs) and for knowledge transfer protocols for inclusion of research findings into higher level programming.
• Institutional accreditation and funding eligibility relating to applied research. Much of my work with the Office of Applied Research has focused on securing eligibility for funding from agencies, such as NSERC, SSHRC, CFI, WorkSafe BC, etc. Submissions to funding agencies for accreditation has necessitated the development and approval of several policies and procedures related to Applied Research and the compilation of documentation to support the JIBC requests. 

Geoffrey Burston's bio

Key Interests: Exercise and Work Physiology JIBC Fire and Safety Division

Dr Jim Carter’s research interests have been in the area of exercise and work physiology. Dr. Carter has completed research in the areas of: 

• ergonomics
• heat stress in fire fighters
• fire fighter fitness assessments
• quantification of fitness training
• the effect of endurance training on cardiovascular dynamics.

Key Interests: Psychosocial Disaster Recovery Process; Disaster Responder Stress & Coping

Dr. Robin Cox is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences, Master in Disaster and Emergency Management program at Royal Roads University. Robin has a PhD in Counselling Psychology with specialized training and professional experience in disaster psychosocial and trauma response, critical incident stress management, and conflict management. She is an active researcher and author with a specialized focus on community disaster resilience; the psychological, social, and behavioural health (psychosocial) dimensions of disasters; and community engagement in disaster and emergency management planning. Her current research projects include a focus on community disaster resilience, strategies for supporting the integration of psychosocial considerations in disaster planning and response, and community engagement in disaster and pandemic planning.

Robin is also an active member of the Canadian disaster planning response community, contributing to the development of a number of planning and policy documents including the Psychosocial Annex for the Canadian Pandemic Plan. She has responded as a psychosocial support volunteer in a wide range of disasters and sits as a member of the organizing committee of the B.C. Provincial Health Services Authority's Disaster Psychosocial Services network.

Robin Cox bio

Key Interests: Relevant, Practical, Sustainable in its Application

Bill is currently on contract with BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation as a Transportation Safety Consultant. In 2008 Bill was hired under contract as the Managing Director of the BC Trucking Safety Council. During the year he drafted a two-year working plan, established a board of directors, researched a spectrum of potential programs, services and communications for the Council’s consideration and developed a database of occupational health and safety professionals associated with the commercial vehicle industry. Bill has a diverse background in education and management .He has instructed at all academic levels (including, elementary secondary and the University of Victoria) and served as a senior manager at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia for over ten years. Bringing together his education and management skills Bill influenced and guided ICBC’s road safety programs to become internationally recognized. Throughout that period and for 9 years Bill was an associate of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police.

 William G. Hubbard's bio

Key Interests: Addictions and Use of Tobacco; Interpersonal Violence; and Sex and Gender Influences on Health

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Lorraine Greaves has been established as a key leader in gender and women’s health research, policy development and knowledge exchange in Canada and abroad.  As Executive Director of the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health and Senior Advisor, Health Policy and Surveillance at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, she has been actively involved in a number of activities which aim to broaden the scope of women’s health in terms of how research can influence policy and practice.

Through the utilization of collaborative processes and multidisciplinary teams, her aim is to enhance capacity for effective knowledge translation to ensure that our work is communicated and ultimately constructive. As a health researcher, she is best known for her work on three major health issues: addictions and use of tobacco; interpersonal violence; and sex and gender influences on health. She recognizes and appreciates new opportunities to build and maintain collaborative partnerships that foster change and enhancements to the current discourses of women’s health research.

Key interests: Environment and Sustainable Development.

Dr. Arthur Hanson's search is for approaches that will allow individuals, communities, countries and whole societies to live sustainably and in harmony with nature. His interests include public policies and practises for environment and natural resource use in Canada, Asia and globally; sustainable use of oceans, coastal areas and watersheds; and protection of biodiversity. These interests have led him into various policy research themes including co-management strategies, law and regulations at national and international levels, trade and investment, environmental economics, technology innovation, disaster recovery and management, and topics concerning environmental and social justice.

Arthur Hanson bio

Key interests: Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth, Adult Sex Work, Aboriginal Issues

 JIBC Centre for Counselling and Community Safety

 Sarah Hunt's research interests includes sexual exploitation of children and youth; adult sex work; Aboriginal issues, including intergenerational abuse, violence, youth issues, and strategies for healing; Aboriginal community capacity building; community development in rural and isolated Aboriginal communities; supporting victims of violent crime in rural communities; best practice models for working with/in Aboriginal communities, youth, and families.

Sarah has worked with the Centre for Leadership and Community Learning (Justice Institute of BC) since 2001, conducting research on issues of sexual exploitation and adult sex work, violence, youth justice issues, and the support needs of girls and young women.  Sarah works in a number of capacities as a contractor, including as program coordinator, researcher and writer, for such organizations as the McCreary Youth Foundation and the Victim Services and Crime Prevention Division. Sarah has recently completed an interdisciplinary M.A. at the University of Victoria, in which she used storytelling and video to investigate the lived experiences of people with trans/formative identities, interviewing both mixed-race and transgender people in her community.  Sarah is a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation, and her work is informed by her own mixed-race Indigenous heritage and experience living both on- and off-reserve. Her approach to research is informed by her years of experience as a youth worker, program coordinator, facilitator and educator in diverse settings, particularly within Aboriginal communities.  

 Research interests include:

•  Family and sexual violence against women and children
• The particular challenges faced by immigrant women who are victims of violence
• Empowerment of women
• The criminal justice system response to family and sexual violence 
• Cross-sectoral coordination of responses to family and sexual violence, including government systems, large institutions such as police, and the community 
• Risk assessment and safety planning
• Gender equality and human rights

Linda Light's particular skills include research, policy analysis and development, writing, and editing. She is especially interested in qualitative research that is based on partnerships across sectors, including: government; the justice, social service, and health care systems; and the community. She is interested in finding constructive ways to encourage criminal justice and related systems to develop effective and transparent information management and statistical data collection systems that can assist them in monitoring their outcomes and enhancing accountability.

Linda Light's bio

Key Interests:  Mass gathering medicine, public safety, emergency medicine, distance education, disaster medicine

My research interest includes mass gathering medicine, prehospital care, disaster medicine, public health and systems research in clinical emergency medicine. As the Academic Director for the Royal Columbian Hospital Emergency Department, it is also my goal to promote the research interests of my colleagues, and to grow the research capacity and infrastructure for emergency medicine within Fraser Health. 

Dr. Adam Lund's bio

Key Interests: Justice, Prevention, Protection

Dave Park is Economist Emeritus of The Vancouver Board of Trade. Dave is a graduate in engineering from UBC and holds a masters degree in business administration from Stanford University. He was a management consultant for over 3 decades, and as a consultant played a key role in many economic analyses and economic development initiatives. He spent many years as a partner level member in the Vancouver offices of regional and national management consulting firms.

Dave is past president of the Association of Professional Economists of British Columbia and is a fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of British Columbia. He is a past president of the Institute of Management Consultants of British Columbia and the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Canada. He has been the chair of a variety of committees and task forces of The Board of Trade and was a Director of The Board for many years. He joined the staff of The Board as Chief Economist and Assistant Managing Director in 1999, and retired to the position of Economist Emeritus in 2007. In that position he has been working on projects of mutual interest to The Vancouver Board of Trade, the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia and the Justice Institute of British Columbia.

 Dave Park's bio

Key Interests: Psychosocial, Community Planning, Disaster Response and Recovery

Within a disaster context, Dr. Laurie Pearce has a broad range of interests including community development; hazard, risk and vulnerability analysis; issues of gender, culture and vulnerability; and the psychosocial dimensions of disaster.  

Laurie Pearce, MSW, MA, PhD, has specialized in disaster management and traumatic stress for over 25 years. She is a member of the World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists, the International Disaster Sociological Association and the Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council of BC. Laurie is a Research Associate at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, an Associate Faculty member at Royal Roads University, and is affiliated with the University of British Columbia Institute for International Health. She is a partner with her husband, Larry Pearce, in Pearces 2 Consulting Corporation.

 Dr. Laurie Pearce's bio

Key Interests: Impact Biomechanics, Injury Prevention, Protective Systems

 Dr. Jocelyn Pedder's primary work has been in the field of impact biomechanics and injury prevention with special emphasis on the safety of road users. Her work has involved a variety of activities related to injury prevention and traffic safety including collision investigation work; the detailed study of trauma resulting from actual impacts; the development and evaluation of prototype and existing protective systems for road users; the prevention of road trauma through improved protective systems; working with national and international technical committees as well as federal and provincial agencies to improve standards and regulations to better reflect current knowledge for reduced trauma. She has a degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the Accident Research Unit, Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, England.

 Dr. Jocelyn Pedder's bio

Key Interests: Evaluation, Equipment, Safety

Dr. Silvia Rashke's research career, to date, has been a varied and non-traditional one, in the area of ‘rehabilitation engineering’.    As an applied researcher in this area she has worked with a wide range of sectors, including the medical device, forestry, veterinary and policing sectors.  She is the Principle Investigator of CREATE – the Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology that Enables, a partnership between BCIT and with the Neil Squire Society, a disability advocacy and research group.

 The common skill set she brings to the range of sectors she works with is a methodology for working with front line people to identify their needs,  challenges and culture - with the goal of  translating  the results into a language and context that the engineers and researchers who are trying to provide solutions  can understand.   Supported by a good grasp of both medical and bio-mechanical engineering principles she looks for best practices where people, technology and the environment interact effectively; or- where they don’t - to find solutions to problems identified.  This includes finding industry and grant funding to carry out projects.  Her primary goal is to guide teams toward finding practical, implementable solutions that don’t end up on a shelf and covered in dust.  

 Dr. Silvia Raschke's bio

Key Interests: Computational Criminology, Policing and Crime Prevention, and Chronic Offenders and Property Crime

Valerie Spicer’s research interests are focused on fear and the perception of crime in the urban domain. This includes the perceptual mapping of this phenomenon as well as the manner in which this problem is managed by civic and policing agencies. This research interest includes crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) strategies and problems-solving partnerships between key stakeholder groups. Her research also spans the field of pro-active policing initiatives which encompass offender management, situational crime prevention and youth prevention initiatives. Valerie Spicer is a member of two research groups at Simon Fraser University, one which centres on Canadian urban studies (ICURS) and the other which researches various modeling techniques (MoCSSy).

Valerie Spicer's bio

Key interests:  Mass gathering medicine, public safety, primary health care

In terms of current research Sheila Turris has a passionate interest in the provision of, and the links between, pre-hospital care, emergency services, and primary health care. Her recent research has been in the emerging field of mass gathering medicine and she is just beginning to explore disaster preparedness in this context. Sheila hopes to partner with the JIBC and interested affiliates in carrying out research that will strengthen the links between pre-hospital, acute care, and primary health care services with a focus on mass gathering medicine.

Dr. Sheila Turris's bio

Key Interests: Impacts of Violence on Women, Aboriginal Health, and Community Partnerships

Dr. Liz Whynot retired in November 2008 from her role as President of BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, a leadership position she held for 8 years. While at Women’s, she was responsible for both the patient services provided there and for developing a variety of provincial strategies to improve the health of women and of marginalized communities. She provided leadership for the development of BC’s Provincial Women’s Health Strategy, the Women’s Health Research Institute, the Maternity Care Enhancement Project and the Aboriginal Maternity Strategy. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Provincial Health Services Authority, she was responsible for the successful development of its HIV/AIDS and Aboriginal Health Strategies. She also chaired the Advisory committee for the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s report “Maternity Care in Canada". Under her leadership, BC Women’s was awarded the 2007 Arthur Kroeger Public Affairs Award in the Management Category. Currently, Liz is the Director of Whynot & Associates Consulting and continues to provide clinical care as a locum physician for the Vancouver Native Health Clinic.

 Dr. Elizabeth Whynot's bio

Key interests: Interdisciplinary studies, Program start-up planning; Creative writing as inquiry

Keith is interested in working with students and other investigators who are exploring issues of practical importance in public safety or social justice, with a particular interest in interdisciplinary and inter-professional studies and those that explore psychological, artistic and spiritual domains. He is curious about subjects like resilience, emotional intelligence, whole brain thinking, interoperability and intelligence analysis, and in helping students develop breadth and depth of understanding through personal reflection, journaling, poetry writing, creative non-fiction writing and liberal studies, including the arts and the study of normal psychology. He has experience in quantitative empirical research, descriptive studies, poetic inquiry, policy development, training development and the application of critical analysis in practical contexts. He has practical leadership experience in the health care, public education and post-secondary sectors, has lived and worked in rural Alberta and the Inuit community of Igloolik, Nunavut, and has experience with a range of quality assurance, continuous improvement and institutional research and accountability initiatives.  

Dr. Keith Wilkinson's Bio

Key interests: Gambling and Problem Gambling in Community Populations, Gambling and Crime, and Socio-health Issues in First Nation Communities

Dr. Wynne is a renowned Canadian researcher, teacher and administrator with three decades of experience as a community development practitioner, adult educator, and social science researcher. As CEO to three Canadian human service organizations, he has planned and implemented hundreds of social service, adult education and research programs. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Wynne has conducted many seminal problem gambling studies and he is codeveloper of the widely used Canadian Problem Gambling Index and the new Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory. Since the early 1970s, Dr. Wynne has worked in Canadian aboriginal communities on health, education, social service, justice and community research projects. He continues to utilize a participatory action approach in collaborating with tribal councils, band chiefs and councils, aboriginal leaders and people in First Nation communities.

 Dr. Harold Wynne's bio