Master's Students
Elianta Jaillet
Master's Student, McGill University
Elianta is a master student in the department of geography, having newly joined Prof. Riva’s lab after graduating from McGill with a BA&Sc Honours in Sustainability Science and Society in May 2024. Her research explores the polycrisis in the Northwest Territories, looking particularly at the convergence of the environmental, housing and energy crises in Yellowknife and the impact of their interconnection on the health of the local population.
Nadia Fekih
MASTER'S STUDENT, MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Nadia Fekih holds an Honours bachelor's degree in Environmental Health and Urban Studies from McGill University. She is interested in researching housing and health policy, especially as it pertains to addressing social (in)justice. With the generous support of the Arts Research Internship Award (ARIA), the Canadian Research Chair in Housing, Community, and Health, and the McGill Centre for Innovation in Storage and Conservation of Energy (McISCE), she has been working on a project called “The Depiction of Energy Poverty in Canadian Mainstream Media” since summer 2024.
PhD Students
Mitra Kashani
PhD Student, McGill University
Mitra Kashani is a Doctoral student at McGill University. Her research revolves around how social and health vulnerability in the wake of disaster-induced power outages are spatially patterned. She is also interested in how different modalities of social capital and community cohesion may be protective during prolonged outages and natural disasters. Prior to starting her PhD, Mitra worked as an environmental health scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. She completed her Master’s in Microbiology at George Mason University in 2020, and conducted her thesis research with the U.S. Geological Survey examining the impacts of illegal oil and gas wastewater releases on soil and environmental health.
William Arent
PhD Student, McGill University
William is a PhD student in the Geography Department at McGill University. His doctoral research focuses on understanding the emergence of energy vulnerabilities across spatial scales and the justice implications of these distributions. In particular, he uses established methods in quantitative geography to measure, analyze, and communicate patterns of energy injustice throughout North America. He completed his Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University (2026), and Bachelor of Science in Geography from the University of Minnesota (2024). Within the research team, he is examining sociospatial vulnerability to power outages in Quebec
Aimée Pugsley
PhD Student, McGill University
For her PhD research Aimée is examining the impacts of climate change on northern housing ecosystems in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, and interrogating green transitions in the two territories as a governance response to climate change. As a settler scholar from the UK, Aimée is committed to anti-colonial research methods and approaches aligned with critical northern geography, as well as the meaningful partnerships that are necessary for ethical research practice in northern and Indigenous contexts. This commitment is in part facilitated through her work as the Project Coordinator for At Home in the North, a northern housing partnership project. Aimée holds an MA in Geography from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a BA Honours in Geography from Durham University, UK.
Bavisha Thurairajah
PhD CANDIDATE, McGill University
Bavisha began her PhD program in Geography Department at McGill university in the fall of 2024 after completing her MA in Geography under Prof. Riva's supervision. She joined the health geography lab as a research assistant in the summer of 2022 before starting her masters. Her doctoral research will focus on investigating the distribution and impacts of energy poverty among older Canadians using quantitative and qualitative methods, with attention to whether and how this housing issue presents challenges for healthy aging. Her research interests include housing as a social determinant of health, energy poverty and vulnerability, and the role of the built and social environments in aging. Bavisha is currently involved in the STAR Gloucester project as a research assistant.
Laurianne Debanné
PhD Candidate, McGill University
Laurianne is a PhD candidate in the Geography Department at McGill University. Through her doctoral research, Laurianne is exploring the intersection between energy precarity and housing in the current Canadian context. Using a mixed-methods and community-based approach, she is undertaking research in Nova Scotia, Québec, and Alberta to assess whether energy precarity can be understood as a housing issue and addressed through holistic housing interventions. At McGill since her undergraduate degree, she completed a Master's in Geography in 2023 and a BSc Honours in Environmental Sciences in 2021. She joined Prof. Riva’s research team in 2020 and is involved in many of the team's various projects, including serving as the research coordinator for the BridgES study.
Morgen Bertheussen
PhD Candidate, McGill University
Morgen graduated from her master’s in Geography in February 2023 after completing her BA Honours in Ecological Determinants of Health at McGill's School of Environment. Her doctoral work focuses on the human dimensions of climate change and adaptation across Arctic coastal communities. Through her research, she aims to identify the various ways in which changing environments influence community health and well-being, as well as deepen our understanding of how we can effectively and meaningfully address these changes across disciplines, cultures, and knowledge systems. Currently, Morgen is involved in research partnerships with the Inuvialuit Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk (NWT), as well as with the Alaska Coastal Cooperative.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Typhaine Leclerc
Postdoctoral researcher, McGill University
Typhaine has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Canada Research Chair in Housing, Community, and Health since January 2026. Her current research explores the experiences and needs of people living with an intellectual disability and their care network in disaster and other unexpected situations.
Holding a PhD in Interdisciplinary studies in Health and Society from Université du Québec à Montréal, she uses qualitative, community-based and creative methodologies to examine how social inequalities influence disaster experiences, impacts, and recovery in a context of intersecting crises. She is also interested in social movements, both as a researcher and an activist.
There are currently no Postdoctoral Researchers in the team. To get involved, see: Prospective Students.
Research Assistants
Honours Undergraduate Students
There are currently no Honours Undergraduate Students in the team. To get involved, see: Prospective Students.
Visiting Students
There are currently no Visiting Students in the team. To get involved, see: Prospective Students.