We use cookies on this site to enhance your experience.
By selecting “Accept” and continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies.
I received my PhD in comparative public policy from Queen’s University in Kingston in 1996 and my MA in political science was also from Queen’s.
Prior to joining Laurier in 2000, I was a postdoctoral fellow with the eco-research chair at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University (1995-1997), and an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Windsor (1997-2000).
In 2004, I was on leave from Laurier to take up a post as visiting associate professor in the School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan. In 2005, I was Visiting Fulbright Chair in Canadian Studies at Duke University.
I have also been Chair of the Department of Political Science and North American Studies Program (2014-2017), and Director of the Master of International Public Policy program.
In addition, I am a faculty member at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Co-Lead of the Environment & Resources Research Cluster and currently Associate Director (on the Laurier side) at the School.
In 2023 I took up the newly created position of Academic Director, Teaching Excellence and Innovation at Laurier.
My research and publications are currently following two major streams of inquiry:
First, I am engaged in several projects investigating the implications of accelerating climate impacts on water governance in border regions.
My recent work on the Rio Grande/Bravo, conducted as co-investigator on a SSHRC Insight Grant (2017-2022), has assessed the ability of the existing US-Mexico water management architecture (both the formal treaty framework and multi-scale cooperative processes) to adapt to changing conditions, using indicator analysis (VanNijnatten 2020; VanNijnatten & Johns 2020; Johns and VanNijnatten 2021; VanNijnatten, Rueda & Lopez-Vallejo under review). Further, I am engaged in collaborative work on re-conceptualizing our understanding of “uncertainty” for water governance in the context of accelerating climate impacts (Bassone-Quashie, VanNijnatten & Johns 2023).
In addition, I have been participating in a team project of the Permanent Forum of Binational Waters which is assessing the regional water future and governance implications in the US-Mexico Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras cross-border area.
I am currently engaged as a Senior Personnel on the NSF-NSERC Alliance funded Global Center for Climate Change and Transboundary Waters (GCTW) (2023-2028) which is engaged in innovative research to understand and generate resilience to water crises in transboundary regions. My collaborative work under the Center is focused on “climate ready communities” – understanding the governance and management capacity of local communities to respond to changing conditions in transboundary water bodies. Our work involves developing and applying an indicator set for community resilience, assessing the linkages between communities and multi-scale governance and policy frameworks, and exploring how coastline resilience might be assessed and managed – in the Great Lakes, Rio Grande/Bravo and other transboundary regions. These various projects are animated by the need to consider how we might strengthen local communities and move them to a more central position in governance frameworks.
Second, I have been writing on climate policy in Canada and across borders in North America for two decades. I edit a key text in the Canadian environmental policy field, Canadian Environmental Policy and Politics (Oxford, most recent edition 2024) and, with colleagues from the U.S. and Mexico, published the first monograph that provides a comprehensive overview and assessment of environmental policy within the three North American partners and cooperation among them (Healy, VanNijnatten & López Vallejo 2014). I regularly contribute chapters on Canadian, Canada-U.S. and continental climate policy to collections on Canadian, North American and international climate governance.
My current research in this area focuses on the concept of ‘Net Zero’ as a scientific concept, policy instrument and political target, and actively interrogates the utility of Net Zero in reaching our climate goals in Canada, North America and Europe. To this end, I have been tracking Canadian progress in meeting its Net Zero (and interim) targets, and I have been watching the climate policy responses of select European countries post-Russia invasion of Ukraine.
I am also contributing a Net Zero lens as Co-Investigator on the Future Harvest Partnership (funded under the NSERC-SSHRC Sustainable Agriculture Research Initiative and led by Prof. Andrew Spring in Laurier’s Geography and Environmental Studies department). The partnership is aimed at building a sustainable food system in the NWT that is responsive to the effects of climate change and takes into account the carbon implications of northern farming practices.
- Wilfrid Laurier University Academic Merit Award, 2024
- Wilfrid Laurier University Academic Merit Award, 2017
- Wilfrid Laurier University Academic Merit Award, 2015.
- Nomination, Teaching Scholar Award, Faculty of Arts, 2010.
- Wilfrid Laurier University Academic Merit Award, 2009.
- Wilfrid Laurier University Academic Merit Award, 2007.
- Wilfrid Laurier University Students Union Teaching Excellence Award, 2007.
- Canada-United States Fulbright Visiting Chair, Duke University, 2005.
- Wilfrid Laurier University Academic Merit Award, 2002.
External Funding
- Co-Investigator, NSERC-SSHRC Sustainable Agriculture Research Initiative: “Future Harvest Partnership”, $7.8 million (2024-2028). Coordinator: Net Zero Objectives.
- Principal Investigator, SSHRC Connections Grant: “Canada and the Green Transition: Underway or Underwhelming?” $22,084 (January-December 2023)
- Co-Applicant (PI: Christopher Lemieux), SSHRC Insight Development Grant: “An exploratory appraisal of biodiversity conservation pathologies in Canada” $68,692.00 (2021-2024)
- Principal Investigator, North American Climate Cooperation Project, Meany Family Foundation, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan: “Canada-U.S. Green Bilateralism: Targeting Cooperation for Climate Mitigation”: $5000 (2020-21)
- Co-Applicant, SSHRC Insight Grant: “Embracing Complexity and Adaptability: Comparative Analysis and Key Indicators for Improving Transboundary Water Governance in the Great Lakes, Rio Grande and Beyond” (PI: Carolyn Johns) $145,918 (2017-2022).
- Co-Applicant (Network and Institutional Analysis team), SSHRC Partnership Development Grant: “Toward the Development of a Great Lakes Policy Research Partnership”, 2012.
- Co-Applicant/Co-Organizer, SSHRC Public Outreach Grant (Canadian Environmental Issues), “Designing Integration: North American Cooperation on Climate Change Governance” 2010.
I am willing to supervise graduate students in the areas of climate and environmental policy; Canadian-American and North American relations; transboundary water governance; and decision-making under deep uncertainty (DMDU).
I may have research assistantship opportunities for graduate students under the projects listed above. Contact me for more information.
I have edited/authored 6 books and more than 50 articles and book chapters.
Selected water governance publications include:
Yena Bassone-Quashie, Debora VanNijnatten and Carolyn Johns (2023), “Water, Climate Change and Uncertainty in the Great Lakes and Rio Grande/Bravo Regions: Implications for Adaptive Governance” Journal of Water and Climate Change.
Carolyn Johns and Debora VanNijnatten (2022), “Embracing Complexity in Policy Implementation Research: A Comparative Analysis of Water Policy Implementation in the Great Lakes and Rio-Grande/Bravo Regions” Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice. 10.1080/13876988.2022.2086044
Carolyn Johns and Debora VanNijnatten (2021), “Using Indicators to Assess Water Governance and Adaptation in the Great Lakes and Rio Grande/Bravo Regions” Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 10 (June).
Debora VanNijnatten (2020), “The Potential for Adaptive Water Governance on the US-Mexico Border: Application of the OECD’s Water Governance Indicators to the Rio Grande/Bravo Basin” Water Policy 22 no.6: 1047-1066.
Debora VanNijnatten and Carolyn Johns (2020), “Proximity to the Desired End State in Complex Water Systems: Adaptive Governance in the Great Lakes and Rio Grande Transboundary Basins” Environmental Science and Policy Vol 114 (December), pp.194-203.
Climate policy (Canada and North America) publications include:
Debora L. VanNijnatten (2024), Canadian Environmental Politics and Policy: Moving the Green Transition Forward. 5th edition, Oxford University Press (publication date: February 2024)
Debora VanNijnatten and Andrea Olive (2024), “The Specialness of the Canada-United States Environmental Relationship: From Environmental Interdependence to Earth Systems Crisis” in Stephen Brooks and Don Abelson, eds. History Has Made Us Friends: Exploring the Myth of the “Special Relationship” between Canada and the United States. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Andrea Olive and Debora VanNijnatten (2023), “Twin Crises - Twin Ambitions – Twin Vulnerabilities:
Confronting Climate Change & Biodiversity Loss in Canada and the United States” in David Thomas and Christopher Sands, eds. Differences That Count 5th ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Debora VanNijnatten and Mark McWhinney (2022), “Canada-United States Green Bilateralism: Targeting Cooperation for Climate Mitigation” (2022) Policy Paper for North American Climate Project, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan (22,000 words)
https://fordschool.umich.edu/sites/default/files/2022-04/NACP_VanNijnatten-McWhinney.pdf
Green Transition policy publications include:
Debora VanNijnatten (2021), “Sustainability, Resilience and Adaptive Governance; Rethinking the Goals and Tools of Multilevel Governance” in Arthur Benz, Jörg Broschek and Markus Lederer, eds., A Research Agenda for Multilevel Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Debora VanNijnatten (2021), “Bringing a Regional Perspective to the Infrastructure Frenzy” The Hill Times, April 14, 2021. https://www.hilltimes.com/2021/04/14/bringing-a-regional-perspective-to-the-infrastructure-frenzy/292717
Debora VanNijnatten, Simon Dalby and Wayne Roberts, “Green infrastructure can revive post COVID-19 world” iPolitics: Opinion, July 22, 2020 https://ipolitics.ca/2020/07/22/green-infrastructure-can-revive-post-covid-19-world/
Building Back Better Post-COVID-19 Task Force (D. VanNijnatten was a member and co-author), “DEEP DIVE: Infrastructure investments for a greener, more resilient and sustainable country: Ideas and considerations for Canadian decision-makers” iPolitics June 22, 2020. Available at: https://ipolitics.ca/2020/06/22/infrastructure-investments-for-a-greener-more-resilient-and-sustainable-country-ideas-and-considerations-for-canadian-decision-makers/
Canadian Environmental Policy
Earth Systems Governance
Science, Knowledge and Policy for Climate Change
Applied Policy Analysis
Net Zero Politics and Policy
Politics Within Borders (intro to political science)
Contact Info:
Office location: DAWB 4-160
Office hours:
Mondays and Wednesdays 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Languages spoken: English, German, Dutch, Spanish