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Research / Areas of Expertise
- environmental migration
- climate change adaptation
- citizen engagement in environmental science
I specialize in research on the human dimensions of environmental change, with particular attention to the relationship between environment and human migration; community adaptation to climatic variability and change; and, fostering citizen participation in environmental science.
As a former Canadian foreign service officer, I worked at Canadian diplomatic missions in Belgrade, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Seattle and Vienna. In recent years I have advised UN agencies, the World Bank, and governments in Canada, the US, and Europe on issues related to climate change, migration, and security. I served as a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2022 Assessment Report on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation.
I hold a PhD in Geography from the University of Guelph (2005), a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the University of Hong Kong (1995), and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of Western Ontario (1989).
My recent research projects include:
- Global migration data modelling & visualization for the multi-institution MEMO project
- Modelling drought impacts on population patterns on the North American Great Plains.
- Assessments of the impacts of climate change and drought on global migration patterns for the World Bank and the UN Convention on the Control of Desertification.
- Coordinating a Canada-US conference on environmental migration to North America
- Co-directing the popular RinkWatch citizen science project
- Laurier Residence Academic Partnership Award 2015
- University of Colorado FIRST Scholar 2015
- University of Ottawa Excellence in Education Prize 2011
- University of Guelph CSAHS John Vanderkamp Research Medal 2006
Undergraduate and raduate students interested in conducting research in my areas of expertise should contact me via email.
- McLeman, R. "Coming to terms with deep uncertainty in the study of climate-related displacement". Cosmopolitan Civil Societies 17 (1), 2025.
- McLeman, R., Hevesi, C., Cadham, E. "Evolution of climate-related migration & displacement in IPCC reporting". SSRN 2025.
- Jobbova, E., Crampsie, A., Murphy, C., Ludlow, F., McLeman, R., Horvath, C., Seifert, N., Myslinski, T., Sente, L. "The Irish drought impacts database: A 287-year database of drought impacts derived from newspaper archives". Geoscience Data Journal 11(4) 2024.
- McLeman, R., Golian, S., Murphy, C., Robertson, C. "Future prospects for backyard skating rinks look bleak in a warming climate". Canadian Geographies 68(2), 2024.
- McLeman, R., Heath, G., Vollan, C., Robertson, C. "How drought helped Jimmy Carter (nearly) win South Dakota in 1976". Great Plains Research 34(1), 2024.
- Gilmore, E., Wrathall, D., Adams, H., Buhaug, H., Castellanos, E., Hilmi, N., McLeman, R., Singh, C., Adelekan, I. "Defining severe risks related to mobility from climate change". Climate Risk Management 44, Article 100601, 2024.
- Jobbova, E., McLeman, R., Crampsie, A., Murphy, C., Ludlow, F., Hevesi, C., Sente, L., Horvath, C. "Institutional mapping and planning for droughts: A comparison of Ireland and Ontario, Canada". Biology & Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 123B(2), 2023.
- McLeman, R., Greig. C., Heath, G., Robertson, R. "A machine learning analysis of drought and rural population change on the North American Great Plains since the 1970s". Population and Environment, 2022. Link to article
- Cisse, G., McLeman, R. et al. "Health, wellbeing and the changing structure of communities". In, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Working Group II Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Link to report
- Ebi, K. and McLeman, R. Climate related migration and displacement. The BMJ 2022:379 Link to article
- Hermans, K., McLeman, R. "Climate change, drought, land degradation, and migration: Exploring the linkages". Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 50 (pp 236-244), 2021.
- McLeman, R. et al. Conceptual framing to link climate risk assessments and climate-migration scholarship. Climatic Change 165(24), 2021 Link to article
- McLeman, R. et al. Population responses to the 1976 South Dakota drought: Insights for wider drought migration research. Population, Space and Place, 2021. Link to article
- Malik, K., McLeman, R. et al. Reconstruction of past backyard skating seasons in the Original Six NHL cities from citizen science data. The Canadian Geographer, 2020. Link to article
- McLeman, R. “Migration and displacement risks due to mean sea-level rise”. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 74(3), 2018. Link to article
- McLeman, R. International migration and climate adaptation in an era of hardening borders. Nature Climate Change 9:911-918, 2019. Link to article
- Mapedza, E., Tsegai, D., Bruentrup, M., McLeman, R. Drought Challenges: Policy options for developing countries. Elsevier Academic Press, 2019. Link to book
- McLeman, R. “Thresholds in climate migration”. Population and Environment, 39(4), 319-338, 2018. Link to article
- McLeman, R., & Gemenne, F. (eds). The Routledge Handbook on Environmental Migration and Displacement. New York: Routledge, 2018. Link to book
- McLeman, R., Schade, J. & Faist, T. (eds.) 2015. Environmental Migration and Social Inequality, Dordrecht: Springer. Link to book
- McLeman, R. 2014. Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, New York: Cambridge University Press. Link to book
- Robertson, C., McLeman, R. & Lawrence, H. 2015. "Winters too warm to skate? Citizen-science reported variability in availability of outdoor skating in Canada." The Canadian Geographer, 59(4), pp.383–390. Link to article
- McLeman, R. et al., 2013. "What we learned from the Dust Bowl: Lessons in science, policy, and adaptation." Population and Environment, 35(4), pp.417–440. Link to article
- McLeman, R., 2013. "Developments in modelling of climate change-related migration." Climatic Change, 117(3), pp.599–611. Link to article
- McLeman, R. & Ploeger, S.K. 2012. "Soil and its influence on rural drought migration: insights from Depression-era Southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada." Population and Environment, 33(4), pp.304–332. Link to article
- McLeman, R. 2011. "Settlement abandonment in the context of global environmental change." Global Environmental Change, 21(S1), pp.S108–S120. Link to article
- McLeman, R. et al., 2010. "GIS-based modeling of drought and historical population change on the Canadian Prairies." Journal of Historical Geography, 36, pp.43–55. Link to article
- McLeman, R., 2010. "Impacts of population change on vulnerability and the capacity to adapt to climate change and variability: a typology based on lessons from a hard country." Population and Environment, 31(5), pp.286–316. Link to article
- McLeman, R. & Smit, B. 2006. "Migration as an adaptation to climate change." Climatic Change, 76(1–2), pp.31–53. Link to article
ES110: Environment, sustainability and society; ES296 Introduction to Sustainability; ES393: Environmental migration
- 2022-2028, Co-applicant, SSHRC Partnership Grant. Complex migration flows & multiple drivers in comparative perspective.
- 2022-2025, Co-applicant, Canada-Inuit Nunangat-UK Arctic Research Grant. NUNA: Effective mitigation & adaptation to changing ground conditions for resilient futures.
- 2019-2021, Co-applicant, Irish Research Council grant. Irish droughts: environmental and cultural memories of a neglected hazard.
- 2016-2020, Principal investigator, SSHRC Insight Grant. Project title: Drought, community adaptation, and migration on the Great Plains.
- 2016, Principal investigator, World Bank study on Climate Change, Migration, and Securing Resilience.
- 2016, Principal investigator, UN Convention to Combat Desertification research paper "Land degradation and governance as a contributing factor to human migration" for the Global Land Outlook.
- 2015-2016, Principal investigator, US Embassy/Department of State grant, Establishment of North American environmental migration research network.
- 2013-2016, Principal investigator, SSHRC Partnership Development Grant. Project title: NatureWatch 2.0: Reconnecting Canadians with nature in a digital age.
- 2011-2016, Principal investigator, SSHRC Standard Research Grant. Project title: Environment and International Migration to Canada.
- 2009-2013, Principal investigator, SSHRC Strategic Research Grant (Environment). Project title: Integrated assessment of population and critical resource vulnerabilities to climate risks, in support of community and regional adaptation policy-making and planning.
- 2007-2010, Principal investigator, SSHRC Standard Research Grant. Project title: Impacts of climate change on migration in Canada.
- 2010, Principal investigator, SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant on the Digital Economy. Project title: Adaptive capacity building and sustainable development in rural and remote communities: The role of Information and communication technology.
- 2010, Principal investigator, UK Government Office for Science, Foresight Project on Environmental Migration. Project title: Modern Settlement Abandonment.
- 2007-2008, Principal investigator, Natural Resources Canada Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Program. Project title: Adaptation to climate change in seasonal-economy communities.
Contact Info:
Office location: Arts 3E10B
Languages spoken: English, French
RinkWatch project website: rinkwatch.org