Vanessa Timmer's Page

Country:

Canada

What do you do?

Researcher

Organisation

One Earth Initiative / University of British Columbia

Fields of interest

science, agriculture, health, water, energy, climate change, biodiversity, sustainable development, poverty reduction, biotechnology, engineering, policy

Email address

vanessa.timmer@gmail.com

Website:

http://www.oneearthweb.org

Languages

English, Dutch, French

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Vanessa Timmer is co-founder and Director of the One Earth Initiative. Since 2006, Vanessa is Project Manager (External Relations) at Metro Vancouver (formerly Greater Vancouver Regional District – GVRD) as part of the Sustainable Region Initiative which brings together private sector, municipal governments, civil society and other partners to stimulate ideas and action around sustainability. With her sister Dagmar, she co-hosts the Canadian television show, The Sustainable Region. Vanessa sits on the Board of Judith Marcuse Projects, a not-for-profit that promotes art practice as a transformative tool, creating positive social change. Vanessa holds a Ph.D. in Resource Management and Environmental Studies from the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation focused on organizational structure and strategy of Friends of the Earth International and Greenpeace, and on their ability to adapt to change. This interdisciplinary research draws on literature from social movement theory, international relations, political science, systems theory, organizational behavior and sustainability science. From 2002 until 2003, Vanessa was a Fulbright Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as part of the Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability. As part of her PhD research and Fulbright fellowship, she participated in international academic and practitioner conferences including the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. Vanessa has co-authored academic articles on local initiatives combining poverty reduction with biodiversity conservation, and on the role of international civil society actors in global governance processes. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology from Queen's University and a M.Sc. in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford. In 2004, Vanessa worked for the International Centre for Sustainable Cities (ICSC) and co-authored “The Livable City” as part of a series of Vancouver Working Group Discussion Papers for the 2006 United Nations World Urban Forum. From 1997-98, Vanessa worked as a researcher for the exhibition team of a £100 million UK Millennium Flagship project, the Earth Centre. She developed the content for the exhibitions of this visitor attraction for a sustainable future. With her sister Dagmar, she helped co-found three environmental organizations, all of which are still active today – including the Environmental Youth Alliance. Vanessa has continued to pursue her passion for theatre, improvisational acting, and film and these pursuits greatly influence her approach to communicating sustainability issues. She is fluent in English and Dutch, and proficient in French.