People

Director’s Welcome:

Welcome to the School of Resource and Environmental Management (REM). At REM we take our dedication to our vision very seriously. Our faculty, staff, and students are deeply committed to building and restoring a socially just and ecologically sustainable world. Our inter-disciplinary program combines expertise in social and natural science, creating a comprehensive and holistic approach to understanding and transforming social, economic, and ecological systems. We combine this foundational knowledge with competencies in decision-making and policy analysis, advocacy to build skills that enable us to contribute to meaningful and durable change: at REM we don’t just study things, we get involved.

The world is facing considerable challenges: climate change, declining levels of biodiversity, eye-watering levels of social and economic inequality, and entrenched colonial systems – all at both local and global scales. Within REM you will learn about these challenges – and others – but you will also be learning a powerful and well tested skill set that will enable you to take action for solutions in a variety of settings: working within government, for First Nations, as a planner, as a researcher, as a consultant, for industry, in advocacy, and many other careers. The scale of the issues we face as a (global) society demand action from every sector – and REM graduates are sought after in all of them.

Within REM you will also be part of a nation-leading Faculty of Environment and at a University that has once again been ranked the top comprehensive university in Canada. An area where we take considerable pride in contributing to is SFU’s outstanding reputation for action on the Sustainable Development Goals. SFU is number one for its global impact on sustainable cities and communities—and fifth in the world for its response on climate action. Take a moment to review the pages of our outstanding faculty members to learn about the ways their research, community engagement, teaching, and knowledge mobilization is changing the world: from sustainable planning, to coastal ecosystems, to Indigenous governance and development, to climate change, to alternative transportation, to avalanche safety, to sustainable fisheries, to wildfires, to toxicology, to terrestrial ecology, to the blue economy. There is space for your interests – and the ways you seek to change the world for the better – in REM.

In REM, you will learn in dynamic environments, including class, tutorials, labs, collaborative community projects, co-op, and field trips. We are constantly revising and advancing our pedagogy to offer our students diverse and engaged learning opportunities. We also hold a deep commitment to ensuring that our curriculum includes diverse perspectives and decolonial content. Students in REM are also highly engaged in shaping and advancing our programs – we have active student societies that play important governance roles throughout the School.

I invite you to take a look around our website for more information – and to contact us if you have questions.

Join us. Get involved. Make a difference.

Dr. Sean Markey
Professor and Director
School of Resource and Environmental Management