Bio (Robert Newell)

Summary 

Dr. Robert Newell is an associate director of the Food and Agriculture Institute, University of the Fraser Valley, and an adjunct faculty in the School of Environment and Sustainability, Royal Roads University. Newell teaches courses on critical sustainability issues and sustainable development, and he is a co-developer and co-instructor of SPCC614: Science and Impacts of Climate Change in the Graduate Certificate in the Science and Policy of Climate Change program. Newell’s research focuses on sustainable community development, integrated planning, and stakeholder engagement, and he explores tools for supporting local planning and decision-making, such as integrated models and visualizations.

Experience

Prior to working at the University of the Fraser Valley, Newell was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at Royal Roads University, researching integrated models and visualizations as tools for community planning. He has been affiliated with the university as a sustainability researcher and teacher since 2011, working with Ann Dale’s Community Research Connections program. Newell works with a variety of quantitative (e.g., decomposition analysis, regressions, factor analysis), qualitative (e.g., thematic coding), and spatial (e.g., GIS) methods.

Credentials

Newell earned a PhD in Geography from the University of Victoria (2017) and held a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Royal Roads University. Newell also holds a Master of Arts in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University (2009) and a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Statistics from the University of Victoria (2005).

Publications

Goudine, A., Newell, R., & Bone, C. (2020). Seeing climate change: A framework for understanding visualizations for climate adaptation. International Journal of Geo-Information, 9(11), 644. doi: 10.3390/ijgi9110644

Jost, F., Dale, A., Newell, R., & Robinson, J. (2020). Evaluating development path changes using a novel climate action assessment framework in three municipalities in British Columbia, Canada. Environmental Science and Policy, 114, 410–421. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.09.007

Jost, F., Dale, A., Newell, R., & Robinson, J. (in review). Climate action assessment in three small municipalities in British Columbia : advancements vis-à-vis major neighboring cities. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 2, 100010. doi: 10.1016/j.crsust.2020.100010

Newell, R., & Dale, A. (2020). COVID-19 and climate change: An integrated perspective. Cities & Health. doi: 10.1080/23748834.2020.1778844

Newell, R., & Picketts, I.M. (2020). Spaces, places, and possibilities: A participatory approach for developing and using integrated models for community planning. City and Environment Interactions, 6, 100040. doi: 10.1016/j.cacint.2020.100040

Newell, R., Picketts, I.M., & Dale, A. (2020). Community systems models and development scenarios for integrated planning: Lessons learned from a participatory approach. Community Development. doi: 10.1080/15575330.2020.1772334

Dale, A., Robinson, J., King, L., Burch, S., Newell, R., Shaw, A., & Jost, F. (2019). Meeting the climate change challenge: Local government climate action in British Columbia, Canada. Climate Policy, 20(7) 866-880. doi: 10.1080/14693062.2019.1651244

Clifton-Ross, J., Dale, A., & Newell, R. (2019). Frameworks and models for disseminating curated research outcomes to the public. SAGE Open, 9(2), 2158244019840112. doi: 10.1177/2158244019840112

Newell, R., Dale, A., & Roseland, M. (2018). Climate action co-benefits and integrated community planning: Uncovering the synergies and trade-offs. The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, 10(4), 1-23. doi:10.18848/1835-7156/CGP/v10i04/1-23.

Newell, R., & Robinson, J. (2018). Using decomposition methodology to gain a better understanding of progress in and challenges facing regional and local climate action. Journal of Cleaner Production, 197(1), 1423-1434. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.265

Moore, A. W., King, L., Dale, A., & Newell, R. (2018). Toward an integrative framework for local development path analysis. Ecology and Society, 23(2),13. doi: 10.5751/ES-10029-230213  

Newell, R., & Canessa, R. (2018). From sense of place to visualization of place: Examining people-place relationships for insight on developing geovisualizations. Heliyon, 4(2), e00547. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00547  

Newell, R., Canessa, R., & Sharma, T. (2017). Visualizing our options for coastal places: Exploring realistic immersive geovisualizations as tools for inclusive approaches to coastal planning and management. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4, 290. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00290  

Newell, R., Canessa, R., & Sharma, T. (2017). Modelling both the space and place of coastal environments: Exploring an approach for developing realistic geovisualizations of coastal places. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4, 87. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00087  

Newell, R., & Canessa, R. (2017). Picturing a place by the sea: Geovisualizations as place-based tools for collaborative coastal management. Ocean & Coastal Management, 141, 29-42. doi: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2017.03.002

Newell, R., Dale, A., & Winters, C. (2016). A picture is worth a thousand data points: Exploring visualizations as tools for connecting the public to climate change research. Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1), 1201885. doi: 10.1080/23311886.2016.1201885

Newell, R., & Canessa, R. (2015). Seeing, believing, and feeling: The relationship between sense of place and geovisualization research. Spaces & Flows: An International Journal of Urban & Extra Urban Studies, 6(4), 15-30. doi: 10.18848/2154-8676/CGP/v06i04/53779

Newell, R., Dale, A., Herbert, Y., Duguid, F., Foon, R., & Hough, P. (2015). Trans-disciplinary research: An academic-practitioner partnership effort on investigating the relationship between the cooperative model and sustainability. RIMCIS-International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 4(1) 23-53. doi: 10.17583/rimcis.2015.1384  

Newell, R., & Dale, A. (2015). Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3): The role of the Internet in climate change research dissemination and knowledge mobilization. Environmental Communication, 9(2) 208-277. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2014.993412

Canessa, R., Newell, R., & Brandon, C. (2015). Uncovering the oceans through MarineScape geovisualizations. In D. Wright (Ed.). Ocean Solutions, Earth Solutions. Redlands, CA: ESRI.

Dale, A., Newman, L., & Newell, R. (2014). Patterns of our footsteps: Topophilia, rhythm, and diversity in urban landscapes. Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies, 4(2), 85-93. doi: 10.18848/2154-8676/CGP/v04i02/85-93

Newell, R., & Dale, A. (2014). Mapping the complexities of online dialogue: An analytical modeling technique. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 15(2). doi: 10.17169/fqs-15.2.2040