Robert Vanwynsberghe

		Office:	Auditorium Annex - Rm 156g, 1924 West Mall
		Phone:	604-822-3580
		Fax:	604-822-5884
		EMail:	rvanwyns@interchange.ubc.ca
Lecturer

Background

University of Western Ontario BA (Kinesiology) 1987, University of Western Ontario. (Kinesiology-Sociology and Philosophy) 1989, Bowling Green State University Ph.D. (Sociology) 1997, Post-doctoral Fellow U.B.C, Sustainable Development Research Institute/Environment Canada 2000-2001, Research Associate Sustainable Development Research Institute, 2001-2002

Specialization

I study the relationships among citizens, organizations, and the academy in order to better understand how to mobilize different types of knowledge in the service of healthy and sustainable communities.

Courses Taught

HKIN 261 – Health, Policy and Society

HKIN 574 Graduate Seminar in Health Promotion through Physical Activity

Research

Current research projects:

I am conducting two studies on the social, environmental and economic impacts of 2010 Vancouver and Whistler Olympic Games on the lower mainland community. The intention of this research is to examine mega-events and how these can be leveraged to maximize their benefits (e.g., capacity building, training, etc). In addition, I am conducting action research on inter-institutional and transdisciplinary collaborations in the classroom. The purpose is to develop sustainability programming. I have recently completed a study on tobacco taxation in First Nations and Inuit communities in BC and Canada. This research scopes out the challenges and benefits of tobacco taxation to health promotion programs that support healthy Aboriginal communities. Finally, I am actively researching the definitions and uses of case studies and the creation of a cross-case analysis database. The purpose is to extend the utility of case studies by providing the means for their being compared and contrasted with other case studies.

Refereed publications (Since 2002)

Book

VanWynsberghe, Robert. 2002. AlterNatives: Sustainability, environmental justice, and collective identity on Walpole Island. Boston, MA: Allyn Bacon Press.

Refereed Articles (either Published and Accepted for Publication)

VanWynsberghe, Robert and Janet Moore. 2008. Envisioning the classroom as a social movement organization. Policy Futures in Education, 6(3): pp. TBD

Khan, Samia, and Robert VanWynsberghe. 2008. Cultivating the under-mined: Cross-case analysis as knowledge mobilization. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 9(1): Article 34.

Shapka, Jennifer, Danielle Laws, and Robert VanWynsberghe. 2008, Quest for communicating sustainability: Gb-Quest as a learning tool for effecting conceptual change. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 13(2): pp. TBD

VanWynsberghe, Robert, and Samia Khan. 2007. Redefining case study. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 6(2): 1-10.

Holden, Meg, Julia MacKenzie, and Robert VanWynsberghe. 2008. Vancouver’s promise of the world’s first sustainable Olympic Games. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy. Advance online publication, doi:10.1068/c2309r

VanWynsberghe, Robert, Jeff Carmichael, and Samia Khan. 2007. Conceptualizing sustainability: Simulating concrete possibilities in an imperfect world. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 12(3): 279-294.

VanWynsberghe, Robert, and Cynthia Andruske. 2007. Sustainability and the classroom as public space: Research in the service of co-learning. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(1): 349-376.

Robinson, John, Jeff Carmichael, Robert VanWynsberghe, Murray Journeay, and Larsen Rogers. 2006. Sustainability as a problem of design: Interactive science in the Georgia Basin. The Integrated Assessment Journal: Bridging Science and Policy, 6(4): 165-192I.

Amsden, Jennifer, and Robert VanWynsberghe. 2005. Community mapping as a research tool with youth. Action Research, 3(4): 353-377.

VanWynsberghe, Robert, Aviva Savelson, James Frankish, and Harmony, Folz. 2005. A conceptual framework for identifying relations between human behaviour and ecosystem health and sustainability. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 10(6): 629-647.

VanWynsberghe, Robert. 2005. A firm footing on a soapy floor: A modest proposal for integrating sessionals into departments of sociology. Canadian Journal of Sociology Online, January–February: 1-5.

Moore, Janet, Freda Pagani, Maura Quayle, John Robinson, Brenda Sawada, George Spiegelman, and Robert VanWynsberghe. 2005. Recreating the university from within: Collaborative reflections on the University of British Columbia’s engagement with sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 6(1): 65-80.

VanWynsberghe, Robert, Janet Moore, James Tansey, and Jeff Carmichael. 2003. Towards community engagement: Six Steps to expert learning for future scenario development. Futures, 35(3): 203-219.

Tansey, James, Robert VanWynsberghe, John Robinson, and Jeff Carmichael. 2002. The future is not what it used to be: Participatory integrated assessment in the Georgia Basin. Global Environmental Change, 12(2): 97-104.