Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader in Resilience of Infrastructure and Communities in a Changing Climate

Applications are invited from exceptional candidates for the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader position in Resilience of Infrastructure and Communities in a Changing Climate at Western University, with an anticipated start date no later than July 1, 2027. The Emerging Leaders award is awarded for a six-year term, renewable once, contingent on confirmation of the early-career researcher's academic progress and the transformational, translational impact of their research. The program is administered by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS). The successful applicant will also receive a probationary (tenure-track) appointment within the Faculty of Engineering and/or the Faculty of Social Science at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, commensurate with their qualifications, experience, and record of performance in teaching and research.

The successful candidate will advance infrastructure and community resilience to severe weather and climate shocks. This emerging leader will work closely with a cohort of four research chairs and will contribute to a vibrant collaborative network of interdisciplinary researchers working in the broader area of multi-hazard risk and resilience, housed primarily in the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory at Western, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Social Science, and the Faculty of Science.

Background

Canadians are increasingly affected by the compounding effects of climate change, including more frequent and severe storms, flooding, wildfires, and heat waves. These hazards are causing acute and chronic disruptions to critical infrastructure and the essential services on which communities depend. They are disrupting people’s lives, businesses, and economic opportunities, and doing so in an unequal fashion across socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups as well as place of residence. The changing patterns of climate and weather extremes mean that Canadian society will face difficult choices about investments in adaptation: to what extent do we fortify infrastructure, and how do we optimize equitable recovery? There is a clear need for engineering solutions and policy approaches that strengthen community resilience and support informed, equitable decision-making.

This research theme is closely aligned with the strategic priority area of the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair in Climate Risk and Resilience Analytics. In keeping with the requirements of the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program, the successful candidate’s research program must align with the same strategic priority area identified in the Chair’s application: Environment, climate resilience, and the Arctic. An Emerging Leader recruited in this area will offer strong opportunities for collaboration with the Chair, with complementary expertise focused on strengthening the resilience of infrastructure systems and the communities that rely on them, an essential component of the broader Chair’s proposed program to enhance climate resilience at the community scale.

Eligibility

In keeping with the requirements of the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program, applicants must be early-career researchers who were working and residing outside Canada on July 3, 2026 — date when the associated Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair in Climate Risk and Resilience Analytics award formally accepted his position. Applicants may apply from any current location and can be Canadian or of other nationalities.

As of the same date (July 3, 2026), candidates must also be within five years of the start date of their first research-related appointment (i.e., an appointment with the autonomy to conduct research independently), less any eligible delays in research. Candidates are encouraged to describe in their application how career interruptions and personal circumstances have affected their career. Please note delays due to eligible leaves (e.g., parental leave, chronic illness) will be credited at twice the time taken; however, professional leaves (e.g., training, sabbatical, administrative) are not considered an eligible delay.

Academic Expectations:

Research/Impact:

We seek a candidate with a demonstrated record of excellence in contributing innovative insights and measurable impact on infrastructure resilience and adaptation and/or community response and resilience to severe weather. A defining feature of the Emerging Leader’s research program will be strong interdisciplinary collaboration and impactful engagement to ensure research is grounded in real-world need and rapidly translated into impact.

The successful candidate will work at the interface of engineering and social science to address the infrastructure and societal dimensions of climate adaptation and resilience, working in one or more of the following areas of interest:

• Vulnerability and risk assessment: evaluating how infrastructure systems and communities are exposed to severe-weather or climate-related disruptions, and how that exposure varies across place, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity.
• Resilient and equitable infrastructure: designing, monitoring, and managing infrastructure to withstand and recover from severe weather and climate shocks, while examining how social inequality shapes both the process and outcomes of that resilience, including who has access to its benefits and protections, and who bears the greatest costs when it fails.
• Data, analytics, and decision-making under uncertainty: using data analytics and artificial intelligence, alongside quantitative or mixed-methods empirical research, to predict resilience and identify adaptation strategies, including where and for whom those strategies work.
• Policy, place, and adaptive capacity: analyzing how public policies, the spatial distribution of resources, social ties, and place-based governance shape the capacity of neighbourhoods, communities and nations to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related shocks, with attention to housing, essential services, and community well-being among marginalized populations.

Teaching/Mentoring:

The successful candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in the Faculty of Engineering and/or the Faculty of Social Science and to supervise graduate students.

Service/Leadership:

The successful applicant will be expected to participate in other educational and professional activities including administrative duties within the Department, the Faculty and the University.

Qualifications or Experience and Skills Required:

• The successful applicant will have completed a PhD degree in an engineering discipline (e.g., civil, environmental, or a related field), a social science discipline (e.g., geography, economics, political science, sociology, or public policy), or in a closely related field (e.g, urban planning, disaster risk management, data science).
• The PhD is a requirement of Western University and not of the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program.
• The successful candidate will demonstrate a trajectory of research excellence that points to the prospect of becoming a leader in their field.
• This should include evidence of high-quality scholarly output that demonstrates independent research potential, leading to peer-assessed publications and the securing of external research funding.
• Evidence of effective teaching at the university level is required through a teaching statement highlighting previous experience that can include leading successful workshops or seminars, student mentorship, delivering conference presentations or posters, or experience as a teaching assistant or course instructor.
• Evidence of effective teaching at the university level will also be considered, as the successful candidate will be expected to teach a diversity of introductory, fundamental, or advanced undergraduate and graduate courses.
• Individuals from any relevant discipline are welcome to apply, with the understanding that collaboration across traditional boundaries is required.

Compensation Details:

Salary range for this position is $130,000 - $180,000. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Affirmation Policy Statement

Western, like many postsecondary institutions in Canada, is moving beyond sole reliance upon Indigenous self-identification in its hiring processes. This is to safeguard against the use of incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information in circumstances where a candidate has declared Indigenous citizenship or membership. Candidates who are invited for an interview or who are short-listed, and who have made a declaration of Indigenous citizenship or membership for material advantage at Western, including where required or preferred for the position, will be asked to have their declaration of Indigenous citizenship or membership affirmed through a relational accountability process, led by the Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII), that is consistent with Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. Please contact the OII directly for details on the affirmation processes: https://indigenous.uwo.ca/. The policy can be viewed at: POLICY 1.58 - Affirming Declarations of Indigenous Citizenship or Membership at Western University (https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section1/mapp158.pdf)

The Faculties:

The Faculty of Engineering at Western is home to internationally recognized research programs spanning engineering disciplines, with strength in wind engineering and multi-hazard risk. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is administering this search, is consistently ranked among the leading civil engineering programs in Canada and worldwide, with recognized expertise in environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation, and wind engineering. The Department’s research is supported by unique facilities and centres, including the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory, the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Research Institute, the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory, the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, and the Geotechnical Research Centre.

The Faculty of Social Science is one of the largest and most diverse social science faculties in Canada. It includes eight core departments: Anthropology, Economics, Geography and Environment, History, the DAN Department of Management and Organizational Studies, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Researchers regularly work across disciplines on shared questions, such as how public policies and place shape opportunity and inequality, and how communities prepare for and recover from disruption. Interdisciplinary research centres support this work, including the Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance, the Centre for Research in Social Inequality, and the Centre for Climate Change, Sustainable Livelihoods and Health. These centres connect scholars to shared expertise, diverse methods, and partnerships with governments and community organizations. Together, they make the Faculty a leading environment for place-based, community-engaged social science research that informs policy and improves lives in Canada and beyond. (https://www.ssc.uwo.ca/research/research_centres_and_groups/index.html).

The University:

Western is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities and a founding member of the U15 group of Canadian research universities, ranked in the top one percent of universities worldwide. Founded in 1878, Western is a medical-doctoral institution in London, Ontario, home to approximately 1,500 faculty members and 44,000 students from 128 countries, combining research excellence with a transformational student experience. Western’s scholars have led world-changing advances in fields including wind engineering, neuroscience, economics, cancer, and gender-based violence prevention, supported by strong local and global partnerships, including affiliated research hospitals, and by world-class infrastructure, including institutionally supported core research facilities and interdisciplinary research institutes. Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Chonnonton Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and is committed to implementing the Calls to Action framed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Further information about Western is available at http://www.uwo.ca, the Faculty of Engineering at http://www.eng.uwo.ca, and the Faculty of Social Science at https://www.ssc.uwo.ca.

The City:

London, Ontario, known as the Forest City, is a welcoming and affordable community of more than 400,000 people in the heart of southwestern Ontario, approximately two hours from both Toronto and Detroit. A regional centre for healthcare, education, insurance, and a growing technology sector, London offers extensive parks and trails along the Thames River, a vibrant arts, music, and culinary scene, and easy access to the Great Lakes. The city is served by an international airport and direct rail connections and combines the amenities of a large city with a family-friendly cost of living.

To Apply:

If you share our commitment to excellence and are eager to pursue a rewarding academic career, please submit a complete application package as a single PDF file containing:

1. A detailed curriculum vitae
2. A description of your teaching experience, accomplishments and philosophy
3. A description of your current research program, accomplishments, and future plans
4. Copies of up to three representative publications
5. The names and contact information of three referees
6. Application for Full-Time Faculty Position form (available at: http://www.uwo.ca/facultyrelations/faculty/Application-FullTime-Faculty-Position-Form.pdf). This form must be completed and included with your application submission.

Applications should be sent to:

Emerging Leaders Search Committee c/o Department Manager, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, SEB 3005B

Western University

London, ON, Canada, N6A 5B9

Email: stephanie.laurence@uwo.ca

This position is an existing vacancy.

Western reserves the right to review applicants to ensure eligibility for funding under applicable research security policies.

Nominations are subject to review by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS), and appointment as a Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader is conditional upon its approval. For further details, consult the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders recruitment requirements: https://www.canada.ca/en/impact-plus-chairs/program-details/competition/2026/requirements-for-recruitment.html

Positions are subject to budget approval. Applicants should have fluent written and oral communication skills in English. The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Western is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, members of racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation, persons of any gender identity or gender expression.

In accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Accommodation is available for applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. If you require accommodation for interviews or other meetings, please contact

Department Manager, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, SEB 3005B, Western University, London, ON, Canada, N6A 5B9

Email: stephanie.laurence@uwo.ca