Assistant Professor, School of the Environment & Trinity College
Associate Director of the Sustainability Initiative
Office: Larkin215
Email: nicole.spiegelaar@utoronto.ca
Current Courses
TRN141 – Environmental Science and Pathways to Sustainability
ENV1198 – Graduate Research in Environment and Sustainability, Part 2
ENV198 – Environment and Mental Wellness
TRN 312 – Sustainability Topics in Ethics, Society and Law
Research Interests
Complex Adaptive Systems, Environmental Psychology, Indigenous Knowledge, Ecosystems Science, Interdisciplinary Knowledge Integration, Sustainable Campus Food Systems.
Sustainability pedagogy: Understanding, exploring and internalizing nature’s complexity and coherence (2023)
Current Projects
Trinity Food Systems Lab Campus Food Systems
Sustainability Pedagogy Community of Practice
Map-Based Pedagogical App / ITIF Tech Support from MAD Lab
Integrating Urban Landscapes, Foodscapes & Ecosystems at Trinity College
Recent Research Supervision
Endocrine Disruptors & CEPA Reform / Honour Stahl, with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Biodiversity Metric for Regenerative Agriculture / Freyja Moser, with PURProjet
StoryMapping Land and Food Geographical History / Sarah ChenCommunity Science: Caterpillar’s Count, EcoSpark & Campus Pollinators / Food Systems Lab Cultural and Environmental Sustainability of the Sachet Economy in the Philippines / Angel BellaCampus Food Systems: Research, Gardening & Food Security Café / Jyotsna Kumar, Diego Arreola Fernandez, Amber McNeil & Tamara Altarac, with the Scholars in Residence Program
Collaborations
Toronto Climate Observatory
The Feeding City Lab
Memberships
Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS)
International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP)
Past Research
Ecological Disturbance: Salamander-Algal Symbiosis in modified light-dark cycles, Tree Phenology in natural and artificial light-dark cycles
Food Systems: Ecological Agriculture to address Food Security in a subarctic Indigenous Community
Learning to clean fish from harvester, Alex Stephens, while collecting samples in Fort Albany First Nation.
Learning about medicinal plants from Shipibo community in Manu National Park, Amazon Rainforest.
TRN141 sustainability class at the Koffler Scientific Reserve.
Education
PhD Environment and Health (UTSC)
Higher Education Teaching Certificates and Professional Development: GPS, THE-500, AUTP
MSFSS Visiting Student at California Institute of Integral Studies
MES Environment & Resource Studies (Waterloo)
GCert Ecosystem Restoration (Niagara College)
BSc Environment (Brock)