Nicole Spiegelaar

Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, School of the Environment;
Academic Director, Trinity College's Integrated Sustainability Initiative

Nicole Spiegelaar

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 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.Learning about medicinal plants from Shipibo community in Manu National Park, Amazon Rainforest.
RN141 sustainability class at the Koffler Scientific Reserve.
TRN141 sustainability class at the Koffler Scientific Reserve.
 

 

Education

 PhD Environment and Health (UTSC)
Higher Education Teaching Certificates and Professional Development: GPSTHE-500AUTP
MSFSS Visiting Student at California Institute of Integral Studies
MES Environment & Resource Studies (Waterloo)
GCert Ecosystem Restoration (Niagara College)
BSc Environment (Brock)