OUR TEAM
Jutta Gutberlet - Full Professor, Geography
Jutta is a Professor in Waste Governance and Climate Justice at the Department of Geography, University of Victoria, and the director of the Community-based Research Laboratory (CBRL), created in 2006. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at the State University of São Paulo (UNESP) and her Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Jutta has worked for the United Nations (Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome and in Ecuador) and for a non-governmental research institute (CEDEC) in São Paulo. She has also worked for the University of Tübingen/Germany and the University of Newcastle/Australia. Jutta’s current research interests are on sustainable livelihoods and community development with a specific focus on participation, co-management and poverty reduction strategies. She is involved in research on waste governance and participatory forms of resource management, particularly in the global South. She is the co-founder of UNICATA, the University for and with waste pickers, with classrooms in São Paulo and Brasília.
Lusungu Kayani - PhD student
Lusungu Kayani was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and grew up in the U.S. She received a Master's in Urban Planning from New York University where she was a David Bohnett Fellow in Public Service. Prior to this, Lusungu studied International Affairs at Columbia University. As an urban planner and international development practitioner, Lusungu has experience working with city and local governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She served as an advisor with international organizations such as the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat), Vital Strategies, UNICEF and most recently, with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Her work focuses on the role cities play in ensuring an equitable and sustainable future for our planet, especially through the lens of health and well-being. In recent projects, she has worked to better understand how urban environments specifically support the health and development of children and adolescents.
James Roszel - PhD candidate
James Roszel embarked on his journey with CBRL in September 2023, concurrent with his doctoral studies in Geography at the University of Victoria. His research focuses on mapping waste commodity value chains with a goal of understanding socio-cultural influences affecting recycling rates for various commodities. This endeavor builds upon CBRL's previous research with in São Paulo, Brazil, broadening engagement with waste pickers to scrap dealers. James aims to glean insights that can steer the development of more sustainable and socially responsible waste management strategies. His collaboration with CBRL underscores his commitment to bridging academia and industry, bolstering capacity within the waste and recycling community to devise practical solutions for the challenges facing communities in São Paulo and beyond.
Hailing from Ontario, Canada, James has been deeply involved in recycling and sustainability initiatives since his youth, starting from collecting cans and newspapers at local recycling depots to engaging in high-level international trade governance discussions. Over the span of more than 20 years at RecycleNet Corporation, James participated in a diverse range of international endeavors aimed at advancing the trade of secondary commodities through collaborative partnerships. Equipped with a Master of Arts in Public Issues Anthropology (2023) from the University of Guelph, James brings a passion for social science-based research, community-based improvement, and international development, enriched by his extensive background in the recycling industry, to the CBRL.
Hazim Ismail (dia/they/them) - PhD student
Born in Kuala Lumpur, raised in Dover and Skudai, Hazim Ismail completed their BA Anthropology at the University of Winnipeg, and MA Anthropology at the University of Toronto, with a Collaborative Masters Specialization in Contemporary East and Southeast Asian Studies. Their research explores underrepresented, invisibilized communities in post National Sword policy plastic waste governance in the Klang Valley, Malaysia region, particularly relations between formal plastic waste trade state, corporate entities, racialized valley residents and migrant labour. They are especially interested in how this translates to policy and advocacy work at the national level.
Hazim’s experience stems from 11 years of grassroots community work in the intersections of migrant labour rights and ecological stewardship. They have served on the boards of Sexuality Education Resource Centre Manitoba (SERC), Planned Parenthood Toronto, chairing the Bylaw and Policy Committee, and Maggie’s Toronto Sex Worker Action Project. They’ve served as project manager and community planner for Water Allies water stewardship research team, community asset mapping for the municipal government of Toronto (through which they authored The Community Playbook, a guidebook for community development in the Greater Toronto Area, the provincial government of Manitoba, Social Planning Toronto, and Ontario Council for Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI).
John Mba-Wuni Wuntah - PhD candidate
Wuni is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Victoria. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Political Science at the University of Ghana in 2020 before joining the Community-Based Research Laboratory (CBRL) at the University of Victoria, where he earned a Master of Arts in Geography in 2025 and is now pursuing his PhD.
His doctoral research investigates organic waste governance in Ghana, exploring how community-based and socially inclusive approaches to organic waste recovery can contribute to climate mitigation, reduce methane emissions, and strengthen urban resilience. Drawing on situated urban political ecology and community-engaged research, his work examines the social, political, and institutional dimensions of waste governance in informal communities. His broader interests include circular economy, climate justice, sustainable cities, urban governance, and environmental policy in the Global South.
Patrícia Muniz dos Santos Silva - PhD candidate
Patrícia is a PhD candidate in Environmental Science at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. She holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Textile and Fashion from USP. During her undergraduate studies, she participated in an academic exchange program in Fashion Design at the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. Her doctoral research examines the relationship between fashion and sustainability from a decolonial perspective. She is a researcher at the Center for Research on Organizations, Society, and Sustainability (NOSS/USP) and a visiting graduate research student at the Community-Based Research Laboratory (CBRL/UVic). She is also a Fashion Design professor. Her research interests include decoloniality, political ecology, handmade textiles, textile processes, natural dyes, and sustainable fashion.
Isabella de Carvalho Vallin
Isabella is a Ph.D. student in the Postgraduate Program in Environmental Sciences (PROCAM) at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, with an ongoing sandwich period as a visiting Ph.D. student at the UVic. She holds a Master's degree in Science and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Management. She is a researcher at the Center for Research on Organizations, Society and Sustainability (USP) and the Community Based Research Laboratory (CBRL/UVic). She conducts research on climate justice, environmental justice, and solid waste, with a particular focus on plastic pollution. Furthermore, she works with social movements and educational initiatives through university outreach with waste pickers.
Isabella de Carvalho Vallin
ResearchGate | LinkedIn
Carolina Carvalho
Carolina has a PhD in Environmental Planning (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ, Brazil), with a research period at the Royal Institute of Technology (Tekniska Kunliga högskolan - KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. She did a postdoc research using Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) applied to urban governance, at the Public Health Faculty (University of Sao Paulo) and Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. She was a visiting researcher at the University of Birmingham (UK), in 2022-2023.
Currently, she is a researcher at the Institute of Environment and Energy, of São Paulo University and founder of the Comunidades Vivas - Mapeamento Participativo, an initiative that brings participatory mapping as a tool for urban planning improvements, focusing on citizen engagement for better and healthy cities www.comunidadesvivas.com.br.
Ana Maria Castro
Ana has a PhD in Hydraulic Engineering and Sanitation at the University of São Paulo (USP) and now work as a Post-Doc at the CBRL. She is currently studying the integration of waste pickers in waste management and its contribution to a just transition to the circular economy. She is an environmental engineer with an MSc in Hydraulic Engineering and Sanitation. She has experience in projects about household waste management, selective collection, environmental education and the inclusion of waste pickers. She is currently a researcher in the Solid Waste Study and Research Group (NEPER-USP) and a member of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Young Professionals Group.
Ana Maria Rodrigues Costa de Castro
ResearchGate | LinkedIn | ORCID | Lattes
Allan Santos de Oliveira - PhD Candidate/Visiting Scholar
Allan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Professional Graduate Program in Environment, Health, and Sustainability (ProASaS) at the School of Public Health, University of São Paulo (USP), under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Leandro Luiz Giatti. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master’s degree in Public Health from USP. His doctoral research focuses on a qualitative analysis based on machine learning, conducted through Action Research addressing Environmental Racism in collaboration with waste pickers in cooperatives and women in a local healthcare non-profit organization in the municipality of Suzano, São Paulo. In addition to his academic research, Allan has served, since 2017, as an Environmental Analyst for the Municipal Environmental Secretariat in Suzano where he plans and implements public policies in Environmental Education. He also serves as the Coordinator of the Technical Chamber for Environmental Education of the Upper Tietê Watershed Committee (CTEA/CBH-AT).
Starting September 2026, Allan is conducting a visiting research period (sandwich Ph.D.) at the Community-Based Research Laboratory (CBRL) at the University of Victoria (UVic). His work at CBRL centers on qualitative analysis of participatory approaches within UNICATA (University for and with Waste Pickers), leveraging machine learning techniques to support qualitative data processing and insights.
Angela Hinostroza
Angela Hinostroza holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication Arts and Sciences with a focus on Advertising from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
Over the past six years, she has worked for the Canada Peru Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Embassy of Canada, focusing on communication and marketing strategies to strengthen the ties between Canada and Peru. She has also actively participated in various art exhibitions that promote sustainable concepts and is happy to be involved with the CBRLab projects.
Abigail R. Lorz - Research Associate
Abigail R. Lorz is a published author, researcher, and community advocate driven by an eager curiosity to explore, innovate, and address pressing environmental issues. Driven by a constant desire to learn and contribute, she thrives on tackling new projects, translating scientific and empirical data into written papers, and turning research insights into actionable policy and real-world results. As a published author in the journal Biodiversity, Abigail has authored research spanning global conservation frameworks, fisheries law and justice, green sea turtle recovery, and the impacts of ocean darkening on marine ecosystems. Building on this work, she remains dedicated to researching today’s most urgent environmental issues.
Collaborative, adaptable, and deeply motivated, she is always eager to lend her skills to new research, support team initiatives, and contribute to sustainable communities.
Indigo Eilers - Undergraduate Researcher
Indigo (she/her) is going into her final year of undergraduate studies at the University of Victoria, taking a bachelor of arts in Geography with a minor in English. With a passion for sustainability, she is interested in learning about the relationships between waste management, economics, and social wellbeing. Soon, Indigo will be doing research, facilitated by Jutta Gutberlet, where she will interview individuals who engage in informal waste-management in the hopes of assisting the destigmatizing of their work. Indigo is a settler who has lived most of her life on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Indigenous peoples.
Affiliated
Dr. Maeva Gauthier
Maeva Gauthier was part of CBRL as a PhD Candidate in Geography and Research Assistant for the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education.
For her PhD, she used Participatory Video as a tool to engage Arctic communities around global change, such as plastics in the environment and climate change and what it means for the youth in Tuktoyaktuk. She is passionate about ocean sciences, coastal communities, communications, and filmmaking. Originally from Quebec, she moved to Victoria to complete a MSc in Marine Ecology (Univ. of Victoria) after a BSc in biology (Univ. of Quebec in Montreal). Her interest for the poles started with expeditions to the Antarctic and the Arctic in 2009, and she has been going back to the Arctic multiple times ever since. She is also the co-founder of Live It, which provides K-12 online educational content about nature. For more information, visit Maeva's website.
MSc. Bita Ebrahimi
We all deserve to live a decent life. I started to develop this concern, specifically with regard to the places we are inhabiting, as I have learned to observe more carefully. This is why I spent almost a decade studying and researching the cities as the places that encompass our lives and shape the quality of that.
Born in Isfahan, Iran, Bita curiously chose to gain her bachelor’s in Urban Planning from the Art University of Isfahan. Then, she pursued her MA in Urban Design at Art University, Tehran. Since 2016, she has been a member of the “Virtual Reality and Emerging Technologies Lab” at the Art University of Tehran. After years of studying and working, I came to the belief that participatory approaches are the most advantageous in helping us to further the edges of our knowledge. In doing so, technology, specifically VR, has a lot to offer to our research in facilitating the ways of participation. Now, as a masters student in the Geography department at UVIC, delving deeper into the use of tech, I am utilizing the potential of VR to understand waste pickers’ daily life in their workplaces to increase awareness and contribute to the betterment of their lives.
Fabio Luiz Cardozo
Fabio, resident of the East Zone of São Paulo, Historian, Master's student in Sustainability at the University of São Paulo (USP). He brings extensive experiences in capacity building and technical advice for grassroots and community groups focused on cooperatives, solidarity economy and entrepreneurship with priority for waste pickers. He has worked in public bodies with the implementation of Municipal Selective Collection programs (City Halls of São Paulo, Maua, Taboão da Serra and Itapeva), with private companies (Braskem, FESP/SEBRAE), with NGOs (Unisol Brasil, Instituto GEA, Instituto ECOAR, I&T, GAIA, Coopcent-ABC) and in research projects (CIDA funded Projeto Brasil Canada (FEUSP/Agencia CIDA). He is currently a researcher at FIPE (Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas) in São Paulo, modeling the socio-technical project for the Consortia funded by Caixa Econômica Federal -CEF, in the Mogiana region of SP and Oeste Mineiro-CIAS. He has worked together with PUC/SP university on a project with the homeless population and autonomous waste pickers in the central region of SP. He is a member of the Cooperativa Mãos Verdes of technicians and educators and a co-director of consulting firm LC-Consultoria Socioambiental. Fabio is currently developing his MA thesis at the University of Sao Paulo. He is developing a study of post-consumer plastic packaging that is not recyclable with several waste picker cooperatives in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo.
Lenin Alfonso Morales
Na! Nuegambi ! (Hi in Gunadule Language [Panamá & Colombia]). Lenín is Gunadule and a PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP-Brazil). His work focuses on the Gunadule indigenous people from the Comarca Gunayala in Panama, where one of the island communities was forced to relocate to the mainland due to climate change. Through his proposed participatory research project, Lenín aims to investigate the Nexus water, energy, and food as they relate to the Gunadule people's environment and livelihood. Furthermore, Lenín holds a bachelor’s degree in water and environmental management from the Universidad de Panamá (UP-Panamá), as well as a master’s degree in environmental education from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG-Brazil)
Lenin Morales
LinkedIn
Leandro Giatti
Leandro Giatti is an associate professor at the School of Public Health – University of São Paulo (USP). He is a biologist and PhD in Public Health. Giatti has international expertise with sustainability and public health, health promotion, and participatory research approaches. His experience characterizes through interdisciplinary studies and with the main efforts dedicated to socioenvironmental vulnerable groups. He is a member of the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP, and associate editor of the journal Ambiente & Sociedade (SCIELO). In his academic research projects, he has advised thesis and dissertations of graduate students and also has supervised post-doctoral partners.
Crystal Tremblay
Crystal completed her MA in 2007 and PhD in 2013 with the CBRL, working as a Research Assistant with the Participatory Sustainable Waste Management project in Brazil and other local projects with the binning community in Victoria and Vancouver. Her work has been strongly rooted in the investigation of innovations in community-driven development, participatory governance and public policy related to waste, sanitation and water with informal and underserved communities in urban Canada, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. The integration of creative visual methodologies, and use of participatory video in particular, has been at the heart of her research and engagement approach. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Special Advisor on Community Engaged Scholarship at the University of Victoria. She has published widely on topics related to community university research partnerships, training in community-based research, social innovation and participatory policy in water and waste governance. for more information please visit her website: www.crystaltremblay.com
Sayed Mohammad Nazim Uddin
Dr. Uddin is currently working as a Visiting Research Associate in the CBRL-UVic and managing research projects in Bangladesh on 'Waste and Sanitation Hazards in Rohingya Refugee camps' and 'Livelihood and Health Status of Waste Pickers in Dhaka.' He has also been teaching as a Sessional Lecturer at UVic's Geography since 2017. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Jutta Gutberlet during 2016 and 2018 and involved in several research projects in the fields of Environmental Health. Moreover, he is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences at Asian University for Women (AUW) in Bangladesh. AUW is the first of its kind: a fully independent regional institution dedicated to women's education and leadership development—global in outlook (American Style liberal arts and science) but rooted in the context and aspirations of the people of Asia. With an International Research Funding from Action Contre la Faim (ACF) International France, Dr. Nazim completed his Ph.D. from the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), China. Additionally, he held Research Project Manager and performed graduate supervision and mentoring during his Ph.D. tenure at USTB. He has more than 15 years of experience in research, teaching, scientific supervision, and mentoring, development, and implementation. Over 40 scientific peer-reviewed journal articles, international conference proceedings, technical reports and guidelines, policy briefs, and compendium have already been published by him in the fields of Environmental Health, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), Waste Management, Wastewater Treatment, Humanitarian Science and Engineering.
PAST Members
Kosar Movahedi
Kosar Movahedi is a visual artist and communications designer.
Kosar holds an MFA in Visual Arts from the University of Victoria, Victoria, BC and a BSc in Architecture from University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Their work has resulted in solo and group exhibitions
in Canada, Iran and the UK.
Charles Amartey
Charles was born and raised in Accra, a city known for its intriguing blend of cultures. He was always interested in the ways that art might be incorporated into many contexts and how different artistic concepts may coexist in one work. As an artist, he creates fictitious and abstract works of art by fusing scientific concepts with artistic expression. His work also emphasizes the great diversity of life on Earth as well as the beauty and intricacy of ecosystems. depicting a range of species in his artwork to highlight how all life is intertwined, from microbes to plants and animals. displaying at Ghanaian museums and galleries and in the United Kingdom, respectively. He attended the prestigious Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where he earned his bachelor's degree in fine arts. He was also a member of the BlaxTARLINES Community, a Kumasi, Ghana-based incubator for contemporary experimental art. Charles, a Ghanaian bio artist, is presently pursuing an MFA at the University of Victoria.
Judith Anyango Oloko - Post-Doc
Judith Anyango Oloko is from Kisumu city, Kenya, where she was born and raised. She is a Sociology degree holder from Maseno University and now undertaking her Masters in Sociology from Maseno University. She joined the lab as an exchange student at the University of Victoria doing her research on the IMPACT OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ON THE LIVELIHOODS OF LOW INCOME POPULATION AND ITS ECONOMIC VIABILITY. Her interest stems from her experience in working at a waste management organization during her internship where she witnessed open dumping and open burning as the main implemented waste treatment in the low income population community. She envisions a complete turnaround of this through her research and partnership with MACCE-a newly registered CBO in Kenya that depicts the concept of circularity from waste generated and recovered in a bid to provide sustainable employment to the youth in the region.
Joseph Minor
Joseph Minor was master's student in our Community-based Research Lab. He is passionate about food waste and will be exploring the community dimensions of waste reduction strategies using a community based research approach. This includes exploring the ways in which community groups actively participate in waste reduction and diversion techniques like separating recyclable materials or recovering food waste. Public and private institutions have the great opportunity to promote a localized circular economy by creating avenues and markets for the valuable materials in the waste stream. Further, using community based research highlights the ways in which we as academics can break down the 'ivory tower' and make the knowledge production processes more accessible. Joe comes from Connecticut, US where he got his bachelor degree in German and Geography while working to recover and redistribute food from university dining services to local communities in need. Green, local initiatives are key to creating a sustainable, more connected community!
Sam Rae Harriss
Sam joined our lab as an undergraduate degree with double majoring in Human Geography and Political Science, with a honors thesis under the supervision of Jutta Gutberlet. Her studies, personal travels, and specific interests in sustainability, power relations, workers’ rights, and planning have inspired her honors research, studying community-based waste management solutions in Turkey. Within her research Sam aims to focus on issues of labor rights, circular economy, and participatory governance and planning in order to explore solutions.
Sam is looking forward to continuing to learn about the multifaceted and complex issue of waste management and excited about contributing to the research being done in the Community-Based Research Laboratory.
Lili Munn
Lili (she/her) joined our lab as an undergrad student at UVic in Geography with a minor in Indigenous Studies. She grew up and lives on unceded lands and water of the lək̓ʷəŋən and WSÁNEĆ peoples. Lili is interested in how community-based research practices can make tangible concepts like intersectional sustainability and circular economies. In September, she will begin her honors project working with the Diverters Foundation in Victoria on strategies that can be used to empower local waste pickers and diverters in the DF in a way that benefits their work and reduces the social and economic barriers faced by this community. She is excited to be developing this research in partnership with the DF and for the opportunity to conduct research with this organization.
