Simron Jit Singh is a human ecology and environmental resilience expert. He leads significant research on climate vulnerability, sustainability, and small-scale fisheries. Using the analogy that islands function like living organisms, he conducts socio-metabolic research to evaluate how small island economies utilize (or metabolize) materials, energy, water, and infrastructure. Simron investigates why and how these consumption patterns (or island metabolism) may accumulate “socio-metabolic risk” over time that increase their susceptibility to the challenges of climate change.
As an expert for the Technical Assistance Partnership-Expert Deployment Mechanism (TAP-EDM) initiative, Simron works alongside another Canadian expert, Jenn Hoffman, in collaboration with the Government of Maldives’ Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology (MECCT) and the Maldives National University (MNU) to strengthen the competencies of MNU to research climate change and environmental sustainability for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
A leader in ecological resilience and sustainable development, Simron’s work comprises various publications of books and journal articles and facilitation of conference sessions and keynote addresses at national and global events. His contributions shape environmental research and policy, and he is passionate and committed to teaching and guiding future environmental leaders.
Simron is a Professor and University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo’s School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development (SEED), Faculty of Environment. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator for the Resilience to Climate Vulnerability and Environmental Risk (RECOVER) project, funded by IDRC-Canada and FCDO-UK, with a budget of CAD 1.2 million, and a co-applicant on two major SSHRC-funded projects. Simron holds a Ph.D. from Lund University in Sweden and a Postgraduate in Ecology and Environment from the Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment, New Delhi (1997).