Research Assistant

Research Interests: Forest and Conservation Governance; Community-based Natural Resource Management; Novel Interventions

Ricardo Pelai grew up in the Bolivian Amazon, which motivated him to study conservation of natural resources at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Ricardo is broadly interested in applying insights from the social sciences to understand environmental problems in light of climate change. More specifically, Ricardo is interested in how knowledge is governed in the science-policy interface within the forest sector. Ricardo was part of the SES Research Group for almost five years in various roles. He worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant (as part of co-op and work-learn terms), Graduate Research Assistant, and more recently, as a MSc student. In 2019, he completed a MSc in Forestry at UBC under the supervision of Dr. Hagerman and Dr. Kozak. 

As part of the CoAdapTree project, his research examined the different types of knowledge that inform assisted migration of trees policy in B.C., and how knowledge shapes perceived assisted migration risks and solutions to address them. In addition to his MSc work, Ricardo was involved with various research projects on the use of targets in global biodiversity governance, and completed an internship with the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat in Montreal.  In 2020, Ricardo joined the Council of Canadian Academies' research team to help synthesize and evaluate evidence that is relevant to public policy questions in Canada. Ricardo is an avid volleyball player, a podcast enthusiast, and a tentative hiker.