The main tasks of this committee will be to advice the Institute on the most relevant topics to be addressed by research initiatives, educational programs and outreach activities. More specifically, the committee members will collectively examine upcoming calls for scientific proposals, as well as potential research opportunities to be developed in partnership with other sectors (not-for profit, private, and public/governmental) and make recommendations on the development of research teams able to address call for proposals and potential partnerships.
Members
Aurelie Harou
Aurélie Harou obtained a BSc from the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, in Environmental Science and Geography and later an MSc from the University of California at Davis in Agricultural and Resource Economics. She worked for several years first for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency on the National Flood Insurance Program and later as a consultant for an economics litigation company in Berkeley, California. After living in D.R. Congo for a year doing humanitarian work for Action Against Hunger, she pursued a PhD in Applied Economics at Cornell University. She then joined the Agriculture and Food Security group at Columbia University as an Earth Institute post-doctoral fellow. Her research on global food security has brought her to work in many countries including Guatemala, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Philippines and Nepal where she has partnered with various local and international organizations to conduct her work, including the World Food Program, Catholic Relief Services, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Bank.
Salwa Karboune
Professor Salwa Karboune is Associate Dean (Research) in McGill's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. She is a graduate from the University of Marseille, France, in Food Biotechnology. Her main research expertise is in the design and development of new "green" approaches for the synthesis of novel functional food ingredients that can improve the quality and the functionality of food products. Her research program is based on a multidisciplinary approach combining food chemistry, enzyme technology and nanotechnology and focuses on carbohydrate-based bioactive molecules. Such a research is important as the structural and molecular roles of oligo/polysaccharides in biological systems are increasingly being recognized. Her research work also contributes to the sustainability of the Agri-Food sector by developing innovative biocatalytic approaches to generating highly added value functional ingredients from food-processing by-products. Her multidisciplinary research program has garnered national and international recognition through the sustained excellence of the research her group conducted. Her research has attracted funding from CFI, FRQNT, NSERC and MAPAQ. As part of her R&D collaboration with industries, she has led NSERC Engage and CRD grants and has partnered with MITACS. The research of her group has been covered in media, such as the McGill Reporter, CBC and Journal of Montreal. At the national and International level, she is a committee member of the CFI Science Advisory Board, CIFST’s Scientific Expert Council, and the European Innovation Commission Advisory Board. In 2015-2016, she chaired the NSERC Scholarships and Fellowships Selection Committee for Plant and Animal Biology. She also serves on editorial and advisory boards for journals in her field. Professor Karboune is passionate about science and active learning, and she is a strong supporter of hands-on projects. She successfully mentored teams of students to first place prizes at the prestigious IFT Food Product Development competition.
Elsa Vasseur
Dr. Elsa Vasseur is an Assistant Professor and the Chairholder of the NSERC/Novalait/Dairy Farmers of Canada/Valacta Industrial Research Chair in Sustainable Life of Dairy Cattle. She received both her BSc and her first MSc in Rural Development from the Institut Supérieur d'Agriculture in Lille, France as well as a second MSc in Animal Behaviour from AgroParisTech in 2005. She then came to Canada where she obtained her PhD in Animal Science from Université Laval in 2009, looking at assessment tools for the on-farm welfare of young dairy animals. After an NSERC Post-doctoral Fellowship, where she worked with some of Canada’s leading researchers in dairy-cattle welfare at the University of British Columbia and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, she took up a position at the University of Guelph’s Organic Dairy Research Centre on the Alfred Campus, before joining McGill in January as the Associate Chairholder. Professor Vasseur has an impressive résumé of refereed publications, and scientific presentations, including several keynote seminars. She has been involved in the direction of 14 graduate students to date, and has hit the ground running at McGill with 2 PhDs, and 1 MSc already enrolled in her first official month on the job! Apart from the specific goals of the Chair (in collaboration with Novalait, DFC, and Valacta), Elsa’s research interests include: the investigation of risk factors to cow longevity; defining better standards for on-farm management systems; and understanding the barriers to the adoption of best practices. Her international interests and experience include a CIDA project in the DR Congo looking at reducing poverty through renewable charcoal-based agroforestry systems; and work in Jordan comparing goat and sheep value chains. Elsa Vasseur is a member of the International Committee for animal welfare and well-being, the Canadian Dairy Research Cluster, the National Development Program for Animal Care Assessment, and the Working Group of the Canadian General Standards Board for the revision of Canadian organic standards. Vasseur and her team will primarily focus their research work for the next 5 years on the NSERC-Novalait-DFC-Valacta IRC on Sustainable Life of Dairy Cattle.
Veldon Coburn
Veldon Coburn is Anishinaabe, a citizen of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation. Veldon is an Associate Professor at McGill University and the Faculty Chair of the Indigenous Relations Initiative in the School of Continuing Studies. He earned degrees in economics and political science, and his PhD is from Queen’s University where his research focused on Indigenous politics and governance. Veldon arrived at McGill after previously teaching at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Coburn has over a decade of professional experience in program and strategic Indigenous policy with the Government of Canada as well as extensive experience working with Indigenous governments and organizations.
Laurette Dubé
Laurette Dubé is an Emerita Professor and Distinguished James McGill Chair of Consumer and Lifestyle Psychology and Marketing at the Desautels Faculty of Management. She is the founding Chair and scientific director of the McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE). Originally trained as a nutritionist, with graduate degrees in finances (MBA), marketing (MPS), and behavioural decision making/consumer psychology (PhD), Dr. Dubé’s lifetime research interest bears on the study of affects, behavioural economics, as well at that of neurobehavioural, and socio-economic processes underlying consumption, lifestyle, and health behaviour. Her translational research examines how such knowledge can inspire more effective behavioural change and ecosystem transformation as scale to address complex challenges and possibilities facing modern society. Through MCCHE, Dr. Dubé has pioneered convergence and systems approaches to research and innovation in agri-food, health and economic domains, placing the whole person at the center of the whole society in advancing a world reset from economic convergence (i.e. the Rest converging with the West) to a convergence economy-- one where human health, planetary health, and sustained, inclusive prosperity around the world can be achieved. Dr. Dubé is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 2006. She received the 2011 YMCA women of distinction award for the social and environmental sciences in 2011 and the 2013 The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Kakali Mukhopadhyay
Kakali Mukhopadhyay is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director for the Agricultural Economics Program, Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She is a former Professor of Economics at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, India and Adjunct Professor/Senior Fellow associate at McGill University, Department of Agricultural Economics. She earned her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in economics with specialization in energy and environment from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India. She has been a senior advisor of E3-India Model, a collaborative initiative of Regulatory Assistance Project, USA and Cambridge Econometrics, UK, for its development and validation. Her research areas are primarily focused on investigating the environment-economy sub-system to unravel underlying concerns and suggest appropriate solutions for the well-being of society. Her key areas of research include Renewable and non-renewable Energy, Food-Water-Energy Nexus, Food Security, Circular Economy, Pollution and Health, Nutrition and Health, International Trade and Environment, Innovation and R&D, GVCs, Macroeconomic modelling such as Input-Output, CGE Modelling, Global CGE-GTAP, Energy-Economy-Environment Models etc. She has received various international fellowships and awards by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Indo-Dutch Program, the Ford Foundation, and the Presidential Award from the Chinese Government. She holds a key expert position at the UNSDG2030 Agenda and ASEAN Vision 2025 and 2030.
Joann Whalen
Joann K. Whalen holds a James McGill Professor research chair at McGill University and is an Affiliate Professor at the Chair of Sustainable Soil Sciences of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco. She received her B.Sc. (Agr.) from Dalhousie University, an M.Sc. from McGill University and Ph.D. from Ohio State University (USA). She is a professional agronomist (agronome) in Quebec, Canada. She was President of the American Society of Agronomy in 2023.
Joann’s research covers soil biology, soil health and agricultural nutrient management. She has been the supervisor/ co-supervisor of 80 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, with more than 280 peer-reviewed scientific articles. She is an Editor-in-Chief for Soil Biology and Biochemistry, the top scholarly journal in the soil sciences and a Review Editor for PNAS Nexus published by the National Academy of Sciences (USA). Joann is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and of the Canadian Society of Soil Science.
Joann has spent her career working on issues in sustainable and resilient agriculture, through the implementation of integrated soil and fertilizer management planning, conservation tillage, and diverse rotations that include perennial crops and trees. Currently, she is leading research projects on the plant root microbiome, including bioinoculation with microbial and other products to improve crop tolerance to heat, water and salt stress.
Jaswinder Singh
Jaswinder Singh s a Professor and Director of the NSERC-CREATE program on Genome Editing for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability at McGill University, Canada. He is also an an Associate Member of the Bieler School of Environment at McGill. Dr. Singh earned his PhD from the University of Sydney and CSIRO in Canberra, Australia, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. His research focuses on advancing food security and environmental sustainability through genomics, molecular breeding, and biotechnology. His pioneering work includes the discovery of epigenetic silencing reversal. His laboratory investigates precocious germination from a novel perspective, identifying key genes associated with Pre-Harvest Sprouting (PHS), β-glucan activity, redox regulation, and transcription factors. A prolific researcher, Dr. Singh has published over 75 peer-reviewed articles and delivered more than 75 invited talks, keynote lectures, plenary speeches, and webinars at academic and international conferences. He has mentored and trained over 70 researchers, including undergraduates, technicians, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Dr. Singh has held leadership roles in scientific societies, including serving as President of the Canadian Society of Agronomy and as a Board Member of Plant Canada. He has actively contributed to the American Society of Plant Biologists, serving on the International Affairs Committee and the Enid MacRobbie Corresponding Membership Award Committee. He currently serves on the D. S. Brar Memorial Award Committee of the Khush Foundation. Additionally, he has participated in numerous national (AAFC, NSERC) and international (US-DOE) grant review panels, as well as the PanOat International Consortium. In recognition of his contributions to agriculture, Dr. Singh has received several accolades, including the C. D. Nelson Award in 2018 and the Fellow Award in 2021. In 2020, he was recognized as one of McGill’s Top 50 Professors for his visionary contributions to academia and was featured in the McGill Bicentennial Digital Time Capsule.
