Sophie L. Van Neste directs Labo Équité Climat together with Nathan and Olivier. She is a professor-researcher at INRS and holds the Canada Research Chair in Urban Climate Action. Her research focuses on collective action and environmental mobilization, in particular the impacts of municipal, community and citizen action on the city and its living environments and infrastructures. She is a specialist in urban adaptation to climate change (with previous research in Montreal), with a focus on its implications in terms of inequalities. At Labo Équité Climat, she is part of the management team, participates in the collaboration with public health partners, and guides interns with regard to topics concerning equitable housing transition, gentrification and flood relocation issues.

Nathan McClintock, PhD, is a member of the Labo Équite Climat management team. Trained as a geographer, he is a full professor of urban studies at INRS, co-director of Collaboratoire Villes Voix Visions (C3V) and associate editor of the journal Urban Geography. In dialogue with theoretical debates on governance, racial capitalism and colonialism, his research focuses on food systems, environmental justice and the uneven development of urban spaces.

Olivier Riffon is professor of eco-consulting at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and holds a PhD in regional development. He specializes in the development of tools and approaches for implementing sustainable development practices (including educational programs), the social and ecological transition, and the integration of participatory and collaborative methods into social and ecological transition processes. At Labo Équité Climat, he works on the deployment of collaborative approaches and the development of analysis and decision-making tools.

Hélène Madénian is a post-doctoral fellow and coordinator at Labo Équité Climat, where she is in charge of overall project coordination and cross-cutting analyses for the development of the toolkit and publications. Previously, she completed her doctorate in urban studies at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) on urban climate governance.

Émilie Houde-Tremblay obtained her doctorate in regional planning and development from Université Laval. Émilie has led and collaborated on various research projects on agroecology, stakeholder participation and climate action. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in agroforestry at the Canada Research Chair in Ecological Economics. As a member of Labo Équité Climat, Émilie helps coordinate the project and develops approaches to conceptualizing tools for equitable adaptation.

Jean-François Bissonnette is associate professor in the Department of Geography at Université Laval. His work focuses on analyzing the governance of forest areas, with a special interest in the social perceptions of natural resource management and participatory processes in territorial planning. At Labo Équité Climat, he is particularly interested in water resource management issues in rural municipalities.

Geneviève Cloutier is a professor at the École d’aménagement du territoire et de développement régional (ÉSAD ) and director of the Centre de recherche en aménagement et développement (CRAD) at Université Laval. Her research focuses on local involvement, forms of participation and the evolution of collective and public action in the context of climate change. As part of Labo Équité Climat, she is interested in how socio-territorial inequalities are taken into account in land-use planning to deal with flood risks. She also contributes to the project on rural water management.

Marie-Eve Drouin-Gagné is a professor at the Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), where she is a member of the INRS-UQAT Joint Research Unit in Indigenous Studies, located in Val-d’Or. Her work focuses on the decolonization of research, academic institutions and urban spaces, through participatory and narrative mapping approaches as well as land-based pedagogy. At Labo Équité Climat, she will be working in partnership with indigenous organizations.

Marie Fall is professor of geography and international cooperation at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. She is interested in territorial development in the Anthropocene era. Intersectional, decolonial, collaborative and inclusive development approaches are at the heart of her research and interventions. She has led international research-intervention projects in West Africa, developing expertise in multi-sector partnerships. Her contribution to Labo Équité Climat will focus on case studies in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region and the analysis of the issues and challenges of climate and epistemic justice for marginalized communities.

Stéphane Guimont Marceau is a professor at the Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). She is a member of the INRS-UQAT Joint Research Unit in Indigenous Studies and co-director of the Collaboratoire Villes Voix Visions (c3v.inrs.ca). At Labo Équité Climat, she will be working in partnership with indigenous organizations.

Facilitator and project manager at the Laboratoire en innovation ouverte (LLIO)

Xavier Leloup is a research professor at INRS-UCS and a specialist in housing and habitat studies. His work has focused on residential segregation, social inequality and poverty, the housing conditions of immigrant households, housing policies, the fight against insalubrity in Montreal, and the well-being and health of tenants. As part of Labo Équité Climat, he will focus on the issue of equity for tenants in the context of the socio-ecological transition in housing.

Ioana Radu is a professor at UQAT’s School of Indigenous Studies and a member of DIALOG – Réseau de recherche et de connaissances relatives aux peuples autochtones (Indigenous peoples’ research and knowledge network) based at INRS. For over twenty years, she has worked closely with indigenous communities and organizations on priority issues in indigenous health and well-being, knowledge mobilization, governance and social justice. She is associated with the Indigenous Peoples unit of Labo Équité Climat.

Marie-Michèle Bourassa is a student in political science and international cooperation at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Very interested in global issues of justice and equity, she is currently working on the design of an “equity lens,” a tool that will support the integration of equity into sustainable development projects.

Pascale Chagnon is a doctoral student in land use planning at Université Laval. With a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies (Université de Sherbrooke) and a master’s degree in land use planning, she is interested in climate risk adaptation and social justice issues. Her thesis, done under the auspices of Labo Équité Climat, focuses on equity considerations in residential relocation processes in the context of flooding.

Augustine Charbonneau joined Labo Équité Climat in the summer of 2024 as a master’s student researcher at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique. Under the supervision of Marie-Eve Drouin-Gagné (INRS) and the co-supervision of Ioana Radu (UQAT ), she is interested in equity in climate change adaptation strategies in the Atikamekw Nehirowisiw community of Opitciwan. Augustine holds degrees from Université Laval in social and cultural anthropology (BA) and integrated rural development (DESS).

Fabrice K. Dossa is a doctoral student in environmental and human geography at Université Laval. His thesis focuses on the economic analysis of adaptation to climate change and the resilience of grain producers. He also conducts research on gender, food security, sustainability, equity, water management, land tenure and health. At Labo Équité Climat, he works on the water–food–climate focus area, contributing to sustainable solutions to strengthen climate resilience in Quebec, Canada.

Caroline Flory-Celini is a doctoral student in urban studies at the Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre of the INRS. Her thesis project focuses on evaluating the inclusion of Afro-descendants in urban community agriculture projects in Montreal. Her internship at Labo Équité Climat involves studying the link between greening and green-climate gentrification. Trained as a thermal engineer, Caroline has worked and actively campaigned for the creation of sustainable cities, notably through bioclimatic construction, environmentally-friendly building sites and participatory approaches. She has also developed therapeutic concepts for green spaces in the city with marginalized young people in Guadeloupe.

Béatrice Groulx is a master’s student in urban studies, building on a bachelor’s degree in international relations and international law at UQÀM. She is interested in the fight against climate change, and the role played by cities in this struggle. Under the supervision of Xavier Leloup and co-supervision of Sophie L. Van Neste, she is examining the question of equity in the adaptation of housing to climate change.

Kim Simard is a graduate of a bachelor’s in secondary education (with a focus on social studies) and a certificate international cooperation at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Overall, she is passionate about education and strives for equal opportunities for all. At Labo Équité Climat, she is documenting the influence of heat waves on the educational experiences of teenage students in secondary schools, including the impact of heat waves on the learning process and students’ grades .

Laurence Simard is completing her master’s degree in urban studies at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). Her research focuses on social and community housing, and more specifically on the public policies surrounding their development. At Labo Équité Climat, she studies tenant equity in policies aimed at decarbonization and energy efficiency. She is also interested in the experience of oppressive heat among tenant households and how this climatic hazard is considered in public policies.