Dr. Mimi E. Lam is a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico, Department of Biology and a Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program.
Applying analytical insights from theoretical chemistry and physics, Dr. Lam investigates the complex interactions governing the structure and dynamics of coupled human and natural (social-ecological) systems. She studies human values, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours in relation to biophysical and socio-cultural environments, to inform decision-making for a sustainable and just future. Dr. Lam focuses on three interdisciplinary and overlapping themes within the human dimensions of fisheries and aquaculture: 1. Seafood ethics and sustainability along the integrated seafood value chain and their relation to food security; 2. Marine policy and governance, particularly analysis of rights and duties from socio-cultural, ethical, and institutional perspectives; and 3. Participatory research and community engagement at the marine science-policy interface using a post-normal science approach.
With a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Marine Conservation Initiative grant, Dr. Lam co-edited a Special Feature for Ecology and Society, entitled The Privilege to Fish. Through a UBC Martha Piper Research Fund grant, she contributed to revising Rapfish, a multi-disciplinary rapid appraisal technique used to evaluate the sustainability of fisheries, by developing indicators to assess their human and ecological dimensions and policy trade-offs. Dr. Lam currently leads a UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) Solutions Initiative Project on Collaborative Solutions for Haida Gwaii Herring Fisheries, where she is exploring the values of Haida Gwaii community members in relation to Pacific herring fisheries management scenarios and ecological modelling of the Haida Gwaii marine ecosystem. Supplemented by funds from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Strategic Partnership Grant, T. Buck Suzuki Foundation and UBC Sustainability Research Collaboration Grant Program, Dr. Lam is synthesizing the policy implications of this new ecosystem- and values-based approach. Through additional PWIAS grants, Dr. Lam led an International Research Roundtable on The Ethical Challenges of the Herring Food Webs and Value Chains in May 2016 and is coordinating an Arts-based Initiative, Herring People, for October 2016.
Dr. Lam serves on both community and academic organizations, locally and internationally. For the Ecological Society of America, she served as the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section Chair (2008 – 2011) and was an elected Member-at-Large on the Governing Board (2011 – 2013). As a Gwaii Haanas Advisory Committee Member (2015 – present), she is helping to guide the development of an integrated land-sea-people plan. Dr. Lam also serves on the editorial board of the new journal on Food Ethics.