Although trained as an environmental scientist, I identify as a sustainability scholar. Always passionate about protecting our planet, my primary goal as a researcher is to contribute to making a difference. To contribute to making a difference, my goals include working with communities on local sustainability issues related to water, either as a researcher or as a practitioner, and pursuing teaching as a career—with an interest in integrating collaborative and inter-/transdisciplinary methods as well as issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion into educational curricula.
PhD Candidate with the School of Environment and Sustainability & the Global Institute of Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan
M.Sc. Environmental Sciences from University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
B.Sc. Environmental Science from Royal Roads University, Victoria BC
Broadly, my research area is the study of harmful algal blooms in lakes. In my PhD research, I take a transdisciplinary, ecosystem service-centred approach to understanding and addressing harmful algal blooms in various geographical regions of Canada.
Water quality in lakes
Harmful algal blooms
Ecosystem services
Use-inspired, community-based research
Environmental justice
Environmental economics and decision-making
Spence, D. S., Schuster-Wallace, C., Lloyd-Smith, P. Disparities in economic values for nature-based activities in Canada. Submitted to Ecological Economics on April 27, 2022.