Nic Jekill

Nicolas holds two undergraduate degrees, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta College of Art + Design, and a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction and Honours in Geography with a Major Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria. His research experience spans a broad array of topics including environmental economics, sustainability, and climate change, along with a number of projects completed in collaboration with First Nations on Indigenous-led environmental governance and climate resiliency in British Columbia. 

 

Currently, Nicolas is undertaking a master's degree in conjunction with the CANSTOREnergy project, a University of Toronto-led national research project focused on achieving equitable, long-term storage and utilization of renewable energy systems. As a part of this larger project, the goal of Nicolas’s research is to better understand the effective pathways for meaningful community involvement and governance of locally developed renewable energy infrastructure. Given the range of communities that renewable energy projects will likely be embedded into in the coming decades, his research will develop a toolkit that presents a range of feasible and practical governance models applicable to communities looking to engage with energy. In doing so, his research addresses a gap in the contemporary literature, something which is critical to supporting not only the development of community energy projects but also achieving a just energy transition and developing resilient local energy systems. This project focuses directly on the considerations that influence the cultural acceptance of renewable energy and will help to inform the development of contextually appropriate renewable energy systems.

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