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People

Director

Manuel Riemer
Community Psychology and Sustainability Science, Wilfrid Laurier University
Director, Viessmann Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability
Director, Community, Environment and Justice Research Group

Associate Director

Alexis Buettgen
Assistant Professor, Community Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University
PhD, Critical Disability Studies, York University

 

Administation Manager

Elle Desmarchelier

 

Partners and Collaborators

 

Testimonials

…The work done in this project not only supports our efforts to help individual organizations reduce their impact on the environment, it has brought a fuller understanding to the community climate action work, including integration of the human element of climate change, and the braiding in of justice and equity into our carbon reduction planning.

Tova Davidson, Executive Director Sustainable Waterloo Region, VERiS Community Fellow and VERiS Board Member.

 
…VERiS has allowed me to further my passion in community psychology and sustainability through applied community-engaged research with diverse stakeholder groups. Most importantly, VERiS has provided me a sense of community where I can collaborate and learn with like-minded people.

Jennifer Dobai, PhD Student WLU, VERiS Research Assistant.
 

The deep partnership I have established with VERiS has allowed me to align credible, applied academic research with efforts to test disruptive management innovations in practice. The foundation of trust, integrity and openness that underpins our relationship has made our collaboration highly functional and effective.

Randy Sa’D – Founder & Executive Director of REFOCUS; VERiS Community Fellow and Executive Director, Flourishing Enterprise Institute.

 
The VERiS centre at Laurier is highly regarded in the scholarly and regional communities as a leading, credible source of high-quality research and action in sustainability. Their ‘culture of sustainability’ work at the evolv1 net-positive energy building, their fostering of the Flourishing Enterprise Institute, and their leadership on developing TEAMCA focused on municipalities are all projects that have advanced engagement in sustainability, and had a positive, real impact on people.

Dr. Barry Colbert, Associate Professor, Lazaridis School of Business & Director, The Co-operators Centre for Business & Sustainability; VERiS Board Member  

 
….My association with VERiS has challenged me in highly useful and unforeseen ways, to go beyond my initial comfort zones as a community-based scholar-activist, and to build on existing leading research to strengthen my own scholarship and applied community research practice.

Kai Reimer-Watts, PhD Student Fellow, Graduate Research Assistant.

 
…It is critical for scholars and municipal policymakers to work to redress these injustices, and to use anti-racist and decolonial approaches to advance equity and social justice in the municipal planning process… I am grateful to be working with my colleagues Drs. Manuel Riemer and Cheryl Teelucksingh on our project which aims to decolonize climate change action in Kitchener by establishing partnerships with some of the City's key municipal planners, as well as Indigenous and Black organizations in the area. …

Dr. Miguel Sioui, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography WLU, VERiS Faculty Member.

Contact Us:

E: veris@wlu.ca
Office Location: 232 King St North, Waterloo, ON N2G 4V6

Office Hours:

We are currently working remotely.