Keisha Maloney holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Critical Development Studies from the University of Toronto, a Master’s in Global Urban Development and Planning from the University of Manchester, and a PhD from UBC SCARP.
- Her Master’s research in Medellín, Colombia focused on asset-based climate adaptation strategies for informal settlement dwellers and the participatory process underpinning the city's 'social urbanism' transformation.
- During her PhD at SCARP, she worked with young adult learners to craft pathways through institutional complexity to support youth in advancing transformative socio-ecological change.
Keisha's research agenda is focused on the intersection of social learning and environmental planning. Her expertise is applied to facilitate and evaluate how social learning processes translate into just climate action for planning students, practitioners, and community members.
She employs community-engaged, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches to explore three topics at the nexus of environmental justice and social learning:
- How planning students learn the sensibilities of environmental planning practice,
- How planners navigate structural complexity to deliver just climate outcomes, and
- How publics leverage planning systems to advocate for environmental justice.
- Public Scholars Initiative Award
- Landscape Research Group Fund
- President's Academic Excellence Award (2020, 2021, 2022)
- SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
- UBC Doctoral 4-Year Fellowship
- British Colombia Government Scholarship
- B A Haywood Medal
- Royal Town Planning Institute Best Dissertation in North-West Planning
