Izabela Delabre

Overview

Biography

My research examines the intersection of forest and biodiversity loss, sustainable agriculture and supply chains, with a focus on global-local governance interactions. Other areas of interest include politics of sustainability transformations, anticipatory governance, and critical perspectives on the use of technologies in environmental governance.

With colleagues, I convene the multidisciplinary working group,“Plantations: Political ecologies of extraction and resistance” supported by Birkbeck Institute for Social Research (BISR).

Before joining Birkbeck in March 2021, I was a Research Fellow at University of Sussex and prior to that, I worked for the Business and Biodiversity Conservation Programme at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). My PhD in Human Geography drew upon a global political ecology approach to examine participatory social impact assessment practices in the context of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Office hours

Please email me to arrange a meeting. I can meet online on Fridays, or in-person on Thursday afternoons (12-5pm) during Term 3.

Administrative responsibilities

• Programme Director, MSc Global Environment and Sustainability

Honours and awards

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Advance HE,

ORCID

0000-0002-4046-8252

Research

Research interests

• Food systems and sustainability (biodiversity, climate change, and inequality/social aspects)
• How are environmental/sustainability issues governed, by whom, how, and with what effects?
• Sustainable multifunctional landscapes and land use contestations
• The role of corporations in defining and enacting sustainability (certification and partnerships)
• Political ecology of plantations
• Reparative futures and liberation ecologies

Research overview

My research is in political ecology - a field of research and practice that recognises that politics and ecology cannot be separated.

I am interested in environmental governance, food system sustainability, and the politics and power in discourses of sustainability transformations and futures.

With the intention of being impact-focused and policy-relevant, my research involves working with sustainability practitioners and communities affected by environmental change.

Research Centres and Institutes

• Steering Group member, Birkbeck Research Centre for Environment and Sustainability

Research clusters and groups

• Convenor, Plantations Working Group

Research projects

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions external to Birkbeck:

2

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.

Teaching

My approach to teaching

I started teaching in 2013 during my PhD, at the University of Reading. After some time working in international conservation, I joined the University of Sussex, teaching large groups of undergraduate and postgraduate students and supervising MSc projects. Since starting at Birkbeck in 2021, I have contributed to teaching several modules in geography, environment and sustainability and developed a new module, Future Food Systems and Sustainability. I have also supervised over 20 BSc and MSc dissertations at Birkbeck. I have developed the University of London online programme, the MSc Global Environment and Sustainability, which now has over 130 students from over 40 countries examining environmental problems and their possible solutions. 

As flexibility is so important to our students, my approach to teaching considers the specific context of people studying in the evening or at the weekend (often after a day at work or having caring responsibilities). Through my teaching, I seek to engage students to build on their own ideas and experiences to improve their understanding of academic debates - everyone brings important, rich and diverse perspectives to learning communities.

I have designed modules using the idea of a “spiral curriculum” that introduces topics and then returns to them several times, introducing more sophisticated ideas at each point. This enables students to make connections between ideas and to process learning more deeply. I centre questions of what “sustainability” is, and emphasise the need to unpack its multiple dimensions, and how framings of sustainability, its problems and solutions differ depending on who you are. I combine lecture content, audio/visual media, enquiry-based learning, readings, role-play activities and debates, and break-out groups for students to address questions on the topics. Assessments allow for creativity and critical thinking on sustainable futures and their governance. In an online setting, learning activities are based on the ABC model, and using a flipped classroom approach students are at the centre of their own learning.

I am committed to motivating students to make a difference through how they think and what they do, and how they approach environmental and sustainability issues. Students should feel at ease and enjoy learning, and they should be ambitious to engage with complex topics.

I recognise the importance of supporting students in their career development and build in employability skills to modules: collaborative group work, sharing their ideas through presentations, giving and responding to peer feedback, thinking critically, active listening and questioning, evaluating evidence for authenticity, and undertaking creative and imaginative work using a range of scenarios.  

I am committed to providing a supportive space for students and their diverse learning needs, and hope to help them to develop and grow.

Teaching modules

• Future Food Systems and Sustainability

Publications