Yiyi Zhang, Postdoctoral Fellow

Yiyi is a postdoc focusing on the identification and mapping of agricultural landscapes with various perennial planting features and benefits. Yiyi received her PhD in Geography from McGill University, with a thesis on quantifying ecosystem service flows. Her thesis provides methods and geovisual and quantitative measures that connect ecology, agricultural practices and human wellbeing.

Yiyi has previously worked at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Statistics Canada where she identified and developed data and tools for the accounting of environmental resources and nutrient flows. Yiyi holds a BSc in Human Geography and Urban-Rural Planning from Fuzhou University and an MA in Geography from University of Northern Iowa.

Jeff Liebert, Research Associate

Jeff is a Research Associate with the PERCS project, where he will contribute to a policy synthesis and mixed-methods analysis of the socio-economic drivers of, and deterrents to, perennial planting adoption. Using a participatory approach, Jeff will work closely with PERCS researchers, partner organizations, farmers, and other stakeholders and rights-holders to co-develop knowledge and inform place-based policies. As an interdisciplinary researcher, his prior work has covered predictive modeling of cover cropping co-benefits; lock-ins, path dependency, and resistance to change in agri-food systems; and labour challenges with agroecological practices. Jeff was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC and McGill University, and he holds a PhD from Cornell University.

Meet the Research Team