Brian Leung

Dr. Brian Leung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology and the Bieler School of the Environment at McGill University, where he also holds the UNESCO Chair for Dialogues on Sustainability and serves as Director of the Neotropical Environment Option (NEO), a collaborative program with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI).

• Department: Department of Biology
• School: Bieler School of the Environment
• University: McGill University
• Leadership Roles: UNESCO Chair for Dialogues on Sustainability, Director of NEO
• Collaborations: Panama Research and Integrated Sustainability Model (PRISM), STRI

Dr. Leung’s research is centered on predictive ecology and environmental decision-making, utilizing mathematical, statistical, and computational models to address urgent ecological challenges. His work spans terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems at regional, national, and global scales, with a strong focus on biological invasions as a major driver of biodiversity change and a key component of sustainability science. He integrates socio-economic and ecological data to inform policy and management decisions under uncertainty.

His recent publications demonstrate a consistent trend in modeling biological invasions, species distribution, economic costs of invasions, climate change impacts, and sustainability frameworks. Key themes include the development of risk assessment tools, analysis of invasion pathways (e.g., pet trade, ballast water), forecasting future invasion scenarios, and the integration of ecosystem services into conservation planning. His lab employs advanced techniques such as meta-analysis, spatial modeling, decision theory, and large-scale data synthesis.

• UNESCO Chair for Dialogues on Sustainability
• NSERC Research Fellow

Dr. Leung actively mentors a diverse group of students, including postdoctoral researchers, PhD, and MSc candidates, many of whom work on projects related to invasion ecology, forest pests, mangrove conservation, and sustainability modeling. His lab has secured funding for research on topics such as invasive species spread, urban tree mortality, and the Panama Research and Integrated Sustainability Model (PRISM). He has taught courses such as Evolving Earth (ENVR 202), Methods in Biology (BIOL 206), and Environmental Research (ENVR 401), and previously taught Biometry and Applied Tropical Ecology.

His lab, the Leung Lab, is involved in multidisciplinary projects including PRISM, which aims to develop a spatially explicit computational model for sustainability science in Panama and the Global South. The lab fosters collaboration with institutions such as Habitat (habitat-nature.com) and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and emphasizes quantitative skills in ecology and environmental science.