Leila Harris

Leila Harris is a Professor at the University of British Columbia with joint appointments at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality & Social Justice (GRSJ). She serves as Co-Director of UBC's Program on Water Governance and is an active member of the EDGES research collaborative focused on Environment and Development: Gender, Equity, and Sustainability. As a settler scholar working on unceded Coast Salish territory, her research bridges political ecology, nature-society studies, and issues of socio-cultural difference and inequality.

Dr. Harris's research program examines water governance across multiple scales and contexts, from everyday water access in underserved areas of Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa to transboundary water governance in the Tigris-Euphrates basin. Her work investigates how gender, race, colonial legacies, and socio-economic status shape water experiences and governance approaches, with particular attention to non-material dimensions of water insecurity that extend beyond physical access to include dignity, social relations, and cultural practices. She employs critical, intersectional approaches that reveal how power operates in water governance systems globally.

Analysis of Dr. Harris's recent publications reveals a clear trajectory toward more sophisticated intersectional frameworks that connect water insecurity with broader social justice concerns. Her work increasingly incorporates narrative and arts-based methodologies while maintaining a critical political ecology foundation that examines power relations in water governance across diverse contexts from Canada to the Global South. A growing emphasis on trust dynamics, decolonial approaches, and translocal water justice movements characterizes her most recent scholarship.

• Killam Laureate for Excellence in Mentorship 2021 (Senior category, UBC) - Recognizing outstanding mentorship of numerous graduate students over many years

Dr. Harris has secured significant research funding for projects examining water governance in Canada and internationally, including SSHRC-funded projects on everyday water access in Ghana and South Africa, and the International WaTERS Research and Training Network focused on water governance, equity and resilience in the global South. Her mentorship has supported numerous graduate students working at the intersection of water governance, gender studies, and environmental justice, with several completing PhDs under her supervision as evidenced by EDGES research collaborative announcements.

As Co-Director of UBC's Program on Water Governance and a core member of the EDGES research collaborative, Dr. Harris contributes to interdisciplinary teams examining environmental issues through lenses of gender, equity, and sustainability. Her work connects with the Centre for Climate Justice and involves collaborations with Indigenous communities, particularly regarding water governance for First Nations in British Columbia, while also maintaining strong international research partnerships across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.