2025-26 BMO Sustainable Futures Faculty Fellows

Ian Clarke

Faculty of Arts & Science

Ian Clarke is an Associate Professor of sustainability and biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the School of Graduate Studies at OCAD University. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Queen’s University and an AOCAD (printmaking) from OCADU. He trained as a Biologist at the Design Table (BaDT) and has been a Biomimicry Education Fellow at the Biomimicry Institute. He has taught at OCAD University since 2003, was part of drafting the first OCADU Sustainability Policy, and was one of the founding Co-Chairs of the OCDU Sustainability Committee. Prior to his appointment as Associate Dean in 2013 he was also a cancer stem-cell researcher at the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto). He has co-authored numerous peer reviewed scientific articles, which have received over twenty-two thousand citations, in journals such as Nature, Cancer Cell, Cancer Research, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA) and Cell Stem Cell. He teaches courses in biology, biotechnology, climate change and sustainability sciences. His research at OCAD University focuses on sustainable art & design materials, urban agriculture and ecology, with a specific focus on cultural adaptation to the climate crisis.

This research project will develop protocols and applications for the use of wood waste and non-edible fungal cultures as sustainable structural materials, dyes, and pigments, for both art and design practice. Most folks are familiar with the most visible part of fungi, the mushrooms, however, the non-fruiting growth of fungi is mycelium networks of fibers containing the strong water-insoluble biopolymer chitin. Many fungi have evolved to utilize the dead cellulose fibers of plant materials as a food source. The species of focus will be widely distributed and locally adapted native shelf mushrooms (polypore shelf fungi), that are not commercially grown but are best suited to produce biomaterials that can be used for non-food purposes. In collaboration with the staff at the OCADU wood studio, this research utilizes a circular economic approach, where waste materials such as sawdust & wood shavings will be used to grow fungi, where the mycelium connects, binds together, and creates strong biomaterials with a variety of useful properties for artists and designers. Students in the wood studio contribute to research-creation through this project, and this can be used as pedagogical entry into discussions of waste, creative reuse, and the circular economy.

Ursula Handleigh

Faculty of Art

Ursula Handleigh (she/her) is a Tkaronto Scarborough-born artist and educator of Filipino/a/x mixed-ancestry working within expanded photography, moving image and alternative processes of image making. While challenging traditional methods of documentation, Handleigh's practice explores questions of identity and how the role of memory, ancestral knowledge and storytelling can be used to reconstruct archives and preserve histories. In support of her research, Handleigh has received grants from the SSHRC and Canada Council for the Arts. She has participated in numerous residencies and exhibited widely in group and solo exhibitions throughout Canada and internationally including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Harbourfront Centre and Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier21. Handleigh is currently an Assistant Professor at OCAD University.

Photography’s impact on the environment and the footprint it leaves behind is a growing global issue. Manufacturing digital cameras involve extracting and refining heavy metals and saving images on data hubs adds to technology-generated greenhouse gas emissions. Analogue photography requires environmental pollutants in the form of chemicals and uses a large amount of water in the process. Responding to the environmental impact of photography, my research asks: How can we embed sustainable and eco-conscious approaches to image making while maintaining print standards across multiple modes of Photography? Through process and material exploration with the goal of minimizing the impacts of photography, my research centres on reducing processes that rely on heavy water usage, utilizing processes with fewer, to no chemical and integrating biodegradable papers.

Michael Lee Poy

Faculty of Design

Michael Lee Poy is an Afro-Caribbean artist-activist and architect from Trinidad and Tobago and Canada. His practice and interests are centered on post-colonial Caribbean design and fabrication in the festival arts – specifically Carnival. He is currently developing pedagogy to address the absence of masquerade design, construction, and presentation in curriculum through the Carnival Architectonics course. Michael has been incubating Moko Jumbie (stilt dancer) Mascamp workshops in Trinidad, Cleveland and Toronto for the last decade. Similar to a studio learning ecosystem, mascamps are socially conscious design build fabrication laboratories for innovation. The Moko Jumbie Mascamp focuses on the sustainable design and fabrication of costumes (regalia) in a co-creative and safe environment.
The SF3 fellowship research project will investigate material sustainability, safety, and cultural heritage in Caribbean Carnival costume design and production. A central focus is the creation of an assessment framework for material composition to document and evaluate costume materials, ensuring transparency and ecological awareness. Complementing this, a material transformation resource will establish safe practices for working with Carnival materials. The project also examines sustainability criteria for costumes, foregrounding ecological, cultural, and social dimensions in Carnival. Research extends to traditional fabrication methods beyond wire bending, preserving and reimagining heritage techniques. In parallel, the project explores bio-based costume design, introducing renewable and biodegradable materials to large-scale presentation contexts. Findings and student innovations will culminate in an exhibit and performance at a GGCA event, advancing knowledge and practice in Carnival design while bridging sustainability, culture, and spectacle.