Manvi Bhalla (she/her) is an experienced activist who has been engaged in intersectional social justice work since the age of 11— but more accurately, she’s an enthused storyteller who is grateful to use every opportunity to strengthen and be in community with others. She has extensive experience in designing campaigns to raise awareness and promote political actions across a variety of social issues, including environmental justice, racism, violence against women/MMIWG, poverty, health inequities experienced by underserved communities and voter turnout. During her undergrad, she received the Bridge Builders Scholarship award for her impact on intercultural/interfaith bridge-building in Guelph. With her strong interdisciplinary background, she decided to contribute to the climate justice movement through founding the national non-profit Shake Up The Establishment. Among other leadership roles in the sector, she is on advisory committees for the Canadian Coalition for Environment and Climate Justice, The Harbour and Youth Climate Corps. Manvi works to ensure intersectional and decolonized approaches are always centred within the health research space. She is also the co-founder/ director of the non-profit, missINFORMED, which is dedicated to the health and wellbeing of women and gender-diverse peoples. She is a published health researcher who has worked at the Hospital for Sick Children and the Universities of Guelph, Waterloo and Dalhousie. In mid-2021, she received her MSc in Public Health and Health Systems from University of Waterloo, where her research aimed to improve climate change risk communication and investigate structural barriers towards climate action within the public health sector. As of Fall 2021, Manvi is completing her PhD at the University of British Columbia in Resources, Environment and Sustainability in the Law, Governance, Justice & Policy stream. There, she’s also grateful to be able to mentor brilliant undergraduate researchers as part of UBC Climate Hub’s Climate Justice Research Collaborative.
