Patricia Larkin

PhD

Population Health Expert

Patricia Larkin

Patricia Larkin

PhD
Population Health Expert
Country of Residence
Flag of Canada

Current Professional Activities

Dr. Patricia Larkin’s professional activities focus on advanced policy and regulatory assessments, including linkages with social determinants of health and implications for health equity. Her expertise concerns human health and environmental risk management, with emphasis on energy, water resources, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Patricia's research and engagement considers factors of success in Canadian innovation in energy regulatory decision-making. She has also published on health, environment, and socio-economic risk issues and their management for carbon capture utilization and storage. Patricia has also managed large interdisciplinary and international team research projects, one focused on how to strengthen Canada’s ability to manage risk in public decision-making, as well as an elicitation of global experts regarding health and environmental risks and attendant uncertainties related to carbon capture and storage. Patricia is Chair of the Applied Risk Management Specialty Group of the Society for Risk Analysis.

Professional Experience

Dr. Patricia Larkin has a broad range of leadership experience in government, community, and school settings over the past 25 years. Her expertise, population health risk management, is focused on structural and intermediary determinants of health and their interactions, with a goal to protect or improve human health. Her experience centres on non-health sector policy and regulatory frameworks in order to minimize population health risks of decision-making related to energy, climate mitigation technology such as carbon capture and storage, and climate impacts and adaptation in agricultural production. Patricia’s stakeholder outreach and engagement has occurred in a variety of settings, including expert elicitation, focus groups, workshops, and key informant interviews. As Senior Research Associate on the Positive Energy team at the Institute for Science Society and Policy, University of Ottawa, projects identified successful innovations in energy regulatory decision-making, as well as how to address risk issues related to polarization and public confidence for carbon capture utilization and storage decision-making. She also acted as project manager for @Risk: Strengthening Canada’s Ability to Manage Risk, a multi-disciplinary research project focused on how to reconcile the tensions where experts and public stakeholders differ in their perceptions of risk, and their preferences on how to mitigate risks. In other work, Patricia supported the Community of Federal Regulators with a report on risk-based regulatory delivery. She also contributed to the McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment with research regarding health and environmental protection in hydraulic fracturing and life cycle assessment from a human health risk perspective. Finally, she worked with a research team composed of representatives of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Carleton University, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, bringing her perspective on minimizing health risks of policies affecting agriculture and rural development, particularly with respect to climate change adaptation for this sector. Patricia has contributed to the work of RSI in projects related to life cycle assessment of metals and a review of the Alberta’s Water Cytotoxicity Testing Program. She was an active member of the Mississippi Rideau Source Protection Committee for almost fifteen years and now volunteers with the Society for Risk Analysis.

Academia, Publishing, Awards

Publications

Beck, M., et al. (forthcoming). Unpacking the concept of motivated reasoning in M. Gattinger, Ed. Democratizing Risk Governnance: Bridging Science, Expertise, Deliberation and Public Values

Bizikova, L., Larkin, P., Mitchell, S., Waldick, R. (2019). An Indicator Set to Track Resilience to Climate Change in Agriculture: A policy-maker’s perspective. Land Use Policy 82 (March 2019), pp. 444-456. DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.057

Bratt, D., Larkin, P. & Philion, X.D. (forthcoming). Getting it Right? The Site Selection Process for Canada’s High-Level Nuclear Waste, in M. Gattinger, Ed. Democratizing Risk Governnance: Bridging Science, Expertise, Deliberation and Public Values

Larkin, P. (2021). What works? Identifying and scaling-up successful innovations in

Canadian energy regulatory decision-making. Positive Energy, University of Ottawa. https://www.uottawa.ca/positive-energy/content/what-works-identifying-and-scaling-successful-innovations-canadian-energy-regulatory

Larkin, P. (2021). What Can We Learn from Energy Regulatory Innovation? Case Studies of Formal Regulatory Agreements and Public Engagement Processes. Energy Regulatory Quarterly, July 2021 - Volume 9, Issue 2. https://energyregulationquarterly.ca/articles/what-can-we-learn-from-energy-regulatory-innovation-case-studies-of-formal-regulatory-agreements-and-public-engagement-processes#sthash.Aw0oiRct.dpbs

Larkin, P., Bird, S. & Gattinger, M. (2021). Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage: Polarization, public confidence and decision-making. Positive Energy, University of Ottawa. Available at https://www.uottawa.ca/positive-energy/sites/www.uottawa.ca.positive-energy/files/ccus_final_web_1.pdf

Larkin, P. & Chaplin, C. (2021). Collaborative Research Fosters Regulatory Excellence, in ICER Chronicle, Edition 10, Summer 2021. http://icer-regulators.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The_Chronicle_Edition_10.pdf (pg. 44)

Larkin, P., Dusseault, M., Gracie, R. G., Sarkarfarshi, A. M., Shafiei, A., Aspinall, W. & Krewski, D. (2019). Risk Management In Carbon Capture And Storage: Findings From A Structured Expert Elicitation. International Journal Of Risk Assessment And Management, Special Issue on Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context 22(3/4), pp. 404-428. Open access. DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2019.103334

Larkin, P., Dusseault, M., Gracie, R. G., Sarkarfarshi, A. M., Shafiei, A., Aspinall, W. & Krewski, D. (2019). Uncertainty In Risk Issues For Carbon Capture And Storage: Findings From A Structured Expert Elicitation. International Journal Of Risk Assessment And Management, Special Issue on Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context, Special Issue on Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context 22(3/4), pp. 429-463. Open access. DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2019.103335

Larkin, P. & Frank, B. (2020). What Drives Energy Regulatory Innovation? An Online Survey from Positive Energy and CAMPUT. Energy Regulators Quarterly, Vol 8(4), December Issue.  https://www.energyregulationquarterly.ca/articles/what-drives-energy-regulatory-innovation-an-online-survey-from-positive-energy-and-camput#sthash.FgTYB5Sw.dpbs

Larkin, P., Gattinger, M. & Bird, S. (forthcoming). Carbon Capture, utilization and storage: public confidence in risk decision-making, in M. Gattinger, Ed. Democratizing Risk Governnance: Bridging Science, Expertise, Deliberation and Public Values

Larkin, P., Gracie, R. & Krewski, D.  (2018) Ensuring health and environmental protection in hydraulic fracturing: a focus on British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.  Journal of Extractive Industries and Society, Special Issue Social Aspects of Unconventional Hydrocarbon Development, 5(4), pp. 581-595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2018.07.006

Larkin, P., Leiss, W., Arvai, J., Gracie, R. G., Fall, M., Dusseault, M. D., Heyes, A. & Krewski, D. (2019). An Integrated Risk Management Framework for Carbon Capture and Storage: a Canadian Perspective. International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, Special Issue on Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context. 22(3/4), pp. 464-508.  Open access. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJRAM.2019.103333

Larkin, P., Leiss, W. & Krewski, D. (2019). The Evolution Of Regulatory Practice For CCS Projects In Canada. International Journal Of Risk Assessment And Management, Special Issue on Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context 22(3/4), pp. 286-310.  Open access. DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2019.103333

Larkin, P., Leiss, W. & Krewski, D. (2019). Risk Asssessment And Management Frameworks For Carbon Capture And Geological Storage: A Global Perspective. International Journal Of Risk Assessment And Management, Special Issue on Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context 22(3/4), pp. 254-285.  Open access. DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2019.103332

Lathrop, J. et al. (2021). SRA Risk Analysis Quality Test, Release 1.0. https://www.sra.org/resources/risk-analysis-quality-test/

Leiss, W. & Larkin, P. (2019). Risk Communication And Public Engagement In CCS Projects:  The Foundations Of Public Acceptability. International Journal Of Risk Assessment And Management, Special Issue on Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context 22(3/4), pp. 384-403.  Open access. DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2019.103339

Leiss, W., Tyshenko, M., Larkin, P., & Krewski, D. (2020). Treaty Framing and Climate Science: Challenges in Managing the Risk of Global Warming.  International Journal of Global Environmental Issues. Vol. 19 No. 1/2/3. Open access. https://www.inderscience.com/info/inarticle.php?artid=114882

Selected Unpublished reports

  • Risk-based regulatory delivery: Considerations for implementation, prepared for Community of Federal Regulators
  • Scenario-based risk assessment decision support modelling tools for regional climate change and climate extremes, impacts and adaptation in agricultural watersheds: Synthesis of population health and agricultural indicators in the context of eastern Ontario
  • Health effects of a changing climate in Leeds, Grenville, Lanark District Health Unit, Ontario
  • Psychosocial population health effects of flood events
  • How Ontario’s health equity impact assessment might support principles of population health
  • Poverty still kills: What to do about it, PhD comprehensive exam; excerpts also submitted to Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities study on poverty reductions strategies
  • Principles of population health: Inclusions and improvements for Ontario low water response
  • The effectiveness of the federal-provincial-territorial committee on drinking water on managing drinking water supplies
  • Threats to municipal drinking water supply through Ontario’s Clean Water Act

Oral presentations

Positive Energy, University of Ottawa

2021 - Podcast related to report What works? Identifying and scaling-up successful innovations in Canadian energy regulatory decision-making

2021 - Virtual Roles and Responsibilities Conference Session: New imperatives in energy decision-making. What works? Identifying and scaling-up successful innovations in Canadian energy regulatory decision-making

2019 - Positive Energy Conference, Divided: Polarization in Energy transition in the age of climate change.  Session 2: Is polarization over energy technologies a failure of public policy, regulation, industry, or all of the above?

2018 - NSERC CREATE Carbon Capture Initiative - Incorporation of Worldviews and Values in Carbon Capture and Storage Project Decision-Making and Selected Policy Issues for Carbon Capture and Storage

2017 - NSERC CREATE Carbon Capture Initiative - Selected Policy and Social Science Issues for Carbon Capture and Storage

2016 - NSERC CREATE Carbon Capture Initiative - An Integrated Risk Management Framework for Carbon Capture and Storage in the Canadian Context

Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meetings

2020 - Panel presentation - What works? Risk management in the realm of institutional innovation in energy regulatory decision-making in Canada

2019 - Panel presentation - Risk managing decision-making processes:  A focus on carbon capture technologies in Canada

2018 - Symposium - Risk Perception, Risk Controversies and Risk Management: Can Public Engagement with Values Strengthen Risk Management Practices? And Poster session - Health and Environmental Protection in Hydraulic Fracturing: A Focus on British Columbia and Alberta, Canada

2018 - Poster - Ensuring health and environmental protection in hydraulic fracturing: a focus on British Columbia and Alberta, Canada

2017 - Panel presentation - Perspectives on Risk Assessment and Risk Management for Carbon Capture and Storage

Other National and International organizations

2018 - National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP), US Department of Energy - Perspectives on Risk Assessment and Risk Management for Carbon Capture and Storage

2015 - International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas Program – Social Research Network meeting – Development of an Integrated Risk Management Framework for Carbon Capture and Storage

2014 - Carbon Management Canada Annual Conference - Risk Assessment and Transparency in Canadian CCS Projects: A Regulatory Review – selected as best poster

2013 - Carbon Management Canada Annual Conference - A Regulatory Review of Canadian Carbon Capture and Storage Projects – selected as runner-up poster award

2009 - 5th World Environmental Education Congress - Municipal Parks, Living Classrooms and an Integral Part of School life, Round Table discussion

University of Ottawa course lectures

2020 - EPI 6182 - Risk managing decision-making processes:  A focus on carbon capture technologies in Canada

2018 - EPI 6182 - University of Ottawa - Perspectives on Risk Assessment and Risk Management for Carbon Capture and Storage

2011 - Faculty of Education - Connecting with Nature

Role at RSI

Dr. Larkin is a RSI Associate Expert specialized in population health.

Patricia Larkin