This event is part of Love Data Week 2025, co-sponsored by SFU, UBC, UNBC, and UVic. Registration is open to everyone.

This workshop will teach you the basics of using R to wrangle and plot spatial environmental data and conduct basic exposure assessments using both vector and raster data. The environmental conditions that people are exposed to, such as levels of air pollution or greenspace, are largely dependent on where they live, work, and play. As such, the analysis of spatial environmental data is a critical tool for understanding how environmental conditions vary across space and time and identifying who is exposed to what. During the workshop you will be introduced to useful R packages for spatial analysis, using them to analyze publicly available datasets.

Dr. Stephanie Cleland is an Assistant Professor and the Legacy for Airway Health Chair in Promotion of Lung Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. She is also a Research Scientist in the Centre for Lung Health at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. She holds a PhD and MSPH in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Cleland’s research uses environmental epidemiology, exposure assessments, and health impact assessments to investigate how climate change-related environmental exposures, such as wildfire smoke and extreme heat, adversely impact human health.