I take a collaborative approach to research and strive to enhance understanding of priority policy and management issues pertaining to natural resources, with special emphasis on parks and other forms of protected areas.

I also have strong interests in linking human health and well-being to policy and practice related to conservation. In more detail, my current research program focuses generally on:

• policy alternatives and how organizations make policy choices;
• the enablers and barriers to climate change adaptation within resource management organizations;
• how the development of new collaborative structures can help enhance science-based decision-making;
• climate change and Canadian identity, sense of place, and collective action;
• connecting Canadians to nature: integrating human health and well-being into conservation policy and practice.

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship 2009– 2011.
• Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholar, Natural Resource and Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University 2010.
• Canada-U.S. Fulbright Visiting Research Chair, Center for the Study of Canada, SUNY Plattsburgh 2009.
• Gold Medal Award Nomination, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo 2008.
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Scholarship 2006.

I have research assistantship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students interested in parks and protected areas management. Fieldwork in Canada’s parks may also be available in the summer. Contact me for more information.

I am willing to supervise graduate students in the areas of natural resources policy, planning and management.

Full list of publications on Google Scholar

• Barr, S. and C.J. Lemieux. Accepted. Assessing organizational readiness to adapt to climate change in a regional protected areas context: lessons learned from Canada. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change.
• Groulx, M.W., C.J. Lemieux, Freeman, J. Cameron, Pamela A. Wright, T. Healy. 2021. Participatory planning for the future of accessible nature in British Columbia’s parks and protected areas. Local Environment.
• Lemieux, C.J., E. Halpenny, T. Swerdfager, M. He, J. Buedefeld, D. Carruthers Den Hoed, Joyce Gould, B. Joubert, G. Hvenegaard and R. Rollins. 2021. Free Fallin? The decline of evidence-based decision-making in Canada’s protected areas organizations. Facets,1139/facets-2020-0085
• Reining, C., C.J. Lemieux, and S.T. Doherty. 2021. Linking protected area ecosystem diversity and integrity to restorative human health outcomes. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2020.1857227
• Lemieux, C.J., Gray, P.A. How Canada “hamburger manufactured” its way to marine protected area success and a more effective and equitable way forward for the post-2020 conservation agenda. J Environ Stud Sci (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-020-00627-4
• Devillers, R., Lemieux, C. J., Gray, P. A., & Claudet, J. (2019). Canada's uncharted conservation approach. Science, 364(6447), 1243-1243.
• Lemieux, C. J., Gray, P. A., Devillers, R., Wright, P. A., Dearden, P., Halpenny, E. A., ... & Beazley, K. (2019). How the race to achieve Aichi Target 11 could jeopardize the effective conservation of biodiversity in Canada and beyond. Marine policy, 99, 312-323.
• Melissa Weber, Mark Groulx, Christopher J. Lemieux, Daniel Scott & Jackie Dawson (2019) Balancing the dual mandate of conservation and visitor use at a Canadian world heritage site in an era of rapid climate change, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27:9, 1318-1337, DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2019.1620754
• Lemieux, C. J., Groulx, M. W., Bocking, S., & Beechey, T. J. (2018). Evidence-based decision-making in Canada’s protected areas organizations: Implications for management effectiveness. Facets, 3(1), 392-414.
• Lemieux C.J., M. Groulx, E. Halpenny, H. Stager, J. Dawson, EJ Stewart, G.T Hvenegaard. 2017. “The End of the Ice Age?”: Disappearing World Heritage and the Climate Change Communication Imperative. Environmental Communication, 1-19
• Groulx M., C.J. Lemieux, J.L. Lewis, S. Brown. 2017. Understanding consumer behaviour and adaptation planning responses to climate-driven environmental change in Canada's parks and protected areas: a climate futurescapes approach. Journal of environmental planning and management 60 (6), 1016-1035
• Lemieux C.J., S. Doherty, P.F.J. Eagles, M. Groulx, G. Hvenegaard, J. Gould, E. Nisbet, F. Romagosa. 2016. Policy and management recommendations informed by the health benefits of visitor experiences in Alberta’s protected areas. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 34 (1)
• MacKinnon D., C.J. Lemieux, K. Beazley, S. Woodley, R. Helie, J. Perron, J. Elliott, C. Haas, J. Langlois, H. Lazaruk, T. Beechey, P. Gray. 2015. Canada and Aichi Biodiversity Target 11: understanding ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ in the context of the broader target. Biodiversity and conservation 24 (14), 3559-3581

• "last chance tourism" at Canada's vanishing destinations
• Funding helps laurier researcher explore how citizen science influences environmental education
• Laurier professor researching how Canada is chasing marine conservation targets, curbing standards
• Improving the health and well-being of Ontarians through contact with nature in protected areas