Alice (Xia) Zhu, M.Sc.
Environmental Analytical Scientist | Plastic Pollution Researcher | Environmental Champion
Leadership in Science
I was a co-Chair of my department's 6th Doctoral Environmental Science Colloquium (DESC VI) in 2022. I led a scientific session on the transport and fate of plastic pollution at the 7th International Marine Debris Conference (7IMDC) in Busan, Korea in 2022. My research has influenced policy on plastic pollution locally and internationally. I regularly attend research conferences, collaborate internationally, and mentor students to exchange ideas and advance scientific knowledge.
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Leadership on Campus
In my first year of undergraduate studies in 2014, I founded Climate Impact Network, a student organization dedicated to raising awareness of climate change and increasing climate literacy within youth. I served as the Sustainability Commissioner of the University of Toronto Students' Union from 2015-2017. In 2015, I founded my university's student delegation to the Paris Climate Summit; I along with five other students participated in international climate negotiations in Paris and hosted a conference in Canada afterwards to galvanize action and demand climate leadership from our government.
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Leadership in the Community
I am a member of the University of Toronto Trash Team, a group dedicated to educating the public about waste management and plastic pollution and taking direct action through community clean-ups. I am also an executive member of People's Climate Movement, a grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness of climate change and influencing climate policy in both Toronto and Canada. I mobilize regularly with Fridays for Future Toronto.