UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 09 | May 10, 2001

Interdisciplinary scholar weighs risks and benefits

Graduate finds resources to create unique degree

The reach of Joe Arvai's research extends from the depths of the oceans to outer space. His mission is to grasp how to make better decisions.

One of 6,500 students in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, he has completed an interdisciplinary PhD in the relatively new field of risk communication.

"The goal is to improve peoples' ability to make informed decisions in light of technological risks and their associated benefits," explains Arvai.

"Making a high quality decision in the context of a complex problem requires detailed information and a decision structure that helps people make a difficult choice," he adds.

A paper resulting from his research -- conducted in the Institute for Resources and Environment and the Centre for Human Settlements' Eco-Risk Research Unit -- was named outstanding student paper twice by the International Society for Risk Analysis.

One of his experiments involved water-flow management in B.C. and risks to salmon habitat from the generation of hydroelectricity.

"It's a classic case of multiple conflicts," he says.

"Demands for electricity, which is essential domestically and a lucrative export, have to be balanced with recreational use of rivers and ecological concerns."

In another experiment he found a higher support for decisions about space exploration -- such as including a nuclear reactor in the NASA Cassini mission to Saturn -- when they were the products of a participatory process.

Looking back, there was no obvious path to his PhD, he says.

"It wasn't laid out in a page or two in UBC's calendar," says Arvai, a native of Vernon.

"The resources were here but I had to put them together, for example, learning social planning and how to design surveys. UBC faculty put me in touch with experts elsewhere," he says.

Arvai will continue his work as a post doctoral fellow at Decision Research in Eugene, Ore.