Rees Kassen (he/him)

External Director

Rees Kassen is Full Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Trottier Professor of Science and Public Policy at McGill University, where he also leads the Coronavirus in the Urban Built Environment initiative as its scientific director. He is internationally recognized for his work with microbes as models for studying the evolution of biodiversity. Rees is also active at the interface between science, society, and policy, currently serving as Director of the Trottier Institute for Science and Public Policy at McGill. Rees previously served as Chair of the Science and Innovation Advisory Council at the Institute on Governance, was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Scientific Collaboration. From 2009-2014 Rees led the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE; www.pagse.org), an association of 26 professional and scientific organizations acting on behalf of over 60,000 members from academia, industry and government in Canada, and was a founder and Co-Chair of the Global Young Academy (www.globalyoungacademy.net), an international organization of early-career researchers acting as the voice of young scientists around the world. Rees completed his PhD at McGill University (2001) and went on to an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship and Elizabeth Wordsworth Research Fellowship at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, joining the University of Ottawa in 2003. Awards and recognitions include being named an Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Scholar (Yale University, 2022), a Leopold Leadership Fellow (2013), NSERC Steacie Fellow (2010), and a World Economic Forum Young Scientist (2010-2012).