Gisèle Yasmeen

Gisèle Yasmeen was appointed Associate Vice-President, International at the University of Ottawa on February 2nd, 2023. She was previously Senior Fellow at the University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research — part of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs — where she was appointed in October 2014. Her expertise is on food-systems in Asia, on which she has published, taught, and consulted since the early 1990s. Dr. Yasmeen has also served on several scholarly editorial boards.

Dr. Yasmeen is a former senior federal government executive, most notably Vice-President of Research and Partnerships at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, where she served for seven years. She is also the former Executive Director of Food Secure Canada — a pan-Canadian bilingual organization. She has advised numerous Canadian and international clients including the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Bank, among others. Dr. Yasmeen has served on several boards and, in addition to CCA, is currently a board member of Farm Radio International and Équiterre — the largest environmental organization in Québec. She is also on the advisory board of the Margaret A. Gilliam Institute for Global Food Security at McGill University. She was also a member of the Canada-US Innovation Committee created by former US Ambassador, David Jacobson.

Dr. Yasmeen provides regular media commentary in English and French and is a former radio columnist for CBC and Radio-Canada. She has worked on the ground in many regions of the world and has studied Spanish, Thai, Urdu, and Mandarin. She has a PhD from UBC, a master’s from McGill and a BA Honours from the University of Ottawa.