Prior to joining the Department of Geography I worked in the financial and retail sectors. I held contracts with the private industry and research institutes, and participated in several European Union funded projects. I held teaching appointments ith Italy and Germany.

Research Focus

My research focuses on health geography. My work on environmental and socioeconomic determinants of health includes land use regression (LUR) models to estimate air pollution at fine spatial scale, models of ocean pollution and maritime activities, and analyses of the association of health, socio-economic status, and the built environment. I collaborate on a variety of health research projects, contributing to address questions of location, accessibility, and the spatial determinants of health. My research in GIS and spatial statistical analysis helps to increase the reliability of spatial models.

Postdoc Opportunity

Position opening. Postdoctoral fellow: Geospatial Assessment of Variability Project

Selected Current Projects and Prospective Students

Spatial analysis of air pollution, active transportation, and schools. Positions available.
Spatial and local dynamics of COVID-19 transmission. Positions available.
Spatial association of air pollution and pediatric asthma. Positions available.
Disease incidence in Alberta: spatial patterns and health care accessibility. Positions available.

For any prospective student, I am looking for people interested in human, health, and environmental applications, with a solid background in quantitative methods and a keen interest in critical and novel applications.

Interested individuals with appropriate background and research interests are welcome to send me an email with reference "Spatial Analysis".

Research Team

Isabelle Couloigner, Research Associate
Richard Wong, MGIS Student
Shubhreet Gill, MGIS Student
Alison Hanes, MGIS Sstudent
Caitlin Calder-Bellamy, Summer Student
Mojgan Mirzaei, Post Doctoral Fellow
Rizwan Shahid, Collaborator

Research Groups

Geospatial Science Urban & Political Economy

Member of the O' Brien Institute of Public Health (OIPH)

Co-Founder and Co-Leader of the OIPH GOH (Geography of Health and GIS Analysis) Research Group

GOH in the news: GIS day 2017

Research Interests

Spatial analysis

Representation of space

Critical spatial science

Spatial thinking in public health

Geography of health

Air pollution modelling

Environmental pollution and public health

Active transportation, children, healthy built environmnent

Spatial and spatiotemporal diffusion and disease transmission

Selected Recent Publications

Bertazzon S., I. Couloigner, M. Mirzaei, 2021. Spatial Regression Modelling of Particulate Pollution in Calgary, Canada. Geojournal. 10.1007/s10708-020-10345-7

M. Mirzaei, S. Bertazzon, I. Couloigner, B. Farjad, R. Ngom, 2020. Estimation of Local Daily PM_2.5 Concentration during Wildfire Episodes: Integrating MODIS AOD with Multivariate Linear Mixed Effect (LME) Models. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 13:173-185

Liu X., S. Bertazzon, P. J. Villeneuve, M. Johnson, D. Stieb, S. Coward, D. Tanyingoh, J. W. Windsor, F. Underwood, M. D. Hill, D. Rabi, W. A. Ghali, S. B. Wilton, M. T. James, M. Graham, M. S. McMurtry, G. G. Kaplan (2020). Temporal and spatial effect of air pollution on hospital admissions for myocardial infarction: a case-crossover study. CMAJ Open, 8(4).

Bertazzon S., C. Calder-Bellamy, R. Shahid, I. Couloigner, R. Wong (2020). A Preliminary Spatial Analysis of the Association of Asthma and Traffic Related Air Pollution in the Metropolitan Area of Calgary, Canada. Atmosphere, 11 (10), 1066

S. Bertazzon, I. Couloigner, F. Underwood, 2019. Spatial land use regression of nitrogen dioxide over a 5-year interval in Calgary, Canada. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 33(7):1335-1354

D.Marshall, X. Liu, R. Shahid, S. Bertazzon, J. Seidel, A. Patel, M. Nasr, C. Barber, T. McDonald, R. Sharma, T. Briggs, P. Faris, N. Waters, 2019. Geographic Variation in Osteoarthritis Prevalence in Alberta: A spatial analysis approach. Applied Geography.103:112-121

S. Bertazzon & R. Shahid, 2017. Schools, air pollution, and active transportation. An exploratory spatial analysis of Calgary, Canada. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 14(8): 834

K. Eccles, S. Checkley, D. Sjogren, H. Barkema, S. Bertazzon, 2017. Lessons learned from the 2013 Calgary flood: assessing risk of drinking water well contamination. Applied Geography. 80:78-85

Postdoc Position

The GAP project (Geospatial Assessment of Variability Project) group at the University of Calgary is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow to join the research team, led by Dr. Stefania Bertazzon in collaboration with Alberta Environment and Parks.

The objective of the project is to characterize and assess natural variability and changes of physical landscape as well as industrial and anthropogenic indicators of potential environmental stress in the Oil Sands Region of Alberta. The Fellow will join the research team, contributing the existing expertise in geospatial analysis and modelling, and will work on the assessment of landscape spatial and temporal variability and change in the region.

The successful candidate holds a PhD in geography or related disciplines. They should demonstrate advanced knowledge of GIS and applied skills in ArcGIS pro, Python programming, and spatial statistics. This includes in-depth knowledge and proficiency in advanced modelling tools, e.g., random forest, GLM, spatio-temporal routines, and R scripting. They should have a keen interest in critical and novel applications for environmental studies, along with a solid research experience in landscape characterization. They are expected to work effectively independently as well as a part of the team.

The position can start immediately and will end in March 2023. Salary is commensurate to University of Calgary standards.

Interested individuals with the appropriate background and skills should email to:

Dr. Stefania Bertazzon

Department of Geography, University of Calgary

bertazzs@ucalgary.ca

Please feel free to circulate to potentially interested candidates

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Stefania Bertazzon

Currently Teaching

Biography