Ross Plattel
Ross is an urban/civic technologist with a future minded focus. He participates with the University of Calgary as part of the academic research and discussion group on Smart Cities. With The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) he worked on the development, testing, and deployment of SAIT’s first micro-credentials, and acted as tech support and TA for short term digital solutioning innovation programs. He now is the LMS Systems Supervisor and Accessibility and Inclusion Lead at the Canadian Center for Professional Legal Education (CPLED), improving accessibility of software and systems across the North American legal field through CPLED’s online programs. Outside of work, Ross volunteers as one of the Co-Leads for CivicTechYYC, organizing events for the group of volunteers who work together on volunteer urban-related technology projects. Through CivicTechYYC he helped to co-start the not-for-profit IncluCity, which is a civic user testing group testing a variety of systems with accessibility and diversity focused user testers, helping to make the virtual and physical environment designed for everyone. His work on urban human climate migration has included research on the impacts of climate-induced human migration using impactful events like COVID to inform decisions for non-for-profits and government organizations. He is interested in the places that will act as climate safe receiver regions, working with other researchers and organizations to develop sustainable practices in receiver places. His inspiration comes from a passion for the environment and connection with nature, along with his desire to improve the lived human experience.