Michael D. Mehta is an environmental social scientist who specializes in science, technology and society with a focus on environmental and health risk issues.
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He holds a B.A. in psychology, a Master of Environmental Studies, a Ph.D. in Environmental Sociology and he did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Environmental Policy.
Mehta is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.
Previously he was Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Winnipeg, and was the founding Principal of Richardson College for the Environment. While Principal, Mehta worked on developing key academic and community programs in the areas of Forest Ecology, Urban Ecology, The Global North, Water Resources and Environment & Health.
Prior to joining the University of Winnipeg, Mehta was the Executive Director of the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta where he led approximately 30 research projects over a 14-month period. With close to 120 employees the Population Research Laboratory is the largest social sciences research centre in Western Canada. It has extensive experience in conducting research in the areas of health, education, labour markets, environment, science and technology, immigration, social policy and public opinion. Upon taking over as Executive Director of the Population Research Laboratory Mehta developed a continuing education program for staff members, began the process of fleshing out an enterprise risk management (ERM) framework for assessing internal and external risks and opportunities, created a pandemic flu plan as part of the Lab’s business continuity planning, developed new relationships with clients from various sectors, and reorganized the day-to-day operations of the Lab to increase efficiencies.
Before that he was at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where he was Chair of the Sociology of Biotechnology Program, Director of the Social Research Unit, and Professor of Sociology. While there he developed and administered interdisciplinary programs to train undergraduate and graduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) students on how the intersections of science, technology and society create a series of challenges and opportunities that can be best examined through the lenses provided by disciplines (and approaches) like those found in sociology, philosophy, law and commerce.
As Chair of the Sociology of Biotechnology Program at the University of Saskatchewan, Mehta was involved heavily in research on a wide array of topics. He helped build a body of literature dealing with the following areas: genetic testing and new technologies, biotechnology and risk, public perceptions of different applications in biotechnology, and biotechnology and social cohesion. In addition to helping flesh out core areas within the Sociology of Biotechnology, he also worked on expanding this field by exploring the emerging connections between biotechnology and nanotechnology (nanobiotechnology).
Mehta is widely published, authoring or editing five books including Biotechnology Unglued – Science, Society and Social Cohesion; Risky Business: Nuclear Power and Public Protest in Canada and Nanotechnology – Risk, Ethics and Law (co-authored with Geoffrey Hunt.) He has won numerous awards such as Chief Scientist Distinguished Lecturer for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Science, Technology, Advancement of Science, Health Canada (2007), The Saskatchewan Centennial Medal (2006), and Agriculture Genomics Award, Genome Canada (2003).
Mehta is a former Director of Canadian Blood Services, SaskPower, SaskPower International, and NorthPoint Energy Solutions. He was a member of the Mayor's Environmental Advisory Committee (Winnipeg).
Currently he sits on the Board of Directors of the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and the Board of Trustees of Western Canada Theatre.