Finn, Brandon

Biography

Biography

Assistant Research Scientist

Dr. Brandon Marc Finn is an assistant research scientist at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Dr Finn directs The Informal Sustainability Lab, which is a dynamic and interdisciplinary research group highlighting the importance of informality to sustainability and climate climate adaptation and mitigation. Finn's interdisciplinary research focuses on urbanization, informality, and mining, and his current work investigates the unintended consequences of decarbonization. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Finn researches the interplays between artisanal and industrial mining practices in the 'first-mile' of the global cobalt and copper supply chain. In Ghana, Finn assesses how informality defines the 'last-mile' of global electronic waste supply chains. Finn is leading efforts to establish a new subfield in Geography under the theme 'informal sustainability.' This subfield recognizes the importance of informality as a livelihood and housing strategy to enable survival and upward socio-economic mobility, but also interrogates its tensions with sustainability-related outcomes.