Assistant professor of environmental justice in education recognized for research on the political, ethical, and relational dimensions of learning and identity work in a garden-based program at an urban farm.
Chris Jadallah, assistant professor of environmental justice in education at the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, has been awarded a 2026 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. His project, “Cultivating political, ethical, and relational horizons in garden-based learning” looks at the political, ethical, and relational dimensions of young people’s learning and identity as they participate in a summer garden-based learning program at an urban farm in Los Angeles.
“I am deeply humbled to have been awarded a 2026 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, and grateful for the opportunity to pursue research in partnership with youth and community-based organizations in Los Angeles who are working toward building more just and sustainable worlds,” says Professor Jadallah.
Creating and deepening opportunities for individuals to leverage their knowledge, practices, and perspectives toward projects of climate and environmental justice, Jadallah develops research-practice partnerships where he and his collaborators co-design, implement, and study learning environments that expand the boundaries for critical engagement in science and environmental education. Across different lines of work, he seeks to foreground and honor the knowledge and practices of diverse communities, operating from the premise that these communities’ everyday practices provide fertile ground in which to anchor generative and future-oriented arrangements for learning, problem-solving, and socio-ecological transformation.
Professor Jadallah’s research has been published in Journal of the Learning Sciences, Science Education, and Environmental Education Research, among other outlets. Professor Jadallah earned his B.S. in conservation and resource studies from UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. in education from UC Davis.
Jadallah is affiliated with the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the Center for Community Engagement at UCLA. He is a seed saver, growing and sharing Palestinian heirloom seeds with other farmers and land workers in California.