Caitlyn (she/her) held the Research Associate position in Dr. Melanie Zurba’s Community-Engaged CoLab at the School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, providing research support across projects related to climate grief, Indigenous food sovereignty, and more. She has a Master’s degree in Environment and Sustainability from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she specialized in conservation ecology, sustainability and development, and environmental justice. During her studies, her research focused mainly on wildlife conservation and Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities (IPLCs)’ management as well as internationally-recognized rights. Some experiences include her Master’s project with the World Wildlife Fund Nepal, where her team conducted a biodiversity and social impact assessment in Banke-Bardiya Complex, Nepal, where an electrified railway was planned to be constructed. Also, as an Indigenous and Community Lands & Climate Intern at Conservation International, she collected and mapped tenure and spatial data on IPLC-managed lands in Asia-Pacific, specifically the Mekong Delta region where a large data gap exists—and analyzed carbon on those lands. Prior to her Masters, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in Environment, specializing in conservation ecology, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She looks forward to continuing to support conservation and justice initiatives in partnership with IPLCs for the well-being of humans and nonhumans alike.

Polina is a Social Scientist with over 12 years of qualitative and quantitative research experience, and served as a Research Associate in Dr. Zurba’s Lab. Her research focuses on flexible employment, multifaceted aspects of food in the workplace, the interactions between coastal and seagoing communities in relation to food and the impact of digitalization on skills and training. She studies the often-under-researched group of people who operate ships, namely seafarers. She developed a genuine interest in seafarers after finishing her BA, which almost led to her joining the maritime industry as a Merchant Navy officer.

Polina’s PhD (2018) from Cardiff University (UK), focused on careers and labor market flexibility in global industries, using the case of seafarers. Polina also holds an MA in Anthropology (2012), and a BA in Sociology, Anthropology and Human Resources (2009) from the University of Haifa (Israel). Polina is an Associate Fellow at the Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC), Cardiff University (UK) and a Research Associate at the Haifa Research Center for Maritime Policy and Strategy (Israel). She previously worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Solent University in the UK. More information can be found on https://www.linkedin.com/in/polinabaumtalmor/.

Isa is an alumni member of the Community Engaged Co-Lab and was a visiting scholar hosted by Prof Melanie Zurba at the School for Resources and Environmental Studies (SRES) at Dalhousie University, Halifax. His research investigated the impact of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) and certifications on industrial marine shrimp fisheries using sustainability and holistic approaches to analyze the fish stock and the community involved in the fisheries. Due to his interdisciplinary background in fisheries, environmental studies, socio-ecological systems and certifications coupled with an interest in participatory and collaborative research with Indigenous communities. He worked in partnership with the Mi’kmaw Conservation Group (MCG) on policy research focused on supporting Mi’kmaw leadership in the development of Indigenous certification for the American lobster commercial fishery of Nova Scotia. The project was supported by Ocean Frontier Institute, Robin Rigby Trust, MCG and Dalhousie University. He has also committed to knowledge dissemination in Africa as a diaspora expert under the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), which is a joint initiative of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the German Federal Employment Agency. Several awards, grants have been awarded to his credits. Isa has participated, contributed and volunteered in several international capacities and collaborative initiatives in many of the SGDs goals across the globe. His interest include environmental sciences; Indigenous studies; qualitative and quantitative research methods; social and ecological systems; blue economy; sustainability certifications; fisheries and food security; bioeconomy; climate change impact; data analysis and management.

A pracademic with an interdisciplinary scholarly upbringing, Julie draws upon the fields of peace and conflict studies, critical childhood studies, postcolonial studies, and educational studies to explore the lived experiences of young people in educational, community, and organizational settings—highlighting how they contribute to their sociopolitical worlds.

She holds a doctorate in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba as well as a Masters in Peace Education from the UN-mandated University for Peace. Her dissertation research (Troubling pathways: Exploring experiences of young people in Winnipeg’s inner city through a peace & conflict studies frame) employed arts-based narrative methods to examine the perceptions and experiences of Indigenous and newcomer students in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

As a Mitacs-funded postdoctoral fellow, she undertook a multi-partner research project exploring the child/youth engagement practices employed by Canadian conservation organizations.

Reddi is a social anthropologist with research interests in Indigenous knowledge, community forestry, the climate change and energy transition. He completed a Mitacs Post-Doctoral Fellowship and his Mitacs project explored the growth of renewable energy partnerships and co-management among indigenous communities in Canada. He likes to travel new places, swimming, trekking and growing community gardens in the Atlantic bubble.

In the past, he was a Mitacs Global Intern and completed an internship on Global Governance in public health in India. He holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology and published on caste, social inequality, and Global Public Health while completing his doctoral programme. He has also worked on a range of international research projects which intersect with focus on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, the Science, Technology Studies (STS) and subaltern studies. Under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba, Reddi’s work focused on the role of ESG (Economic, Social and Governance) factors in energy transition and the development of renewable energy partnerships with Indigenous communities.

Mike is an interdisciplinary conservation social scientist and aspiring ‘boundary spanner’. His broad research interests center on understanding the roles of unseen, misrepresented, and marginalized cultures in conservation across diverse ecosystems and regions. ”. He received his PhD from the Applied Biodiversity Science Program and the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University. Although he attended university in Texas, he is originally from the east coast of the United States. He has also lived in 7 states so far, including over a decade in the desert southwest. For his dissertation work, he focused on campesino hunting culture and local and traditional ecological knowledge in Nicaragua. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the Zurba lab working on knowledge co-production processes and frameworks for the Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures Project. On his off time, Mike regularly explores state and national parks, spends time with his family, and romps around with his dog.

Currently working with Dr. Sherry Pictou as a full-time Research Associate, Morgan (she/her) finished her Master of Environmental Studies with the Community Engaged Co-Lab under the co-supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba and Dr. David Busolo. Deeply interested in interdisciplinary approaches to environmental sustainability and social justice, Morgan obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Global Studies from Vancouver Island University. Her interests lie in the nuances of environment, equity, and wellbeing using collaborative and creative research approaches. She brought her experiences engaging in community groups and artistic spaces to help create dialogues around climate grief and emotional resiliency in new and changing environments. She also coordinated and convened a Youth Advisory Council on climate grief. Beyond her interest in the use of artistic expressions in research settings, she has also just finished writing her first poetry collection. For her thesis, she collaborated with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), exploring their nature-based programs offered to refugees in Mi’kma’ki. Check out Morgan’s work here! https://aboutmemorganb.wordpress.com/

Ashley completed her Masters of Environmental Studies with the Community Engaged Co-Lab. Previously, she did her B.A at the University of Guelph in International Development, with an independent project partnered with a land based agrarian movement in Brazil. She is interested in questions around sovereignty and equity through a land-based lens. As a member of the “First Nation-University Partnership for Capacity Enhancement in Forest Land Governance” project team, Ashley worked under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba and Dr. Ryan Bullock in partnership with Eagle Lake First Nation to explore how the community can increase their capacity for forest governance rooted in their own capacities and definition of sovereignty.

Tyler (he/him) completed his Master of Environmental Studies student under the supervision of Dr. Peter Duinker with Dr. Melanie Zurba as a committee member. He completed his Bachelor of Urban Forestry at the University of British Columbia. It was there that Tyler developed research interests in urban forest resilience, municipal forest management, environmental governance, and the intersection of those three topics. Tyler’s current research explores participation in urban-forest governance and NGOs’ contributions in municipal forest governance processes, programs, and decision-making.

Anastasia pursued a Master of Environmental Studies through the Community-Engaged Co-Lab. Her project was conducted in partnership with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq and the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources and centered around efforts to advance Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) in Nova Scotia. Anastasia completed a Bachelor’s of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo where she specialized in environmental assessment, restoration/conservation ecology, and environmental governance. Anastasia also worked as a Research Assistant under Dr. Melanie Zurba working on projects focused on environmental governance in different contexts. Anastasia is particularly interested in ways that conservation practice and approaches can contribute to addressing environmental and social justice issues. Anastasia is a first-generation Canadian with Greek heritage and was born and raised in Treaty 3 territory in a city called Waterloo. Whenever she can, Anastasia seeks out opportunities to explore new (and old) hiking spot, to cook, eat and share foods from different places, and listen to podcasts.

Carly completed her Masters of Environmental Studies with the Community-Engaged Co-Lab. She completed her undergraduate degree in environmental science at Lakehead University, focusing on hydrogeology. Carly worked on her thesis under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba and Dr. Ryan Bullock, working with Sakaw Askiy Management in northern Saskatchewan and the stakeholders of the Prince Albert Forest Management Area as they begin to incorporate community-informed and supported wildfire risk reduction strategies into their forest harvesting plans. Carly researched the social learning aspects that are involved in the development of these strategies. Carly has a background in forestry and wildfire and hopes to pursue a career in this area.

Lily completed her Master of Environmental Studies with the Community Engaged Co-Lab. She is a graduate of B.Sc in Environmental Science with a minor in History of Science and Technology from the University of King’s College, as well as a graduate of certificate in Geographic Information Science (GIS) from Dalhousie University. In her undergraduate, she worked with public health officials, and GIS professionals in Nova Scotia to create a web application that maps a score out of 100 of access to physical activity infrastructure by address across Nova Scotia called the ActivScore. Lily has numerous research interests but is most enthusiastic about creating tools to help communities take action for a better future. Lily was a member of the team working on the question of “Can art and science work together to build rituals and vocabularies for dealing with climate grief?” under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba, and she explored how youth representation in politics and decision making around climate change influences levels of climate grief in young people.

Emily (she/her) is a biologist-turned-social scientist who completed her Master of Environmental Studies under the supervision of Dr. Kate Sherren with Dr. Melanie Zurba as a committee member. She is largely interested in the cultural, political, and social nuances of environmental management as well as community-based and participatory methods. Her thesis work seeks to assess relational values and trade-offs in Dykeland management along Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy coast. Emily’s research background spans 10 years and multiple fields: beginning in genetics, she later worked in behavioral ecology and biogeography laboratories before settling into interdisciplinary marine studies. She has multiple peer-reviewed publications on the topics of plastic pollution, equity in science, and more. Parallel to research, Emily is passionate about participatory learning: she has worked in education for seven years, engaging youth in environmental stewardship and leading English-as-Second Language (ESL) workshops. Emily is a settler from the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk (Conception Bay, Newfoundland) and is currently a grateful visitor in Mi’kma’ki.

Armand graduated from the University of Guelph with an Honours BSc, majoring in Marine and Freshwater Biology. He has worked in California drafting reports evaluating the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) and volunteering as a lab technician identifying krill, studying eelgrass beds, and working aboard a vessel monitoring Californian MPAs. Armand completed his Masters in Marine Management in the Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University.

Armand is interested in effective and equitable MPAs, and hopes to develop his knowledge and skill set to preserve and improve on the efficacy of these spaces. He is further interested in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and their importance for marine conservation. Armand has also researched the development of an Indigenous co-governance framework in MPAs managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Bryanne completed a Masters of Environmental Studies with the Community Engaged Co-Lab. Originally from Manitoba, she completed her B.A. Hon in Environmental Studies and B.A in Sociology at the University of Winnipeg, where she worked with a local community organization to assist in developing an urban greenhouse for their community. Her research interests revolve around localized forms of sustainable food production and distribution, food security, and food sovereignty. Photo Credits: Naniece Ibrahim

Sara completed her Masters of Resource and Environmental Management here. She has a B.Sc. in Zoology with a minor in Studio Art and a minor in Hispanic Studies from the University of Guelph. Her master’s project, supervised by Dr. Melanie Zurba, focused on developing a multi-disciplinary typology of rituals and vocabularies for expressing and processing grief associated with climate change in Canada. She has worked in student community engagement and aspires to work alongside Indigenous and local communities to develop climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Claire (she/her) brought her background in international relations, conservation, and environmental justice to Dalhousie’s master’s program in Resource and Environmental Management (MREM). While having grown up in France, Mali, and Switzerland, Claire is now based in the United States, and has had the privilege of working on issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion at the Ohio Environmental Council. She holds a B.A in International Relations and Modern Languages from the University of Essex in the UK and is an alumni member of the Community Engaged Co-Lab. Claire is interested in applying conservation and environmental management through a good governance and environmental justice lens; and in her personal time is an avid hiker and amateur birder.

Megan Fuller completed her Masters in Resource and Environmental Management at Dalhousie University. Her work focused on facilitating the development of community-led water safety plans to support the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority (AFNWA). Water safety planning is a risk mitigation management strategy that relies on local knowledge and context to ensure safe drinking water for communities.

Madeleine pursued a Master of Resource and Environmental Management (MREM) at Dalhousie University. She completed a BA at the University of Guelph in International Development, with an area of emphasis in human environment and development. She has experience with sustainable agri-food research, community focused food security projects, and energy efficiency policy research and advocacy. Madeleine worked on her independent MREM project under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba, conducting a media analysis of how energy poverty is discussed in Canadian news media and how this shapes public opinion and discourse about the issue.

Abena pursued her Master’s degree in Environmental Studies with the Community Engaged Co-Lab. She has a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Environmental Management from York University, Toronto. Abena is interested in the role of gender in environmental and natural resource management in rural communities in developing countries. Under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba, Abena’s research focused on the localization of international gender policy to assist women farmers to achieve food security in West and East Africa. While pursuing her Masters, Abena interned at the Climate Change Directorate at Forestry Commission, Ghana. She participated and prepared a report on a REDD+ Safeguard Training Workshop at Juabeso-Bia, in Ghana. 

Meetha Ram was a Visiting Research Scholar at Dalhousie University and worked with Dr. Melanie Zurba at the Community-Engaged CoLab. He is doing an interdisciplinary PhD in Environmental Sustainability and Wellbeing at the University of Ferrara Italy. Previously he completed his Master of Philosophy in Sociology from the Huazhong Agricultural University of China and M.A in Sociology from the University of Sindh, Jamshoro in Pakistan. Currently, he is working on waste management, treatment and sustainable development goals by applying interdisciplinary approaches. He also worked on the research areas including migration studies, women empowerment and youth studies. He has worked on various projects and programs with different non-profit institutions aiming at youth and women empowerment, community engagement, promoting the sense of civic education, peace and tolerance and sexual and reproductive health rights. In his past experiences, Mr. Ram worked through engaging various stakeholders in his practical research interventions.

Mary is a graduate of Dalhousie University where she completed a Bachelor of Management, Major in Environment Sustainability. Mary completed her Honour’s Thesis under Dr. Melanie Zurba’s supervision, she partnered with The University of Winnipeg’s Access Education Department to deliver a review of its programs. Mary is currently working in Whitehorse, Yukon with the Northern Council for Global Cooperation where she is developing a map of the Northern organizations implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Juan is finishing his last semester of a Bachelor’s in Social-territorial Studies at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico City. With an interdisciplinary approach and proficiency in GIS, Juan has gained extensive experience collaborating with NGOs and performing socio-environmental research. In addition, he worked as a project manager for almost three years, operating closely with startups and impact investing. He is currently working as an intern at the CoLab.

Juan’s professional and academic experience in different fields responds to his interest in fostering strong governance networks where stakeholders can collaborate effectively to address global challenges, starting at the local scale. Therefore, in his bachelor’s thesis, he is working alongside Ajla Ahmetovic from the University of Leuphana to conduct a social-ecological resilience assessment and future scenario modeling of Juan’s hometown watershed. Together, they aim to analyze and communicate to unspecialized audiences the present condition of the watershed, as well as its potential physical and governance outlook in the years ahead.

Juan is currently the Regional Ambassador of the Americas in the international network YouthMappers, where he organizes, collaborate, and implements mapping activities that respond to actual development needs around the globe – creating and using geospatial data and information made publicly available through open platforms. He aspires to continue learning interdisciplinary skills and abilities that will enable him to develop bridge-building strategies in different sectors.

In 2016, Melika completed her master’s degree in International Law at the University of Tehran. In her thesis, she explored how ill-conceived environmental policies, environmental mismanagement, and ignoring Indigenous peoples rights could threaten international peace. she pursued her Master in Environmental Studies under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Zurba and Dr. Ryan Bullock at Dalhousie University. Her masters research contributes to the exploration of international guiding frameworks for protected areas and their affect on the development and implementation of Indigenous-led protected areas in Canada. She also explores how Indigenous leaders in Canada participate in the development of international guiding frameworks for protected areas and identify barriers, opportunities, challenges and benefits to their participation in terms of Indigenous-led protected area development in Canada. Melika’s research seeks to build on such concepts as: ways of empowerment, equity, and active, and deliberate involvement of new Indigenous-sourced knowledge, all as part of meaningful inclusion of Indigenous peoples in decision-making, supported by ‘collaborative environmental governance’.