Awards, Grants, and Recognition
MITACS E-Accelerate Fellowship with Live It Earth as partner (2021-2023)
Myer Horowitz Award in Community-based Research, Centre for Youth and Society, Univ. of Victoria (2021)
Research Impact Canada Engaged Scholarship Award, Honourable mention (2021)
Inuit Partnership of Excellence Student Poster Award, Arctic Change (2020)
Students on Ice Inspiration Grant, Project grant (2018)
Northern Scientific Training Program, Project grant (2018, 2019, 2021)
Featured Top 18 Young Changemakers in Canada in CBC's TV Show "We are Canada" airing on April 30, 2017
SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarships (2017-2020)
Arctic Slope Community Foundation, North Slope (2012)
About me
I am a human geographer, marine ecologist, researcher, filmmaker, and connector working at the intersection of community-led environmental change, participatory research, and storytelling. I often wonder: how can we create the conditions for communities to lead meaningful change?
My research explored how participatory and arts-based approaches can support communities and young people in documenting environmental change, sharing knowledge, and shaping the conversations and decisions that affect them. For my PhD in Geography at the University of Victoria, I worked alongside Inuvialuit youth and community partners in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, using participatory video, photovoice, and other collaborative approaches to explore climate change, plastic pollution, and community resilience.
I currently work as Program Manager, Community-led Research at MEOPAR, where I lead national funding programs supporting Indigenous- and community-led ocean research across Canada, with a focus on equitable funding and community research capacity. I also contribute to BEACONSplus, a nine-country Horizon Europe initiative on coastal community resilience, with a focus on co-design and peer learning.
My work has connected me with communities, researchers, educators, governments, and organizations across Canada and internationally. Through initiatives including the UNESCO Knowledge for Change global consortium and UArctic networks, I have become particularly interested in how locally grounded priorities and knowledge can connect with broader networks, resources, and opportunities for peer learning.
Before returning to academia, I co-founded and led the non-profit Fish Eye Project, using live underwater broadcasting to connect audiences with the ocean, and later co-founded Live It Earth, where I led partnership and development work for digital learning experiences about the natural world. Across these different chapters, I have learned the value of bringing together people, disciplines, and ways of knowing that might not otherwise meet.
My background spans marine ecology, geography, environmental education, filmmaking, program leadership, and community-based research. Rather than seeing these as separate fields, I am interested in what becomes possible when we bring them together.
You should know something about me: I enjoy making the “impossible” possible.
Affiliations
UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research & Social Responsibility in Higher Education - Research Associate
Local Scale Planning, Climate Change and Resilience, UArctic Thematic Network (Member)
Communications Director and Fellow International, The Explorers Club (since 2009)
DEI Committee member, The Explorers Club
Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Fellow Member '13
Testimonials
“One of Maeva’s greatest attributes are her excellent people skills. She is also a first rate, open-minded listener, and capable with dealing with a large diversity of personalities. She is a team player and her qualities makes her a greatly liked individual everywhere she works.”
- Ken Wu, Ancient Forest Alliance
“Maeva is a talented, articulate, and dedicated individual whose work consistently demonstrated a passion for the natural world and a refreshing creativity. She has a distinct knack for combining a keen cultural and scientific curiosity with her artistic disposition and natural storytelling abilities.”
- Jeff Morales, National Geographic TV & Film/ Tamarin Productions Inc.