Current Work & Selected Projects
The moment I fell in love with the Arctic! Peaking through the CCGS Amundsen icebreaker window while documenting research on board as we were going through the Northwest Passage in 2009. The six-week journey took us from Paulatuk, NWT to Quebec City via Eastern Baffin Island and the Labrador Fjords. Eternally grateful to my mentor Dr. S. Kim Juniper for this opportunity.
📷 : Joannie Ferland.
For nearly two decades, my work has connected environmental stewardship, community-led research, education, and storytelling. Across these experiences, I have become particularly interested in creating the relationships, partnerships, and structures that allow communities to shape priorities, strengthen local leadership, and connect with broader networks.
Current Areas of Work:
🌊 Community-led research & funding — MEOPAR
As Program Manager, Community-led Research at MEOPAR, 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, where I am developing a Canadian Living Lab funding program and participating in international co-design and peer learning.
Selected Projects & Collaborations:
🎥 Participatory storytelling & Inuvialuit youth — Tuktoyaktuk
Continuing a long-term collaboration with Inuvialuit youth and community partners using participatory storytelling to explore environmental change, strengthen youth leadership, and connect locally grounded knowledge with wider audiences.
Selected Projects:
☀️ Research Associate on a community-based case study of Ulkatcho First Nation’s solar farm project through ACET at the University of Victoria. Contributed expertise in participatory and community-based research, filmed interviews, qualitative data analysis, and reporting. (2026)
🌅 Contributed as a Co-Investigator the Canada-Inuit Nunangat-United Kingdom (CINUK) Arctic Research Program entitled “Carving out Climate Testimony: Inuit Youth, Wellness & Environmental Stewardship” with Dr. Karla Williamson, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Dr. Jen Bagelman, Newcastle Univ., UK, Dr. Heather Castleden, Dr. Sarah Marie Wiebe, and Dr. Budd Hall at UVic. (2022-2025)
🌐 Coordinated programs and international collaborations with the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education with Dr. Budd Hall (UVic) and Dr. Rajesh Tandon (PRIA, India) to engage researchers and communities on knowledge democracy, open science, decolonization of knowledge, and participatory research (2021-2025)
🌍 Co-Facilitated and Co-created a Community-based Participatory Research hybrid course with Dr. Crystal Tremblay, Director of CIFAL Victoria. Organized by ICLD, CIFAL Victoria, UN Habitat and UVic, the in-person workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was a culmination of a 5-week course on community-based approach and arts-based tools (community mapping, participatory video, photovoice) in support of the SDGs (2022).
👀 Led strategic partnerships and program development as Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of Live It Earth, co-creating K–9 educational programs with communities and partners across Canada. (2017-2024)
👩💻 Created an Innovative French Educational program with the BC Ministry of Education to connect French schools in BC with French schools in New Caledonia through Live Underwater Shows
🌊 Co-founded and led Fish Eye Project, producing 15+ live underwater broadcasts from shipwreck, Arctic, and deep-sea environments for classrooms and giant screens.
Current / Past Collaborators:
