Published June 2, 2011
by afdubreu
Dr. Rachel Hirsch has been awarded the 2011-12 Labrador Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship <http://www.mun.ca/arts/research/labradorPostdoc.php> .
Dr. Hirsch holds a PhD (Geography) from the University of Western Ontario and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. Her research areas of interest include Arctic food insecurity, health and environmental governance, community resiliency, and knowledge sharing. In her work she is also concerned about issues of ethics and cooperation so that engagement with the public on policy issues can be made as transparent and equitable as possible.
Dr. Hirsch will be co-supervised by Dr. Trevor Bell (Geography, Memorial) and Dr. Chris Furgal (Indigenous Environmental Studies, Trent University). Her research will be conducted through the Labrador Institute, and it is funded by the Faculty of Arts, the Labrador Institute, and Drs. Bell and Furgal. Dr. Hirsch hopes to reside in Nain where she will work closely with Tom Sheldon (Nunatsiavut Government) for the duration of her fellowship. She will also be teaching a course for the Labrador Institute.
Dr. Hirsch’s postdoctoral research is entitled “Sharing research findings in Nunavut and Nunatsiavut: Assessing the integration of community-based knowledge in policy communications about climate change related food insecurity.” The main goal of her postdoctoral research is to determine how community-level indigenous knowledge is being integrated into local, territorial, and national climate change adaptation policy decisions about country food access insecurities in the Canadian Arctic.
Dr. Hirsch is currently affiliated with several other projects, her associated roles include:
- Coordinator of a virtual forum and workshop being co-hosted by York University’s Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS <http://www.irisyorku.ca> ) and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS <http://www.apecs.is/> ) in preparation for the 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa (COP 17).
- Collaborator with Damian Castro (Memorial University), Glen Lesins (Dalhousie University), and Kaz Higuchi (Environment Canada and York University) on a project titled: “Cooperative food sharing in Sheshatshiu: Uncovering scenarios to support the 'emergent capacity' of Northern communities”.
- Postdoctoral Associate with working groups on intellectual property issues in cultural heritage (IPinCH at Simon Fraser University), the science to policy interface (ArcticNet at Laval University) and the promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration on climate change (CC-RAI at York University).
Posted in: IRIS News
