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Abstract:

For many decades, the dominant research paradigm for Arctic and Subarctic field research in Canada was rooted in fly-in, fly-out research where researchers often made little effort to interact with communities and local rightsholders. This approach often led to an uneven distribution of benefits from research and fostered animosity between the northern research community and northerners. However, in response to changing cultural norms and advocacy from Indigenous organizations, there has been a major shift in the past decade in how northern field research is practiced. This transition has pushed researchers towards seeking more meaningful connections with communities, and has led to changes in research methodologies, funding practices and most importantly the training of highly qualified personnel. Through case studies from Arctic and Subarctic Labrador, this talk presents examples of how research led by the Northern Environmental Geoscience Laboratory has approached community-engagement across a subset of its projects. It also reflects on lessons learned from over a decade of research of working with communities in Labrador and provides perspective on the opportunities and challenges of undertaking field-based natural science research in a changing research paradigm.

Biography:

Dr. Robert Way is an interdisciplinary northern scientist who specializes in understanding the impacts of climate change on the cryosphere (‘parts of the earth system that are frozen’).

Dr. Robert Way is a Kallunângajuk (Nunatsiavummiut) from central Labrador. He is currently an Associate Professor, a Canada Research Chair in Northern Environmental Change and he leads the Northern Environmental Geoscience Laboratory in the Department of Geography and Planning at Â鶹¹ÙÍø in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. As an Indigenous northerner, Dr. Way’s experiences and relationships with community have profoundly shaped the 15+ years he has been working on issues related to climate change in Labrador.