Memorial University Ian Petty Research Assistant (WP2) More to come.

Ronald Pelot Co-investigator (IWP2, WP3) Dr. Pelot is a Professor in Industrial Engineering at Dalhousie University, specializing in maritime risk and response for over 20 years. His research work related to the FOCI application comprises four related areas in modelling and investigation. (1) Maritime traffic modelling: much modelling work on maritime traffic depends on a spatio-temporal representation of traffic patterns, usually disaggregated by vessel type, commodity type, activity, etc. (2) Maritime traffic risk analysis: risk analysis encompasses many elements and stages. Dr Pelot’s work has addressed a variety of aspects such as extreme weather impacts on fishing incidents, exposure measures for better risk prediction, ship characteristics correlation with incident rate. (3) Arctic shipping: Ron had been involved in three large-scale arctic shipping studies, including OFI Mod N in Phase 1. Some issues addressed therein were ship routing in ice, remoteness relevance for risk, and cumulative impacts of shipping in the north. (4) Response resource planning: where SAR resources are located (ex. CCG vessels and lifeboat stations) affect response time, coverage, and back-up options. The optimization models are quite relevant to the current SAR WP proposal. Since 2012, Dr. Pelot has also been the Associate Scientific Director of the MEOPAR NCE (Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response Network of Centres of Excellence), a role which allows him to bring a lot of expertise to FOCI in regards to project planning, networking, and knowledge mobilization.

Vicki Kristman Co-investigator (WP8) Dr. Kristman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Lakehead University and the Inaugural Director for a new Research Institute at Lakehead University: EPID@Work – Enhancing the Prevention of Injury and Disability@Work. She also holds appointments in the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto. She holds a doctoral degree in epidemiology from the University of Toronto and completed the CIHR Work Disability Prevention strategic training program as a postdoctoral fellow at the University Health Network in Toronto. In 2014, Dr. Kristman was awarded a prestigious CIHR New Investigator Award for her program of research on “Preventing Work Disability through Accommodation”. She is currently leading projects to identify factors associated with Indigenous work, health and safety, and to determine factors associated with supervisors’ support for providing work accommodations for workers with mental health disorders. Dr. Kristman is the Principal Investigator on an ongoing SSHRC Partnership Development Grant entitled “Understanding labour force participation, work productivity and disability in the Indigenous context: a partnership with the Nokiiwin Tribal Council. She will collaborate with Dr. Cullen and a PhD student to engage local Indigenous groups to build a local Indigenous Coastal Communities partnership. The partnership will develop a “two-eyed seeing” approach to 1) understand the burden of the problem of work disability in coastal communities; and 2) identify opportunities for the development of novel culturally-sensitive policies and practices to strengthen Indigenous workers and workplaces to increase labour force participation and productivity, and reduce work disability.

Robert Stephenson Co-Lead (IWP1), Advisory Committee member Dr. Robert Stephenson is a Research Scientist with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (St. Andrews Biological Station, since 1984), and Visiting Research Professor at the University of New Brunswick (since 2010). From 2010-2016 he was Principal Investigator of the Canadian Fisheries Research Network – an NSERC-funded network that linked academics, industry and government in collaborative fisheries research across Canada. Stephenson has worked extensively on the ecology, assessment, and management of Atlantic herring, and more broadly on issues related to fisheries resource evaluation and Fisheries Management Science. Current research interests include development of integrated coastal management, implementation of the ecosystem approach in social-ecological systems, development of policies and strategies for full-spectrum sustainability of marine activities including the integration of ecological, economic, social/cultural and institutional aspects of management, and strategic foresighting in relation to the management of coastal activities and the viability of coastal communities in the context of ecosystem change.

Grenfell Campus, Memorial University Rachel Kelly Postdoctoral Fellow (IWP1) Dr Rachel Kelly is a Postdoctoral Fellow in FOCI’s IWP #1 , conducting research that will improve understanding and inform the potential use of ‘foresighting’ in the FOCI project. Rachel’s role in the project cements research linkages between Memorial University and the Centre for Marine Socioecology (CMS) and the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) both in Tasmania, Australia. She is also heavily involved with developing and expanding the nascent FOCI HQP Caucus. Rachel is a marine socioecologist. Her most recent research has focused on the human dimensions of ocean sustainability, with a particular focus on improving global ocean literacy, connecting citizen science more actively with marine conservation initiatives, and engaging communities more meaningfully to secure marine space social licence. This work has involved collaborative research projects in and with the CMS, the World Maritime University in Sweden, the Australian National University in Canberra, iDiv in Germany, and other international groups. Currently, Rachel is working under the supervision of Asoc Prof Paul Foley and Dr Rob Stephenson (in FOCI) to assess linkages between the concepts foresighting and full-spectrum sustainability, to further the aims and objectives of the wider FOCI project working groups.

Memorial University Emily Reid-Musson Postdoctoral Fellow (WP2) Emily Reid-Musson is an interdisciplinary work and labour researcher with training in human geography (PhD, 2017, Geography, University of Toronto) and public/occupational health (Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, 2017-2019). Her research focuses on workers’ experiences in non-standard workplaces, including migrant, mobile, and self-employed forms of work, with a particular emphasis on Canadian agriculture, and more recently, Atlantic Canada fisheries. Another area of focus is labour policy and regulation, including workplace health and safety. She is a qualitative researcher and contributes to social and geographical theory, particularly feminist geography and political economy. Her research has been published in human geography and labour and employment journals, including Environment and Planning A and New Technology, Work, and Employment. With Dr. Joel Finnis and Dr. Barb Neis, she is currently conducting OFI research on the ways small-scale fish harvesters use and interpret weather information to manage weather hazards in their work at sea. Their research article was recently published in Applied Geography, “Bridging fragmented knowledge between forecasting and fishing communities: Co-managed decisions on weather delays in Nova Scotia's lobster season openings” ( https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2021.102478 )

Robert Chafe Collaborator (IWP4) Robert Chafe is a St. John’s based playwright and has worked in theatre, dance, opera, radio, fiction and film. His stage plays have been seen in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and in the United States, and include Oil and Water, Tempting Providence, Afterimage, Under Wraps, Between Breaths, and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (adapted from the novel by Wayne Johnston.) He has been shortlisted twice for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and he won the award for Afterimage in 2010. He has been guest instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and The National Theatre School of Canada. In 2018 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is the playwright and Artistic Director of Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland. Mr. Chafe’s roles in the FOCI’s IWP4 will be to gather original stories related to the collapse of the fishery, the impact of offshore oil development, and the effects of climate change from people living in coastal communities in the province and work with Neis to place them in conversation with FOCI and OFI themes and research findings. Chafe will develop the stories and conversation into a play for which original music - informed both by his text and the rich traditional music from these specific regions of the province will be commissioned by composer Randolph Peter.

Melanie Griffin Co-investigator (WP5) Melanie learned a long time ago that she loved the outdoors. During her time at St. Francis Xavier University, she favoured classes like biology, marine biology, coastal oceanography, and marine pollution while she completed her Bachelor of Science, majoring in Biology. After this, shg attended James Cook University in Townsville, Australia and noted that she learned more about the Canadian fisheries while in Australia than she ever did here in Canada. She went straight to work looking for a job in Canada where she could help in the lobster industry. She had some amazing jobs along the way, as a Marine Interpreter on a Whale Watching Boat, Marine Biologist in a lobster plant, Field tech at the Lobster Science Centre and Project Manager/field biologist with Aquatic Science and Health Services. All of which lead her to the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association. Now, she assists fishers directly in answering questions about different species and stock status, in an effort to ensure that fishing remains sustainable for future generations while maintaining a healthy ocean.

Randolph Peters Collaborator (IWP4) Randolph Peters is an internationally recognized composer who works in a wide range of art forms and music media. As well as many symphonic, choral and chamber music works, he has composed for opera, theatre and dance, and has created more than 100 film and television scores for feature, documentary and animated productions. Peters’ compositions have been presented around the world by such as artists as percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, the Kronos and the Penderecki String Quartets, and conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop, and Bramwell Tovey. His work includes commissions from the Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary, Québec, Manitoba Chamber, and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras, the Hannaford Street Silver Band, and the Elmer Iseler Singers, among others. His operas include Nosferatu, commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company; Inanna, set to an original libretto by Margaret Atwood; and The Golden Ass, with an original libretto by Robertson Davies, premiered by the COC in 1999.

2022-25 Sheridan R. Thompson Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator Currently, Sheridan is an Interdisciplinary PhD candidate conducting transdisciplinary research in Iceland focused on the impact that local knowledge has in adaptation to a rapidly changing coast in the face of a climate crisis. Sheridan has inquired into the making of knowledge with coasts through multiple ways of experience including story-telling, rock climbing, surfing, hiking, and research in both the natural and social sciences. Sheridan has been conducting experiential hiking tours in coastal landscape and culture since 2013 and has partnered with organizations such as Shorefast Foundation (Fogo Island), Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Network (NLEN), Oceans Learning Partnership (OLP), Coastal Connections, Harris Centre Public Engagement, and Fishing for Success (F4S). Sheridan came on board as the Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator with Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI) in June 2022.

David Lane Collaborator (IWP4) As part of FOCI IWP4, I will create a puppet play that reflects the rich craft and storytelling traditions of the Gros Morne region while capturing and promoting public engagement with core coastal communities around themes of our changing oceans and other FOCI themes. My aim is to enhance capacity in puppet construction and performance in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Gros Morne Puppet Project will engage in a process that recognizes the diversity of the west coast of Newfoundland, and uses indigenous and traditional knowledge as the bases for design and construction. We will draw on the knowledge that exists in communities already, be it boatbuilding, rug hooking, or trap construction, and in FOCI and relevant Bonne Bay Marine Institute research and redirect it towards making a piece of theatre that feels connected to the community in which it’s being created and works for a diverse audience. The creation of the play will help to answer some of the outreach programming needs of the Bonne May Marine Research Station, creating a piece of FOCI/Bonne Bay Marine Station theatre which will sit in their performance venue, and can be remounted with relative ease each summer. Visitors to the research station will view the play in the context of the region, and learn specifics about the history and local practices of the neighboring coastal communities and their connection to larger issues/challenges related to ocean change and coastal community sustainability.

Howard Ramos Co-Lead (WP6), Co-Investigator (IWP3) Professor Ramos is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology at Dalhousie University and Professor in, and Chair of, the Department of Sociology at Western University. He draws upon his experience as a political sociologist who investigates issues of social justice and equity and eclectic and wide range of research interests and expertise. He has published on environmental advocacy, perceptions of change in Atlantic Canada, social movements, human rights, Indigenous mobilization, ethnicity, race. He has published in his discipline’s top international and national venues and has worked across the disciplines of geography, political science, and sociology. Ramos is also a public intellectual who regularly works with community groups, such as the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, as well as all levels of government. He is currently the Chair of the Canadian Statistics Advisory Council which advises the Chief Statistician and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industy on matters concerning the overall quality of the national statistical system. He has also worked with NRCan and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and has worked with the Office of Immigration in Nova Scotia and city planners in Halifax. Ramos likewise engages in public debate and has done so through numerous television interviews, radio, and newspaper interviews in English and French on most national networks. He also has written many op-eds for national and international newspapers and magazines and been author of numerous reports. Additionally, Ramos is well known for his work on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and has worked with Universities Canada and the Tri-Council on these issues. His co-authored book, The Equity Myth, is widely adopted and has informed NSERC policy.