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Madeleine Gustavsson Collaborator (WP9) Dr Madeleine Gustavsson is a Researcher at Ruralis – Institute for Rural and Regional Research in Trondheim, Norway. Before joining Ruralis, she was a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter (UK), holding an Economic and Social Research Council New Investigator fellowship, researching the changing lives of women in small-scale fishing families in the UK and Newfoundland. As part of the Women in Fisheries project, Madeleine visited Memorial University in 2018 as a visiting postdoctoral fellow where she also got to learn about the Newfoundland fishery and collect data with women in Newfoundland fishing families. Previous to this, Madeleine conducted research on fishing cultures – including intergenerational and gendered dimension – in North Wales, UK which led here to secure PhD in Human Geography at the University of Liverpool. In addition to publishing on the topics of fisheries, gender and Blue Justice, Madeleine has co-edited the book ‘Researching People and the Sea’ published with Palgrave Macmillan in 2021. More broadly, her research focuses on marine, coastal and rural issues drawing on social science methods to understand the lifeworlds of people living and working with the sea. Dr Gustavsson will collaborate with the lead and postdoctoral fellow of FOCI’s Work package 9.3.

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.

Grenfell Campus, Memorial University Moses Adjei Postdoctoral Fellow (WP5) Moses Adjei is a Marine Social Scientist and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Science and the Environment at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Grenfell Campus. He has been working on FOCI’s WP5 – ‘Building collaborative interdisciplinary research infrastructure in Atlantic Canada’s lobster fisheries’. Within the past year, Moses has collaborated with FOCI’s WP5 team and leaders of Lobster Fisheries Associations (Lobster Node) to co-develop a survey and interview tools for tracking the socio-economic benefits of lobster to communities, municipalities, and Provinces in Atlantic Canada. Moses has also participated in several conferences and seminars under the FOCI project in Canada. He has strong research interest and experience in working with coastal communities. Specifically, Moses’ research focuses on women and gender, coastal livelihoods and wellbeing and marine resource governance. His studies have been published in reputable journals including Journal of Urban Affairs, Journal of Comparative Family studies, Rural Sociology, Ocean and Coastal Management, The Extractive Industries and Society, and Gender, Place and Culture, Coastal Management and Maritime Affairs.

Brian Veitch Co-investigator (IWP1) Professor Brian Veitch is the NSERC / Husky Energy IRC in Safety at Sea at Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on the safety of people who work in complex socio-technical systems, especially those who work at sea. During the last 20 years, he has supervised more than 260 graduate students, research associates, and undergraduate co-op students; published more than 270 journal and conference papers; and secured over $15M in research funding. Veitch will serve on the FOCI Advisory Committee and is an investigator in IWP1.

Memorial University Contessa Small Research Assistant (WP8) Contessa Small (Ph.D.) is a folklorist, cultural heritage consultant, and researcher specializing in Newfoundland folklore, narrative, and occupational folklife. She is a Research Assistant with the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) and the SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research, Memorial University. Her current research explores return-to-work challenges for injured/ill maritime workers in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada—supporting OFI’s research project Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI) Work Package 8 ( Comparative Studies of Return to Work after Work Injury or Illness: Challenges for Marine Workers in BC and Atlantic Canada ), and a national research project partnership headquartered at the University of Ottawa called Policy and Practice in Return-to-Work After a Work Injury . Contessa has worked as a print and radio journalist (CBC Radio), university instructor, museum curator, and municipal heritage and arts coordinator creating and implementing projects and programming which foster engagement with, and raise awareness of, traditional culture and community arts. Her commitment to creating awareness about women’s occupational roles and traditional culture won her the Woman of the Year Award (Corner Brook Status of Women Council) and the Carillon Trophy for 1st Place for Best Feature Story (Better Newspapers Competition, Canadian Community Newspapers Association). She is also a creative writer, and a musician and singer with Newfoundland folk songs being her favourite genre to sing. Contessa is a Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies (Memorial), and a recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship , the Graduate Students’ Union Award for Excellence in Research (Memorial) and folklore awards including the David Buchan Graduate Research Award in Folklore , the Maurice J. Burke Memorial Scholarship , the Mary A. Griffiths Memorial Bursary for Folklore Field Research , and the W.W. Newell Prize (American Folklore Society).

Memorial University Om Prakash Yadav Master's Student (WP1) Mr. Om Prakash Yadav, trained in dentistry and specialized in public health dentistry (both from India). Mr. Yadav recently finished his second master's in community health at MUN. He is the recipient of the Shree Mulay Community Health Graduate Award, the Mitacs Research Training Award, and the Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies award at MUN. Additionally, he received the "Medal of Merit" award at the UNESCO/UNITWIN Network Web Seminar 2020 for his remarkable presentation on the distribution and mapping of persistent organic pollutants in a variety of environmental matrices throughout Europe. He assisted Drs. Atanu Sarkar and Desai Shan with two research projects as a research assistant during his master's program. He collected and analyzed approximately 100,000 data points for research examining spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution of various environmental contaminants across Europe. Additionally, he collaborated with Dr. Shan on a large study project that examined rising issues in Canadian marine governance. Mr. Yadav defended his master's thesis, "Risk perceptions of occupational noise exposure and its effects on the health of fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador: A mixed-methods research."

Jamie Skidmore Co-investigator (IWP4) Dr. Jamie Skidmore is a Full Professor in the Department of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, where he teaches practical classes in theatre and film production, including courses on directing, producing, design, and technical theatre. He is also the coordinator of the Diploma in Stage and Screen Technique. He is an award-winning theatre artist, who has been working in theatre for over thirty years as a director, designer, playwright, producer, technician, and more. He has worked professionally in B.C., Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador; as well as in Vermont, USA. He is a co-founder of the Isle aux Morts Theatre Festival, and a founding member of the St. John’s Shorts Play Festival. His work as a playwright includes Song of the Mermaid, which toured the island of Newfoundland, and Our Ancient Family , which toured Labrador in partnership with the NunatuKavut Community Council. He has trained in puppet design, construction, and manipulation with the New England Puppet Intensive and Puppets in Prague. He has trained as a mask designer with the Sartori family, the foremost mask makers in the world. His puppet show creations include A Fish Tale: A Lantern Puppet Play , which he wrote and designed giant lantern puppets for the production; and The Brass Button Man , a shadow puppet play, which he lead and co-created. He has also run puppet building workshops, teaching youth and young adults how to build lantern puppets and shadow puppets.

Memorial University Erin Pearson Master's Student (WP2) Erin Pearson is a Master of Science student based in St. John’s, NL, co-supervised by Dr. Carissa Brown and Dr. Joel Finnis. She grew up on the west coast of the island, where her curiosity and love of nature inspired her to complete the Forest Resources Technician diploma at College of the North Atlantic. She went on to obtain her Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Forestry at the University of New Brunswick, which fostered a desire to return to Newfoundland and an interest in studying forest- and tree level responses to climate change at Memorial University. Erin’s work with FOCI focuses on the role of urban forests in the face of climate change through i) gaining a better understanding of how urban forests alter local climate, and ii) exploring how changes in local climates will influence the health and ecological integrity of urban forests.

Memorial University Muhammad Sabah Ud Din Ersum Master's Student (WP1) More to come.