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- Governance Structure | FOCI
GOVERNANCE FOCI’s governance framework has been designed to coordinate and integrate the project’s activities and support FOCI’s researchers and partners in their research. FOCI CORE FOCI’s Core Unit holds primary responsibility for leading planning of project implementation, financial management, monitoring project progress, and evaluation. It works closely with the Ocean Frontier Institute offices and other administrative departments at Memorial University and Dalhousie University to manage and implement project activities and ensure compliance with funding guidelines. The Core Unit is also responsible for coordinating reporting, overseeing data management, as well as supporting and facilitating communications and outreach within the FOCI Consortium, with project stakeholders and the wider public. FOCI’s Core Unit is composed of: Paul Foley, FOCI Co-Principal Investigator Lorenzo Moro, FOCI Co-Principal Investigator MacKenzie Young, Project Manager Sheridan Thompson, Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator PROGRAM COMMITTEE The FOCI Program Committee is comprised of the project work package leaders and is co-chaired by FOCI’s co-principal investigators. The committee provides a forum to review progress towards overall program objectives and milestones, discuss challenges, consult on program adjustments, and develop strategies to enhance integration, engagement and research dissemination. Program Committee Members Paul Foley (Co-Chair), Memorial University, School of Science and the Environment, Environmental Policy Institute, Grenfell Campus Lorenzo Moro (Co-Chair), Memorial University, Department of Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering Robert Brown, Memorial University, Marine Institute Kim Cullen, Memorial University, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation Joel Finnis, Memorial University, Department of Geography Karen Foster, Dalhousie University, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology Max Liboiron, Memorial University, Department of Geography Barbara Neis, Memorial University, Department of Sociology Nicole Power, Memorial University, Department of Sociology Howard Ramos, Western University, Department of Sociology Natalie Slawinski, University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business Robert Stephenson, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and University of New Brunswick Mark Stoddart, Memorial University, Department of Sociology ADVISORY COMMITTEE The FOCI Advisory Committee brings together diverse experiences and perspectives from senior researchers in different disciplines and external stakeholders. The committee’s role is to monitor FOCI’s progress towards overall objectives and provide guidance to strengthen FOCI research, partnerships, engagement, EDI, knowledge mobilization, and research impacts. Recommendations from the Advisory Committee are shared with the FOCI Core Unit and Program Committee. Advisory Committee Members Barbara Neis (Chair), Memorial University Brian Veitch, Memorial University Robert Stephenson, Fisheries and Oceans Canada & University of New Brunswick Robert Mellin, McGill University Philip Strong, Government of Newfoundland, Disability Policy Office
- Kelly Vodden
Kelly Vodden Co-investigator (WP7) Dr. Kelly Vodden is Professor (Research) with the Environmental Policy Institute, School of Science and the Environment and Associate Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland. She has been engaged in community and regional development research, policy and practice in rural communities across Canada for more than twenty-five years and in NL since 2003. She has published and led projects on topics ranging from rural regional governance to climate change adaptation, place-based rural development and innovation, and sustainable rural drinking water systems, and has supervised more than 50 undergraduate, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows on related topics. Dr. Vodden’s scholarship is motivated by a commitment to conduct research and co-create knowledge for the benefit of rural communities and the ecosystems they depend on and are part of. She seeks to undertake research in a way that involves and is accessible to those who will ultimately use and be impacted by the knowledge generated. This includes knowledge dissemination and mobilization activities through avenues such as research reports and policy briefs, websites/blogs, toolkits, and popular media in addition to more traditional scholarly venues. Her work has primarily been conducted as part of interdisciplinary, and even transdisciplinary teams that seek integrate various disciplinary perspectives and forms of knowledge.
- Floris Goerlandt
Floris Goerlandt Co-investigator (WP1; WP3) Dr. Goerlandt is an assistant professor in the Industrial Engineering Department at Dalhousie University. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Risk Management and Response Optimization for Marine Industries, through which he develops frameworks, models, and case studies for enhancing safety and minimizing environmental impacts of maritime activities. Before joining Dalhousie University, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Marine Technology unit in Aalto University, Finland. He has worked extensively with maritime authorities, industry, and international organizations, mostly in the Baltic Sea area. Topics included shipping safety management, oil spill preparedness and response risk analysis and management, maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) analysis and modeling, and ship routing in ice. His expertise in risk and safety concepts, theories, and methods, combined with his experience with the maritime industry and policy context is instrumental in achieving the objectives of Work Package 1 “Improving safety and environmental footprints of marine vehicles by design and operation” (WP1). In addition to the above, his knowledge of engineering modeling is also central in achieving the objectives of Work Package 3 “Search and Rescue in remote regions” (WP3).
- Mohannad AlRefai
Memorial University Mohannad AlRefai Co-op Student (WP3) Mohannad AlRefai is a senior Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering student at Memorial University St. John's campus. Born in Egypt, Mohannad would often visit the Suez canal as well as other coastal parts of Egypt, where his passion for naval architecture grew. Mohannad has previous co-op work experience in MUN where he was a research assistant for Dr. Mikko from Aalto University, who was conducting research on ice-ship interaction. Additionally, Mohannad had a co-op work term at local start-up Enaimco. With an expected graduation in Winter 2025, Mohannad aspires to contribute significantly to the field of naval architecture, whether in the field of academia or otherwise.
- Mohammad Zarrin Mehr
Marine Institute, Memorial University Mohammad Zarrin Mehr Master's Student (WP3) Mohammad is an experienced safety and risk engineer who has been involved in some mega-sized onshore, offshore, FLNG, and FPSO projects worldwide. He is a master’s student in the Maritime Studies Department of the Memorial University of Newfoundland. His research interests encompass marine and offshore safety studies, and his current research focuses on Search and Rescue (SAR) in maritime emergency situations. This research allows for a detailed investigation of the factors with the highest impact on SAR effectiveness. This was accomplished by developing a new macro-scale generalized SAR model to simulate the main activities within the SAR system in Eastern Canada and the Arctic. This model uses discrete event simulation to represent the SAR operations and a probabilistic Monte Carlo approach to incorporate uncertainties in performance data for the different components of the system. Through his research, it is possible that strategic decision-making for SAR resource allocation and configuration can be improved. The objective nature of this model enables SAR planning and asset positioning to be possible, depending on the likelihood and type of incidents, as well as the resources in different regions which may have different needs.
- Umme Kulsum
Grenfell Campus, Memorial University Umme Kulsum Postdoctoral Fellow (IWP1) Dr Umme Kulsum is a Postdoctoral Fellow in FOCI’s IWP #1 , conducting research that will undertake methodological comparison and advance application of ‘foresighting’ and ‘full-spectrum sustainability scenario comparison’ for future ocean and coastal infrastructures. She will play a leadership role in contributing to the synthesis framework, practical toolkit for coastal community and other practitioners. She is involved in engaging the Consortium’s ‘trainee caucus’, and the international Community of Practice organized by the work package. Kulsum in her most recent activities in Bangladesh, as National Climate Change and Risk Management Expert in Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has supported Department of Fisheries (DoF) on community-based climate resilient fisheries and aquaculture. She has facilitated climate risk and vulnerability assessment, developed manual, conducted training on integrated climate information services, climate resilience and ecosystem approaches to fisheries and aquaculture. She is an environmental science graduate from Khulna University, Bangladesh. Her interdisciplinary doctoral research has focused on participatory scenario-based approaches in bridging coastal community adaptation with adaptive delta management under uncertain climate and socioeconomic change. This research was in collaborative ‘Adaptive Delta Management’ project at Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology (Tudelft), in Netherlands, Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM), Bangladesh University of Technology (BUET) in Bangladesh and other international groups. She has a long experience in coastal community development, disaster risk management, food and livelihood security. Currently, Kulsum is working under the supervision of Asoc Prof Paul Foley and Dr Rob Stephenson (in FOCI) to integrate and apply the concepts of foresighting and full-spectrum sustainability, to further the aims and objectives of the wider FOCI project working groups.
- Whitney Lackenbauer
Whitney Lackenbauer Co-investigator (WP3) Dr. P. Whitney Lackenbauer is the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Study of the Canadian North and a Professor in the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario. He is also Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, which encompasses patrols throughout Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. His research focuses on Arctic policy, sovereignty, security, and governance issues; modern Canadian and circumpolar history; military history and contemporary defence policy; and Indigenous-state relations in Canada. This includes a particular focus on discerning ways to strengthen search and rescue (SAR) and emergency response capabilities in the Canadian North by clarifying and harmonizing the roles, responsibilities, and capabilities of the community-based organizations (e.g. Coast Guard Auxiliary, volunteer SAR teams, Canadian Rangers) and devising ways of better incorporating these groups into plans and policies. This research is a component of the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN) that he leads, which is funded by the Department of National Defence Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program from 2019-22. Dr. Lackenbauer will contribute to Work Package 3 “Search and Rescue in Remote Regions.
- Brenna Sobanski
Dalhousie University Brenna Sobanski Research Assistant (WP6) To learn more about Sobanski Brenna, (She/Her) — Faculty of Social Sciences (mcmaster.ca)
- Ajith Raj
Grenfell Campus, Memorial University Ajith Raj Doctoral Candidate (IWP1) Ajith Raj is a graduate student in the Transdisciplinary Sustainability program at the Grenfell campus of the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Ajith is part of the FOCI (Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures) Integrated Work Package-1 which is about the foresighting future ocean infrastructure. Before joining FOCI, Ajith lived in the western Indian islands called Lakshadweep and worked with the pole and line fisher community to develop a co-management system for the fisheries on the islands. His research focuses on the political economy of the blue economy, foresighting the future of sustainable ocean infrastructure for island communities and fisheries resource management. Ajith completed a Master’s in Development with a sustainability specialization and worked for a Fisheries conservation NGO in India.
- Joe Daraio
Joe Daraio Co-investigator (WP2) Dr. Joe Daraio is an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He has research experience in ecology, environmental hydraulics, and hydrology, and his primary research interests are in the integration of natural and built environment towards climate change adaptation and resilient design of civil infrastructure. His recent work has focused potential climate change impacts on storm water system design parameters, including peak flows, at local scales, and on development of relatively simple methods for design engineers to incorporate climate change impacts on flow frequencies using flow duration curves. He is principal investigator on a project funded by Natural Resources Canada working with the provincial government on Building Climate Resilience (BCR) to train professional engineers and planners to incorporate climate change into design and planning of infrastructure. This work provides a means to directly apply his research on climate change impacts into practice, and will identify important knowledge gaps for design of storm water infrastructure under climate change. The current proposal will expand on this ongoing work though the direct inclusion of coastal aspects of infrastructure, and by reaching beyond professionals directly to stakeholders and members of the public who have an important part to play in developing resilient and sustainable coastal communities. Dr. Daraio will co-lead with Finnis on WP2.2 (Utility of Climate Guidance)
- Natasha Olekshy
Grenfell Campus, Memorial University Natasha Olekshy Research Assistant (Core/IWP1) To learn more about Tasha Olekshy – Environmental Policy Institute (grenfell-epi.com)
- Barbara Neis | FOCI
Barbara Neis Lead (IWP4), Co-investigator (WP2, WP5, IWP2), Advisory Chair Professor Barbara Neis is a John Lewis Paton Distinguished University Professor, Department of Sociology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. She is a member of the Order of Canada (C.M.), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (F.R.S.C.), corecipient of the Vanier Institute of the Family’s Mirabelli-Glossop Award for Distinguished Contribution, member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Council of Canadian Academies and a former Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation. She co-founded and co-directed Memorial’s SafetyNet Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research over much of the period from 2001 to 2019. She is a former member of the Ocean Frontier Institute research management committee and co-leads the work package on aquaculture OHS within Module M. Over her career, a central focus of Professor Neis’ research has been the relationship between work, community and larger-scale societal and environmental change with a particular focus on rural and remote, resource dependent coastal communities. She has extensive experience in designing, securing funding for and completing major interdisciplinary programs of research using a community-engaged, partnered framework. Many of her research programs have focused on diverse aspects of marine and coastal communities ranging from sustainability, through governance, to local knowledge and science, health and safety, gender and fisheries and work-related mobility.










