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Gerald Singh Co-investigator (IWP1) Dr. Gerald Singh is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He has a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Sciences from the University of British Columbia. Singh is also the Deputy Research Director with the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center. His research is primarily situated in the science-policy interface, and focused on understanding the dynamics between social, economic, and environmental dimensions in sustainable development. This focus takes form in the following ways: 1) assessing cumulative anthropogenic impacts on the environment and understanding the consequences to people; 2) determine priority policy actions and plans to achieve specific sustainable development objectives (particularly the Sustainable Development Goals); 3) understand risk and uncertainty in sustainability policy and management. Doing work in any one of these areas means navigating data gaps, and Singh uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, as well as structured expert elicitation, in his research.

Memorial University Jacob Sargent Research Assistant (WP8) More to come.

Wendy Smith Co-investigator (WP7) Wendy Smith earned her Ph.D. at the Harvard Business School and is currently Professor of Management at the Lerner School of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. She brings to the team expertise in studying social enterprises, particularly through a lens of paradox theory. In her previous research, she has studied social enterprises around the world. Most notable her recent research explored the in-depth decision making across the first 10 years of Digital Divide Data, an award-winning work integration social enterprise started in Southeast Asia in 1999. This project explored how the senior leaders applied a paradoxical approach to effectively address the ongoing competing demands between their social mission to stop the cycle of poverty through enabling increased work opportunities and their business goals to be an operationally sustainable business. This research led to a publication in Administrative Science Quarterly, one of the top journals in the field of organizational studies, as well as publications in practitioner journals such as the Harvard Business Review and other blog posts. Working with PI Slawinski on SSHRC-funded (partnership development grant) research with Shorefast on Fogo Island NL, Smith has gained expertise in social enterprise research and development in Newfoundland and Labrador. This more recent work includes collaboration on the development of the PLACE model for social enterprise and community development, and on related workshops and publications in other blog posts. Smith has also collaborated with PI Slawinski on unpacking the competitive and cooperative dynamics in industry-wide alliances, by studying the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), an initiative to advance environmental standards among companies in the Alberta Oil Sands. Finally, Smith offers expertise in research, analysis and publication. She has spent the last three years as an associate editor at the Academy of Management Journal, one of the top journals in organization studies, accruing insight on the development of academic publications.

Melanie Wiber Co-investigator (WP5) Melanie Wiber is Professor Emerita of Anthropology in the University of New Brunswick and Co-Editor of the Journal of Legal Pluralism. She has extensive experience in collaborative interdisciplinary research, including as a co-investigator on the SSHRC-funded Coastal CURA (Community and University Research Alliance), as lead for a Working Group on the Socio-Economics of Integrated Management for the Oceans Management Research Network that was co-funded by SSHRC and DFO, and as a co-investigator with the NSERC-funded Canadian Fisheries Research Network. In the FOCI Consortium, Dr. Wiber is Co-Investigator on WP5: “Building collaborative interdisciplinary research infrastructure in Atlantic Canada’s lobster fisheries.”

FUTURE OCEAN NEWS Learn more about the research, initiatives, and achievements of FOCI’s network of researchers, HQP, collaborators, and partners in our newsletter "Future Ocean News". Future Ocean News March 2025 Future Ocean News December 2024 Future Ocean News September 2024 World Ocean Day June 2024 Future Ocean News May 2024 Future Ocean News April 2024 Future Ocean News March 2024 Future Ocean News January 2024 Future Ocean News December 2023 Future Ocean News September 2023 Future Ocean News July 2023 Future Ocean News March 2023 Future Ocean News December 2022 Future Ocean News October 2022 Future Ocean News March 2022 Future Ocean News February 2022 Future Ocean News December 2021 Future Ocean News November 2021 Future Ocean News September 2021 Future Ocean News August 2021 Future Ocean News July 2021 World Ocean Day June 2021

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.

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.

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.

Jason Thistlethwaite Co-investigator (IWP2) Dr. Jason Thistlethwaite is an Associate Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development (SEED) at the University of Waterloo. His research on flood risk management has been supported by SSHRC (2015-2017, 2018-2022), a MEOPAR Early-Career Scholar Grant (2015-2017), and the Canadian Water Network (2016-2017). These projects provided training for 1 Postdoctoral Fellow, 3 PhDs, and 4 MAs. In 2017, he was appointed to the Government of Canada’s National Roundtable on Flood Risk (a cabinet-level committee) and his work is informing Public Safety Canada and the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s (IBC) efforts to design flood insurance for high risk areas. Dr. Thistlethwaite’s expertise in public policy, flood risk management and urban climate change will benefit the project to inform decision-making on strategies to reduce risk. His recent research includes an international instrumental analysis of urban flood risk management strategies, and an evaluation of the suitability of these instruments in Ontario municipalities. He also recently completed an evaluation of existing flood maps in Canada to inform public decision-making on risk reduction. Dr. Thistlethwaite leads the Canadian Coastal Resilience Forum (CCRF), a Community of Practice dedicated to strengthening social resilience to natural hazards by facilitating the sharing of knowledge across a variety of sectors and identifying/promoting effective governance strategies.

Photo by Ritche Perez CONTACT We encourage you to reach out with any questions or comments about research and collaboration at foci@mun.ca

Tom Cooper Co-investigator (WP7) Dr. Tom Cooper is Professor at the Faculty of Business Administration, Memorial University. His research interests include risk management and strategic planning. Prior to taking his position at Memorial, Tom was a Senior Manager in PwC’s Consulting practice in London, United Kingdom for seven years. He holds a Ph.D. in Business from the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, United Kingdom and undergraduate degrees in commerce and philosophy from Memorial University. He has published his research on entrepreneurship and social innovation in a number of peer-reviewed journals including Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations, Community Work and Family, the Journal of Enterprising Communities as well as Greener Management International: The Journal of Corporate Environmental Strategy and Practice. Tom has spoken at international, national and local conferences on the subjects of risks as well as innovation. Aside from a number of research awards, he was the recipient of Memorial University’s President’s Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2013. His research has also been funded in the past by SSHRC, the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs, the Harris Centre at Memorial University as well as Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador. Tom has specific interests in social innovation and entrepreneurship as it relates to organizations and communities. Tom’s research approach is focused on a collaborative, participatory research approach that aims to make a difference in the organizations, communities and people. Tom Cooper is a Co-Investigator on the project and will act as the co-lead for partner relationships, colead for knowledge mobilization/transfer efforts as well as act as a co-author on academic articles, reports and media.

Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures FOCI is collaborative research that addresses infrastructure needs that are sustainable, safe and inclusive coastal communities in Atlantic Canada. Supported by OFI, academia, government, business, non-profit, and Indigenous community partnerships. Photo by Ritche Perez FUTURE OCEAN & COASTAL INFRASTRUCTURES Designing, safe, sustainable and inclusive coastal communities & industries for Atlantic Canada Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI) is a collaborative research project with the overall objective to identify and address diverse infrastructure needs, problems and opportunities in support of sustainable, safe and inclusive coastal communities and ocean industries in Atlantic Canada. Supported primarily by the Ocean Frontier Institute, FOCI brings together academic, government, business, non-profit, and Indigenous community partners focused on understanding key aspects of ocean and ecosystem change and developing strategic and effective solutions that can be applied both locally and globally. THE PROJECT Meet the Team Researchers and collaborators from 34 engineering, natural science, social science and artistic disciplines Meet our Partners Local, regional, national and international partners and collaborators from Indigenous communities, industry, government and civil society Learn about our Research Research Work Packages clustered under themes of safety, sustainability, inclusion and integration