2017 Research Grant Recipients

Congratulations to all our 2017 award winners!

Research Assistantship Recipients

Elizabeth Worden

University of Manitoba

Changing Human-Beluga Relations and Subsistence Livelihoods in the Canadian Arctic 

Elizabeth is studying changes over time in subsistence hunting for Beluga Whales and in changes to the Climate. She is designing the project together with the community, as the focus of the research being on community. This unique interdisciplinary approach will be to assess the implications of these changes on subsistence livelihoods and overall community well-being in Aklavik, NT.

Steven Mamet

University of Saskatchewan

Permafrost and ecological change in the eastern Selwyn/western Mackenzie Mountains 

Steven is researching to gain an improved understanding of both vegetative and environmental limiting factors in the North. He will study what changes mean for subarctic environments and plant communities, with the changes being increasing temperatures, longer growing seasons, and thawing permafrost.

Kimberley Geeves

Simon Fraser University

Sediment Carbon Quality in Lakes of the Mackenzie River Delta, Western Canadian Arctic 

Kimberley is studying the role of sediment carbon quality on the biogeochemistry of methane cycling in lakes of the Mackenzie River Delta. The project will assess how the multiple stresses of global change may affect lakes of the Delta and will overall be a benefit to communities that depend on aquatic resources derived from the Mackenzie Delta.

Research Fellowship Program

David Fawcett

University of Guelph

A Longitudinal Approach to Assessing Vulnerability to Climate Change in Ulukhaktok, NWT 

David will study how climate change is being experienced and responded to by Inuit in Ulukhaktok, NT over an eleven year period. Specifically, the research focuses on Inuit subsistence hunting and seeks to understand the dynamics of how climate change affects subsistence, as well as coping and adaptive responses.

Chris Cannon

University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Traditional Sahtu Dene Astronomy and Sky-Related Knowledge 

Chris intends to document traditional Sahtu Dene astronomy and sky-related knowledge in Déline, NWT. This study builds on the researcher's ongoing dissertation research in Alaska and Canada to understand Northern Dene astronomy more broadly as a complex domain of linguistic and cultural knowledge.

Michael Palmer

Carleton University

An investigation of the factors inhibiting the chemical recovery of Yellowknife area lakes from 50 years of arsenic pollution 

Michael is researching catchment and within-lake processes that are impeding the natural recovery of lakes in the Yellowknife Area. Lakes near historical mining operations in the area continue to show signs of arsenic contamination almost 60 years after the bulk of arsenic was deposited across the landscape from legacy ore roasting operations.

Elizabeth Worden

University of Manitoba

Changing Human-Beluga Relations and Subsistence Hunting in the Canadian Arctic 

Elizabeth is studying changes over time in subsistence hunting for Beluga Whales and in changes to the Climate. She is designing the project together with the community, as the focus of the research being on community. This unique interdisciplinary approach will be to assess the implications of these changes on subsistence livelihoods and overall community well-being in Aklavik, NT.

Kevin Wallington

Choices North Farms

Demonstration of an Agro-Ecological PoultryPonics Dome in Hay River, NWT 

Kevin Wallington of Choice North Farms in Hay River is conducting a PoultryPonics demonstration that combines egg farming with hydroponics production with the use of a 'bioreactor' that converts manure into nutrient solutions for the plants in a highly energy efficient dome.

Lyle Frank

University of Calgary

The phenomenology of Indigenous Suicide: A Family Case Study Using a Talking Circle Approach

Lyle is investigating the issue of Indigenous suicide by using interpretive phenomenological analysis. He is doing a case study of an NWT family, and seeks to find out the meanings associated with suicide, and how individuals make sense of this experience by using Indigenous talking circles.