Expertise:

Indigenous Conservation Governance, Protected Areas, Community-based Research

Language(s) spoken:

English

Professional associations:

PhD

Monica Mulrennan is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment and Associate Vice-President, Research (Development & Outreach) in the Office of Research and Graduate Studies (OVPRGS), at Concordia University. She holds a BA(Hons) and PhD in Geography from University College Dublin, Ireland. She is a founding member of CICADA (the Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives) at McGill University, and an honorary member of the ICCA Consortium (Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Areas and Territories).

 

Her research focuses on Indigenous rights and interests in coastal and marine portions of Indigenous traditional territories, including Indigenous knowledge, use and stewardship of Indigenous land-sea territories, Indigenous-led strategies of conservation and environmental protection, and local adaptations to environmental change. She has sustained research partnerships with Torres Strait Islanders, northern Queensland, and James Bay Crees (Eeyou Istchee),northern Quebec for more than twenty-five years. In addition to numerous research papers and book chapters, she is co-editor of a recently published edited volume “Caring for Eeyou Istchee: Protected Area Creation in Eeyou Istchee” (UBC Press, 2019).

 

Her current projects include her participation in the SSHRC-funded “Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership” (CRP), hosted by the University of Guelph. This program of work includes Indigenous leaders, organizations, youth and Elders, along with emerging and established scholars, and various conservation agencies and organizations, working together in support of Indigenous-led conservation in Canada.

 

Monica is also a co-investigator on “FISHES: Fostering Indigenous Small-scale fisheries for Health, Economy, and food Security”, a large-scale applied research project partly funded through Genome Canada and Génome Québec. This project applies genomic approaches in concert with Traditional Ecological Knowledge to address critical challenges and opportunities related to food security and commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries of northern Indigenous Peoples in Canada (Inuit, Cree and Dené communities).

 

In addition Monica is working with Torres Strait Islander women on a community video project, which documents their connections and attachments to solwata (sea space). She is also involved in a collaborative research project with colleagues at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) that explores the historical and cultural dimensions of seaweed harvesting in Ireland.

 

Monica has served as Associate Dean, Graduate Student Affairs, in the School of Graduate Studies(2004-08), and Chair of the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment(2014-17). She was recognized as a Concordia Sustainability Champion in 2009 and received Concordia University’s Academic Leadership Award in 2017.

 

 

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