Partnerships

Saint Mary’s researchers receive funding as part of Nova Scotia COVID-19 Health Research Coalition

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In this unprecedented time of local and global uncertainty, there has never been a greater need to conduct medical and health-related research to collect real-time evidence to inform practice, policy and decision making. The Nova Scotia research community has come together to respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic with a collective investment of just over $1.5 million in COVID-19 focused research. 

Today, the Nova Scotia COVID-19 Health Research Coalition announced the lead researchers who are receiving funding. Among the recipients are two Saint Mary’s University researchers: Dr. Yigit Aydede, and Dr. Debra Gilin.

“The researchers receiving funding as part of this announcement are tackling the impacts and spread of the COVID-19 virus, turning their expertise to this global problem,” says Dr. Adam Sarty, Associate Vice-President Research and Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. “Our researchers are tackling this problem with the tools of machine learning and data analytics to track the virus spread in one case, and the expertise of workplace training and interventions to prevent front-line burnout in the other case.  These projects provide a window into the breadth of the research we do at Saint Mary’s. We work collaboratively and engage in research that matters to our communities.”

This funding supports COVID-19 research that will inform health system decisions, facilitate vaccine development, identify novel treatments, develop devices, and influence social response to the pandemic. Funding will also leverage existing research capabilities to help rapidly respond to the urgent need to support further COVID-19 focused research right here in Nova Scotia.

The COVID-19 Health Research Coalition is dedicated to fostering a research environment that engages our academic partnerships and responds to the current needs of Nova Scotians and our health system, in addition to maintaining the expertise in innovative research, discovery science, population/social sciences, and health system improvement.

Dr. Yigit Aydede

Dr. Yigit Aydede


Funding recipient:
Dr. Yigit Aydede

Project: The Role of Environmental Determinants and Social Mobility in Viral Infection Transmission in Halifax

Description: This study will analyze the relationships between COVID-19 transmission rates, meteorological and air quality, and the fluctuations in social mobility in Nova Scotia to allow for better calibration of spatial spread in simulation models that are used to inform policy making.

Funding amount: $36,900

Dr. Debra Gilin

Dr. Debra Gilin

Funding recipient: Dr. Debra Gilin

Project: Preventing Burnout Among Front-Line Care Workers to Fight Covid-19: Screen and Intervene

Description: This study will rapidly develop tailored screening and intervention tools to support mental health and prevent elevated job burnout or safety risks in COVID-19-responding health care staff in Nova Scotia.

Funding amount: $47,640

Additional information:

Saint Mary's University ready to support business, help rebuild economy

960 Tower Road, home to the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre and the Saint Mary’s University Language Centre.

960 Tower Road, home to the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre and the Saint Mary’s University Language Centre.

Following last week’s provincial announcement, Saint Mary’s University president Robert Summerby-Murray says the university is ready to continue and scale its business coaching and mentoring services. 

“Our entrepreneurship centre started offering free coaching and mentoring services to businesses throughout Atlantic Canada early in March - we are ready to expand our capacity to help more businesses and entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Summerby-Murray. “The centre’s free programming is designed to help businesses manage through the pandemic and also provides advice on what businesses can do to be more resilient to future shocks.” 

“We have been doing our part to help the economy and the business community – we are ready to do more.” 

Summerby-Murray said that business owners and entrepreneurs get access to world-class experts thanks to the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre’s partnership with Metronome United. Metronome United was founded by SMU alumna and entrepreneur Shannon Byrne Susko BComm’89 BSc’92.  

"We are tremendously grateful to Ms. Byrne Susko for her help and support,” said Summerby-Murray. “Having access to the expertise provided by her and her team will be invaluable to entrepreneurs and business leaders here in Nova Scotia.” 

SMU alumni are also reaching out and showing their willingness to help. 

“Our graduates are ready to serve the province and its business at this time of need,” said Summerby-Murray. “The resourcefulness of our alumni is a source of pride for me and for the Saint Mary’s community.” 

Summerby-Murray said he is pleased the province is taking measures to help small businesses in the province and that combining capital with knowledge will ensure more businesses are ready to re-open when the time is right. 

“Money alone won’t ensure business resilience or innovation,” said Summerby-Murray. “It’s part of what’s needed but having access to the knowledge and skills is a necessary part of the equation.” 

“World class coaching and mentoring services, like those provided by the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre, will ensure the province maximizes its investments in the business community.” 


Dr. Maryanne Fisher named guest editor of prestigious Psychology journal

Dr. Maryanne Fisher

Dr. Maryanne Fisher

Congratulations to Dr. Maryanne Fisher, who was chosen to be the guest editor of the January edition of the American Psychological Association’s journal Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, a special edition which addresses women’s representation in evolutionary-based research and theory.

Dr. Fisher, a professor of Psychology at Saint Mary’s and an affiliate faculty member at the Kinsey Institute, is an evolutionary psychologist whose work explores human relationships through an evolutionary lens.

A well-known expert in her field, her primary research topic is the evolutionary foundations of human interpersonal relationships, female intrasexual competition, and women’s mating strategies. She is also interested in the intersection between feminist studies and evolutionary psychology.  

She was thrilled to take on the task of editing the special edition of the journal, a task she has some experience with; she was also the guest editor of the Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition in 2017 and Evolution’s Empress: Darwinian Perspectives on the Nature of Women in 2013.

When speaking about the selection process, Dr. Fisher said it was extremely difficult to narrow down the entries, even removing her own work from the contention.

“We had so many excellent papers submitted, we could have filled two journals,” said Dr. Fisher. “They were very good, very high quality.”

This special issue examines how women have been studied from an evolutionary perspective, and how the discipline both questions assumptions about women and has limited explorations of women and.

“Evolutionary perspectives have often been openly criticized in fields such as women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, to the point of being dismissed outright in favor of sociocultural explanations for behavior, motivation, emotions, and cognitions,” said Dr. Fisher.

“Collectively the articles show that women are not simply passive entities, but instead play significant and active parts in human evolution and theories about evolutionary bases of behavior.”

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences publishes manuscripts that advance the study of human behavior from an evolutionary perspective, with an emphasis on work that integrates evolutionary theory with other approaches and perspectives from across the behavioral sciences, including the range of subdisciplines within psychology as well as the social sciences (e.g., sociology, political science, criminology) and humanities (e.g., history, literature studies).

SMU Entrepreneurship Centre partners with prominent alumna to expand free business coaching sessions

In response to COVID-19 and the challenges it poses to local businesses, the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre is expanding its consulting services to offer more free virtual one-on-one business coaching sessions. 

“Many local businesses are having to make tough decisions,” says Michael Sanderson, director, Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre. “We are here to connect local companies with free virtual one-on-one business coaching to help them find the best way forward for their business during this challenging time.” 

Shannon Byrne Susko BComm’89 BSc’92

Shannon Byrne Susko BComm’89 BSc’92

For the past few weeks, the centre has offered free virtual strategy sessions to Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs to help identify potential solutions to current challenges. Now through a partnership with prominent alumna and successful serial entrepreneur Shannon Byrne Susko BComm’89 BSc’92, the centre is expanding those services. 

“I have more than twenty years of experience building and leading high-growth technology companies in the financial services industry, and during that time, I have dealt with adversity and economic downturns,” says Susko, CEO and founder of Metronome United. “Now, I share that knowledge and experience with 60 Metronome coaches and their clients worldwide. We help CEOs and leadership teams overcome obstacles and grow. We know that businesses are facing significant challenges as a result of COVID-19, and we are here to help you.” 

Recognized in March 2020 as one Canada’s Top 25 Inspirational Women Leaders, Susko was also named as one Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in 2018 and was awarded Canada’s Top 40 under 40 in 2001. Susko has built and led high-growth tech companies in the financial services industry. In six years, she co-founded, managed, and sold two companies: Subserveo, Inc. and Paradata Systems Inc. 

For more information, visit www.smuec.ca and www.metronomeunited.com .

 

Saint Mary’s researcher to study organizational response to disease outbreak with major new funding announcement

A closer look at how employers respond during disease outbreaks is part of a new research study underway at Saint Mary’s University.

A research team led by Saint Mary’s Professor of Psychology Dr. Kevin Kelloway has received a grant for $333,000 over two years from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to study COVID-19.

Dr. Kevin Kelloway

Dr. Kevin Kelloway

“Dealing with a pandemic on this scale is a massive social challenge that has dramatically changed the nature of workplaces,” said Dr. Kelloway. “Our project examines the workplace changes and the effect that they have on individual employees.  How, for example, do organizational policies influence individual decisions such as decisions around hygiene or self-isolation? How is the mental health of employees affected by the disruptions and re-organizations, and what can organizations do to help employees cope at this time?”

This research funding is for a project titled “Organizational Response to Disease Outbreak,” which will look at how both public and private organizations are challenged with the need to protect and promote the health and health practices of their employees while maintaining operations during disease outbreaks.

The study will look at employee perceptions of their employers’ management of these two goals, with a focus on examining how the organizational response to disease outbreaks influences employees' own health and health-promoting behaviours.

Along with a large national survey representative of Canadian workers, which Dr. Kelloway says will be longitudinal, following employees as they go through this experience, the team is also planning more focused studies on the role of leaders (managers and supervisors) in managing this crisis as well as more in-depth studies of employees who have transitioned to working at home.

The research group will start the two-year study very quickly in order to get good data on how people are adjusting and reacting to the crisis as it unfolds.

“It’s a quickly changing environment, said Dr. Kelloway. “For example, when we wrote the grant, no one was thinking of social isolation on the scale that we are now experiencing.”

The team has launched a website (ohpdata.com) that will be continually updated with information for employers and employees on how to adapt to changing circumstances. As the results from the research start to emerge, they will be posted to that site as well.

This funding for this project is part of an investment of $25.8M from the Government of Canada to contribute to the global efforts to address the COVID-19 outbreak. This is a portion of the $275M in funding for research on medical countermeasures against COVID-19 announced by the Prime Minister on March 11, 2020.

Dr. Kelloway’s team also includes Dr. Jane Mullen (Mount Allison University), Dr. Stephanie Gilbert (Cape Breton University) and Dr. Jennifer Dimoff (University of Ottawa) as well as PhD students Tabatha Thibault, Rachael Jones Chick and Vanessa Myers – all PhD students in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology program at Saint Mary’s.

Speak to the people behind the research at the Saint Mary’s University Research Expo

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What do black holes, spelling, the search for the size and shape of the universe’s smallest thing, and responses to climate change have in common? They are all research areas being discussed this Friday, March 6, at the 2020 Saint Mary’s University Research Expo.

“The Research Expo is a unique event at Saint Mary’s. Talk with our professors and graduate students, and listen to three-minute research pitches as they explain their work,” said Dr. Adam Sarty, Associate Vice-President Research and Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. “It’s an opportunity to learn about the exciting research happening across our campus, from our Science and Arts faculties, and the Sobey School of Business.”

The research being presented at the expo covers a wide range of disciplines in business, the arts and humanities, and science, including:  

  • Toxic metals and invasive species;

  • community adaptations in the face of climate change; and

  • a qualitative approach to nursing staff shortages in emergency rooms.

These are only a handful of examples of the topics being investigated by researchers at Saint Mary’s, and many more topics will be discussed at the expo.

The expo is taking place at the Loyola Conference Hall and begins at 1 p.m. From 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.; researchers will be centre stage for a series of short three-minute pitches on their work.

To learn more about the expo visit http://www.smu.ca/research/research-expo.html

Communities looking for expert advice receive a boost through latest CLARI investment

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Communities looking to connect with experts to address issues and solve problems received a boost today, March 5, after a new investment for research projects through the Change Lab Action Research Initiative (CLARI) at Saint Mary’s University.

“We are working more with business, academia and communities to create the conditions for opportunity, growth and social well-being in our province,” said Labour and Advanced Education Minister Labi Kousoulis. “This initiative lays the groundwork for Nova Scotians to bring forward their ideas and work with post-secondary experts to help our communities grow and prosper.” 

Recent projects have covered a wide breadth of topics from exploring and documenting the life and history of Mi’kmaw Elder Sister Dorothy Moore to improving food security for seniors in Cape Breton.

 “CLARI has gone from an idea for greater connection between post-secondary institutions and community groups to a shining example of the strength of that collaboration,” said Adam Sarty, Associate Vice-President Research and Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. “This latest investment is an affirmation of the importance of connecting researchers with our local communities to find solutions and opportunities in challenges.”

The funding for the projects comes from the Province of Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour and Advanced Education. The $150,000 investment will support 20 campus-community projects, connecting post-secondary experts with communities in need of their expertise. The Province also helps to support CLARI’s operations.

The CLARI network spans across Nova Scotia, combining the talents and resources of its seven founding partners. Those partners include Acadia University, Cape Breton University, Mount Saint Vincent University, St. Francis Xavier University, Saint Mary’s University, Université Sainte-Anne and the Nova Scotia Community College’s 13 campuses. CLARI partners assist communities in all parts of the province to develop social and economic change projects while providing enhanced learning opportunities for students.

For more information about CLARI, visit https://actionresearch.ca/

Competition to solve freshwater issues through technology and entrepreneurship begins in Atlantic Canada

Solving freshwater issues across Atlantic Canada through technology and entrepreneurship is the theme of a new competition that began this week at Saint Mary’s University.

“We are extremely proud to establish AquaHacking in Atlantic Canada,” said Dominique Monchamp, interim CEO of AquaHacking. “We hope that our partnership with Saint Mary's University Atlantic Water Network will open the doors to new technological solutions. We are calling on the creative and committed minds of young Atlantic innovators to take up this challenge and develop sustainable water tech solutions.”

The AquaHacking Challenge brings students, developers, designers, scientists, programmers, engineers, technology enthusiasts and entrepreneurs together to form interdisciplinary teams to tackle five different water challenges.

The five issues they’ll be focusing on are:

•              algal blooms;

•              agricultural runoff;

•              drinking water treatment;

•              well water testing; and

•              microplastics.

“At RBC, we believe in the power of innovative technologies to address and scale solutions to some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time,” said Valerie Chort, vice-president, Corporate Citizenship, RBC. “We’re proud to be working alongside AquaHacking to develop real-world, scalable solutions to tackle the challenges that continue to plague our environment.”

Throughout the challenge, teams will have access to a variety of workshops and resources, as well as a dedicated group of mentors to help them develop their solutions and refine their pitches. The top teams will be determined at the AquaHacking semi-final in May 2020, after which successful teams will continue working on their solutions to present for a Dragon’s Den-style final in September 2020.

“We are thrilled to see AquaHacking come to the Atlantic Provinces,” said Emma Wattie, director of Saint Mary’s University’s Atlantic Water Network. “Our work with community-based monitoring organizations throughout the region has helped identify some of the water issues for this year's challenge. AquaHacking is a clear next step to help find solutions to some of the most pressing water issues facing Atlantic Canadians.”

The AquaHacking Challenge is an initiative of Aqua Forum that was founded by the de Gaspe Beaubien Foundation in 2015 to support technology and business development addressing environmental problems related to freshwater. After five successful years in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin, AquaHacking went national for 2020 with regional competitions across Canada.

The AquaHacking Challenge 2020 in Atlantic Canada is powered by the RBC Foundation, with support from the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation along with other national and local sponsors.

Coastal communities and their preparations for climate change at heart of new short film

The coastal community of Clare, Nova Scotia, that is featured in the film.

The coastal community of Clare, Nova Scotia, that is featured in the film.

A new short film about coastal communities and how they are preparing for the impacts of climate change and other hazards from the sea was released today, Feb. 11. The film, Coastal Communities… At the Ready, combines global perspectives with the experiences of two communities on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada. 

“Most of the world’s people live by the sea and are under the threat of a variety of marine hazards,” said Dr. Tony Charles, a professor at Saint Mary’s University and the director of the Community Conservation Research Network.  “Marine hazards are not new on the coast but they are becoming more common and more intense under the pressures of climate change. Where the sea meets the land in coastal communities, developing good responses to the impending threats is vitally important.” 

This 13-minute film is important for all those concerned about our oceans and coasts, our communities and the impacts of climate change and ocean hazards. This includes communities and community associations, citizen organizations, governments and policymakers. The film also serves as a starting point for climate change discussions in school and university classrooms.

The film was produced by the Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR), the Community Conservation Research Network (CCRN), and Saint Mary’s University, with support from the Networks of Centres of Excellence Canada.

The film is available at:

Saint Mary's to host Touchdown Atlantic 2020

[Left to right] Bruce Bowser, Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, Ross Jefferson, Craig Reynolds, Randy Ambrosie, Brett Lauther and Mike “Pinball” Clemons. (Kelly Clark/CFL.ca)

[Left to right] Bruce Bowser, Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, Ross Jefferson, Craig Reynolds, Randy Ambrosie, Brett Lauther and Mike “Pinball” Clemons. (Kelly Clark/CFL.ca)

The biggest Touchdown Atlantic ever is coming to Saint Mary’s University this summer, the Canadian Football League (CFL) announced on Thursday.

Rider Nation comes to Nova Scotia when the Saskatchewan Roughriders face the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday, July 25 in the first-ever regular season game played in Halifax.

“Saint Mary’s University has a proud football tradition, and we are honoured to be a part of CFL history,” said President Robert Summerby-Murray. “We’re thrilled to host Touchdown Atlantic. Great events, like great universities, make our region and our country stronger.”

The game will be played at Huskies Stadium at 5 p.m. AT on Saturday, July 25. Approximately 6,000 temporary seats will be installed to bring the capacity for the game to 10,000.

“Our league belongs to Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast – and for one fabulous weekend this July, the east coast will be its capital,” said Randy Ambrosie, Commissioner of the CFL. “We are bringing the football and the fun. We’re inviting everyone in Atlantic Canada to join the party, and everyone in the rest of the country to come for the game and stay for a vacation!”

Riders’ kicker and Saint Mary’s alumnus, Brett Lauther, called Touchdown Atlantic a dream come true.

“I’ve known the thrill of kicking the winning points on our home field in Regina, but to do that here, in my own backyard, would be just incredible,” said Lauther, a native of Truro, N.S.

Both teams are “leaning in” to make it a special week; they will arrive days before the game and take part in a series of media events and community visits. The game will be preceded by a three-day “mini Grey Cup festival” featuring music, parties and tons of family-friendly fun.

Tickets will go on-sale at the end of February and a full list of prices will be announced soon. Fans can sign up for the most up-to-date information and access to priority-purchasing at CFL.ca/TDA. Ambrosie stressed that the game will be affordable with an average ticket price of approximately $50.

The 2020 edition of Touchdown Atlantic will be the first CFL game of any type to be played in Nova Scotia since 2005, when the Argos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats played a pre-season game at Huskies Stadium.

SMU researcher’s groundbreaking earthworm study on recent cover of Science Magazine

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Dr. Erin Cameron, a researcher in the department of Environmental Science, has published a paper in the prestigious Science Magazine on her work studying the global diversity and biogeography of earthworms.

The study had two main findings: that local species richness (the number of earthworm species at a site) was higher in temperate regions of the world compared to tropical areas, and that climate is the strongest driver of earthworm diversity. This suggests that future climate change could significantly alter earthworm communities worldwide, threatening the many functions they provide.

“Having her research recognized by such a prestigious scientific publication is a testament to Dr. Cameron’s innovative work in the field of environmental science,” said Dr. Lori Francis, acting Dean of Science at Saint Mary’s University. “The huge scope of her collaboration with such a large international group of scientists is impressive, and this work will allow further collaborations with other leaders in this field and answer important questions about effects of global climate change on earthworm communities.”

Having her research recognized by such a prestigious scientific publication is a testament to Dr. Cameron’s innovative work in the field of environmental science.
— Dr. Lori Francis, acting Dean of Science at Saint Mary’s University

Dr. Cameron and her German collaborator Prof. Nico Eisenhauer were the senior authors on the paper, with their postdoc Dr. Helen Phillips as the lead author. The research, based at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Leipzig University in Germany, used research compiled from 140 researchers from across the globe to create the largest earthworm dataset worldwide, encompassing 6928 sites in 57 countries.

First conceived in 2014 at a global earthworm conference after a workshop discussing questions concerning diversity patterns of earthworms, this report has been years in the making. The researchers looked at questions about what factors drive global patterns of earthworm diversity: soil properties such as pH and the organic carbon content of soil, or habitat cover, or climate: i.e. temperature and precipitation. Dr. Cameron had previously looked at earthworm distributions in the boreal forest of northern Alberta, and was intrigued by earthworms found further north than expected.

Earthworms substantially shape the way ecosystems function: their burrowing creates holes, mixes soil components and they eat organic debris. By doing so, they drive a wide range of ecosystem services, including nutrient provision, water infiltration and run-off, carbon storage, climate mitigation and seed dispersal.

“Earthworms are ecosystem engineers; they are species with a large impact on the structure of ecosystems,” said Dr. Cameron. “While the impact of earthworms on their local ecosystems is fairly well known, until now there has been no research or data on the distribution of earthworms at a global scale.”

“A surprising result of this study was that the biodiversity patterns in above-ground organisms do not match those of soil organisms, with a greater local diversity found in more temperate climates compared with tropical locations,” Dr. Cameron explained. “As typically the highest number of species in a local area is found in the tropics, this result was not expected, however we suspect that the total number of earthworms across the tropics is still higher than other regions due to dissimilarity among sites.”

“This is a seminal accomplishment in climate change research which Dr. Cameron has achieved so early in her professional career, with this being the first time Saint Mary’s research has been featured on the cover of Science Magazine,” said Dr. Adam Sarty, Saint Mary’s University’s Associate Vice-President Research.  “Her ability to lead this large international collaborative project, and provide a truly global perspective, makes us excited to see where her next projects will lead as she joins the growing team of Saint Mary’s University researchers focusing attention on the impacts of, and responses to, the effects of climate change.”

The research also found that the biggest driver of diversity in earthworm communities was climate, namely precipitation and temperature. “These organisms are an important part of our ecosystem, and below-ground biodiversity must be considered when considering the effects of climate change on our ecosystems,” said Dr. Cameron.

The study and its resulting comprehensive global map used as much data on earthworm diversity, abundance and biomass as possible. Future stages of this work will project earthworm diversity levels in the future.


Dr. Erin Cameron is an assistant professor in the Environmental Science department at Saint Mary’s University. Her research examines effects of global change on species distributions, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. She uses a combination of field observations, experiments, citizen science, molecular approaches, data synthesis, and modelling to assess global change impacts across spatial and temporal scales. Dr. Cameron was recently awarded an NSERC Discovery Grant with a Northern Research Supplement.

Saint Mary’s researcher contributes to UN fishery and climate meetings

The work of a Saint Mary’s professor is reaching the global stage via two international United Nations symposiums.

Dr. Tony Charles, who teaches in both the School of the Environment and the Sobey School of Business, was recently invited to speak on the future of global and regional fisheries at the International Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability. The event was held in Rome at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The conference examined how decisions are made around all aspects of the fishery, with the aim to develop high-level policy on the role, value and sustainability of fisheries in the 21st century.

“My focus is on how fishing communities can do better in the future, how they can have healthier, better lives through conserving their local resources and environment,” says Dr. Charles.

“That’s been my interest for all my career here at Saint Mary’s, is how to make natural resources sustainable while providing livelihoods for people,” said Charles.

The topic is a timely one. Fisheries are linked with many of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals not just the health of the ocean, but ending poverty, food security, gender equality, climate change.

“There’s been a philosophy that government has to control fishing people or they will go crazy and catch too much fish. But what I and many others have been documenting over the years is that if you let the fishers operate as local communities, all around the world, what you see is that they actually conserve the fish.”

‘It turns out if you just let local communities take action themselves, and give them support for doing that, it’s very impressive what they can accomplish.”

Another project led by Charles is also being taken to the international stage. His publication Addressing the Climate Change and Poverty Nexus looks at the links between poverty reduction efforts and climate change action and will be presented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at COP 25 this week in Madrid. “It’s kind of a tool kit to the countries of the world on how to make poverty reduction come together with climate action, and vice versa,” says Charles.

Learn more:

International Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability

Community Conservation Research Network