Since these experiences my research has culminated in a multi-disciplinary and practice-led body of work including a cartography of controversies visually exploring the NorthWest Passage as internal or international waters; a theatre script called Standing By exploring how we understand the subjectivity and impact of the independent lifeboat patrolling the Mediterranean called Louise Michel; and an academic syllabus for a course that through the use of a sailboat as a physical and conceptual space (and the classroom) investigates discussions about modernity, colonialism, belonging, and movement.

This work led me to a Masters at the University of the Westfjords on Coastal Communities and Regional Development. My thesis (titled: Coastal Heritage and How Resilience Can Manifest in The Face of Change: in Rakiura, Aotearoa/New Zealand) was part of my collaboration and work as a research assistant with the Connecting to our Coastal Heritage Places. This was a collaborative research project on coastal heritage loss and implications for community wellbeing and resilience. My research was part of a discrete component of the project between July and December 2023 between my advisor Jenny Rock and Research associate Elle Gilchrist.deeply collaborative with two incredible researchers: Jenny Rock and Elle Gilchrist. More information about our work can be found here.

During my undergrad in Human Ecology I worked with a collaborative project between College of the Atlantic, the Island institute, Sea Grant, and the First Coast called Mapping Ocean’s Stories (MOS). The MOS project goal is to build individual accounts and a collective picture of how fishermen and community members live, work, and play on the water. The project believes that, by documenting oral histories and assembling these personal stories with geo-referenced mapping, a body of knowledge that provides fine-grained insights into impacts of regulatory actions or environmental changes can be shared among a wider community. Collecting and sharing stories to instill a strong sense of community that fosters resilience to change is the foundation of MOS’s work and the individual work it continues to inspire.

It was through these experiences that I became passionate about pursuing community centred research that uses citizen science, visual art, and oral histories to understand and communicate cultural adaptation and resilience to social and environmental change.

My work included conducting oral histories/interviews and analysing quantitative and qualitative data to understand how communities are impacted by and respond to cultural, political, and environmental changes. I co-created a radio piece for Coastal Conversations about USA’s island-based working waterfronts from interviews at the National Working Waterfront and Waterways Symposium (2018), created a radio piece called The History and Future of Maine’s Seaweed Industry, and wrote an article for the DownEast Fisheries Trail about seaweed in New England. More information about the ongoing Mapping Oceans Stories project can be found here (arcgis storymap I created as part of the project for incoming students).

My research investigated the community’s valuation of, perceived threats to, and future visions for the island’s coastal heritage. Additionally, it explored how community resilience could manifest in the face of changes to Rakiura’s coastal heritage. I used a mixed-methods approach and action-based research, which included designing and conducting a participatory social art workshop (printmaking) focusing on coastal heritage values and creating a community artwork. Data was gathered through this social arts workshop, semi-structured interviews and a focus group.