I am a Mi’kmaq woman who comes from Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) with direct family tie to Flat Bay. I am a registered nurse and focus my community based work on Indigenous people, health and rights.

Avery Velez is a dedicated PhD student in the Transdisciplinary Sustainability program at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), Grenfell Campus. He is a member of the Mi’kmaw community and is deeply committed to Indigenous scholarship and community collaboration.

Jordan Lawrence (Ktaqmkukewa’j l’nuey of mixed ancestry) is a MA in Environmental Policy (MAEP) student at Grenfell Campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is currently working as Student Lab Coordinator at WATERR Lab. His research interests orbit around small-scale agricultural development policies and the impacts of resource extraction projects on l’nu’k in Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). He has a background in Political Science and Public Policy, and has experience working for community-based non-profits as both an organizer and advocate.

Rana Parvez is a highly skilled and dedicated researcher and project manager with over nine years of experience in socio-economic research, environmental policy, and project management. Currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Environmental Policy with a focus on community resilience and sustainability at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Rana has a strong academic foundation complemented by practical fieldwork and data analysis expertise.

I am a Mi’kmaw woman from Newfoundland (Ktaqmkuk). I grew up in the Central region of Newfoundland, and have ancestral ties to Conne River (Miawpukek). I am a fourth year student of Memorial Universities School of Science and the Environment, completing a Bachelor of Environment and Sustainability with a focus on Natural Resource Management and Environmental Biology. I have a keen interest in all things natural and highly value community engagement and connection.

Kaitlin Rizarri (Visayan Filipina and mixed Ktaqmkukewa’j Mi’kmaw from Elmastukwek) is a doctoral candidate in Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. She grew up in Tkarón:to Treaty 13, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory, as a community farmer. Her research is grounded in Indigenous land education and Black geographic theoretical perspectives, with training in participatory and community based research approaches developed through work across multiple research labs and community partnered projects. Her doctoral research attends to relationships to land, water, seeds, and place in urban contexts, specifically working with Indigenous and Black farmers. She brings home this research training through a focus on land education and place based inquiry across the rural and urban contexts she works in, with a growing emphasis on place names, story, and understanding more-than-human relations as teachers. This orientation is reflected in educational resources she has developed for working with seeds and plants in learning spaces, including contributions to the Land Education Dreambook: https://www.landeducationdreambook.com/working-with-seeds-as-more-than-human-relations Alongside her academic work, she maintains an ongoing farming practice through her tea and herbal farm, Ate Kay’s Farm (pronounced ahh tey), where she grows, forages, and works with plants that support grief, sleep, and anxiety.

Sabrina Lamanna (Ktaqmkukewa’j Mi’kmaw, Italian, Irish) is a Doctoral Candidate in Law and Society with a graduate certificate in Indigenous Nationhood at the University of Victoria. She grew up in Clarington ON, situated on Mississauga, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendake-Nionwentsïo territory. Sabrina currently lives in her Mi’kmaw homelands of Elmastukwek where she is completing her doctoral research, which involves community-centred Mi’kmaw law revitalization through story workshops. She has a background in Indigenous research, justice, policy, and advocacy work, specifically in the areas of decolonization, reconciliation, feminism, gender-based violence, and the criminal justice system. You can find her on the beach or bird watching!

I am a Mi’kmaq individual from Benoit’s Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador aspiring to become a Mi’kmaq scholar. I am currently working as both a Nurse Educator at the Western Regional School of Nursing and a Nurse Practitioner in Corner Brook. My academic background includes a diploma in Primary Care Paramedicine from the College of the North Atlantic, a Bachelor of Nursing (Fast Track Option) from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a Masters in Nursing: Nurse Practitioner Stream from Athabasca University. My research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary, with current scholarly engagement focused on the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) generators among Bachelor of Science in Nursing students and the cardiac health of Indigenous peoples in relation to colonization and environmental change. Through my journey of completing a PhD in Transdisciplinary Sustainability studies, I will be supervised by Dr. Erica Samms Hurley and will be collaborating with her and other various stakeholders on various projects through her newly founded WATERR Lab.

Lawrence Nditsi is a recent Master of Environmental Policy graduate and currently enrolled in the Transdisciplinary Sustainability PhD program at Memorial University, Grenfell Campus with a long-standing interest in climate change and environmental issues. Originally from Ghana, West Africa, Lawrence has a great pool of knowledge at the community-based research, climate change and sustainability nexus and a lived experience with climate change. Based in the WATERR Lab under the Rethinking Transformation Program, Lawrence is reaching across two continents to understand how the values embedded in Indigenous African worldviews and Mi’kmaq principles could provide an entry point into thinking about sustainability transformation and the climate crises.