Dr. Alana Westwood will be principal investigator on two innovative projects that will generate new, collaborative, and evidence-based knowledge in the sectors of forestry and impact assessment.
The first, the SSHRC-funded three-year project What constitutes effective knowledge exchange at the environmental science-policy interface? will continue previous research done by the lab and partners on knowledge exchange in forestry to help overcome the knowledge-implementation gap (read more in this Dal News article).
The application was supported by current lab member and MES student Manjulika Robertson. She will continue with the lab on this project, leading a communications experiment to provide insight on the effectiveness of different ‘one-way’ knowledge exchange methods as well as examine how leaders in science move knowledge across the science-policy divide.
The second is the IAAC-funded project Queers, closets, and man camps which will set a foundation to understand if and how the views of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are being considered in IA processes under the 2019 Impact Assessment Act (IAA). This is the first known inquiry into the impact of major infrastructure and natural resource development projects (MINRDP) on 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities in Canada. The application was supported by current lab research assistants Ali MacKellar and Kimberly Klenk, and Ali will conduct this research during their MES at Dalhousie University starting this fall.
Both projects create new or continue existing partnerships with academia (Dalhousie University, Carleton University, University of Alberta, University of New Brunswick, and University of Regina), government (the Canadian Wildlife Service – Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat) and non-profit organizations (Mitacs and Evidence for Democracy).
Westwood Lab 