APECS Nordic Workshop

Sandra is currently a PhD-candidate of the Thule Doctoral Program, University of Oulu, Finland. Working as part of an international research project entitled ‘Structural racism and its impact on Indigenous Health – a comparative study of Canada, Finland and Norway’. She formerly worked as a registered dietitian in First Nations communities throughout Ontario and Yukon Territory of Canada and also was involved in health related projects at the provincial and federal level. She is a member of Oneida Nation of the Thames, a Haudenosaunee community in southern Ontario, Canada.

A just-for-fun writing project on her list of things to do is a book about ice-swimming, which will profile research conducted in Finland on ice-swimming, and Finns who participate in this well-being activity. She regains energy from active pursuits: running, paddling, hiking, xc-skiing and ice-swimming.

Laura Lukes is currently part of the Geoscience Learning Process Research Group at North Carolina State University (NCSU) where her research focuses on capturing the student experience in introductory geology courses with the aim of recruiting and retaining a more diverse STEM workforce.  She is a passionate and nationally recognized educator (2010 Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and Award for Excellence in Earth Science Teaching from the Geological Society of America).  She currently teaches an introductory Physical Geology lecture course at NCSU and several online geology courses for Rio Salado Community College.

As an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow (2010-2011), she organized and led the Joint Science Education Project (JSEP).   JSEP is an international science education field research experience for teachers and students from Greenland, Denmark, and the U.S. on the ice sheet in Greenland.  As part of this project, she recruited and coordinated 30+ scientist mentors from over 15 domestic and international institutions and government agencies (e.g., NASA, NOAA) to work with students in the field. Additionally, she built relationships and partnerships with indigenous people to develop research-based experiences for students that were inclusive of indigenous culture and traditional knowledge methods.

Julie Bull is of Inuit descent and is from NunatuKavut, Labrador, Canada. She currently holds the position of Qualitative Research Consultant with the NunatuKavut Community Council and Executive Director for the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council.  Julie is also currently working towards completing an Interdisciplinary PhD in the area of “Aboriginal Research Ethics” at the University of New Brunswick. Julie’s Inuit heritage makes her keen on working with Aboriginal communities. Her study, in partnership with NunatuKavut, examines “Grassroots voices: Authenticity in relationships with academic researchers in the context of Aboriginal health research.” Julie has received numerous awards and recognition in acknowledgement of her scholarly abilities, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Aboriginal Peoples Health Scientific Director’s Award of Excellence, the Atlantic Aboriginal Health Research Program Doctoral Fellowship, the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation Scholarship, and the Jens Peder Hart Hansen Fellow Award. In 2010, Julie received Canada’s most prestigious doctoral award - the Vanier Graduate Scholarship.

Laura Fleming-Sharp, originally from Ontario, Canada is now living in Washington, DC where she is the Research Assistant at the Arctic Studies Center at the National Museum of Natural History. Laura completed a B.A in International Development Studies and Geography (2005) and later obtained her M.A. in Geography (2009) both at the University of Guelph. Her graduate research focused on human-environment interactions and climate change adaptation in Hopedale, Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Canada, exploring the role of formal and informal institutions in facilitating adaptation to climate and other change. Her field studies included spending two months in the community of Hopedale interviewing hunters, elders and institutional representatives at various levels of government. Her research contributed to the 2007-2009 International Polar YearCommunity Adaptation and Vulnerability in the Arctic Regions (CAVIAR)project, and for the Arctic Net Phase I Project 4.2, and Phase II Project 1.1.

Following her graduate studies, Laura assisted the IPY and ArcticNet research projects at the Global Environmental Change Group (GECG) in the Department of Geography, University of Guelph from 2009-2011. In 2012 Laura was the Coordinator for the 18^th Inuit Studies Conference, hosted by the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian in October 2012.

Gerlis Fugmann is the Director of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS). Gerlis has been actively involved in the APECS leadership for several years and is assuming the position of APECS Director beginning on 1 October 2013. She completed her PhD in Geography at the Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany in 2011 and worked afterwards for two years as a post-doctoral researcher at the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development (ICNGD) at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. Her research focused on projects in the Canadian Arctic and Sub-Arctic as well as Northern Scandinavia, addressing questions of comparative economic deveopment, entrepreneurship, tourism, resource development and Northern engagement and participation in innovation and the knowledge economy.

Throughout her involvement in APECS, Gerlis has contributed significantly to the organization working with numerous APECS members and partners and helping to shape and manage many of the projects, events and resources made available through APECS. Between 2009 and 2011 she served as an Executive Committee member and afterwards continued to mentor and advise the Executive Committee in an ex-officio role. Gerlis also served as the elected APECS President during the 2009 – 2010 term. She has a great interest and appreciation for the polar regions and polar research and very much enjoys collaborating with researchers from around the world. Gerlis is a strong advocate of early career scientist participation, recognizing the importance of networking, professional development, and extra-curricular training in the polar and cryosphere communities.