Monica Mulrennan is Associate Vice-President, Research (Development and Outreach) in the Office of the Vice-President Research and Graduate Studies, and Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University. As AVP, she is responsible for supporting research development, including the implementation of research-related commitments associated with Concordia’s EDI Action Plan, Indigenous Directions Action Plan, and Sustainability Action Plan. She is also involved in university-wide efforts to support community-engaged research and scholarship, and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

 

Monica’s research addresses Indigenous rights and interests at the land-sea interface of Indigenous territories, including Indigenous knowledge and use of these areas, and Indigenous-led strategies of conservation and environmental protection. She has sustained research partnerships with Torres Strait Islanders, northern Queensland, and James Bay Crees (Eeyou Istchee), northern Quebec for almost thirty years and directs a dynamic research team of MSc and Doctoral students who share her interests and commitment to partnered research led by indigenous communities. In addition to numerous research papers and book chapters, she is co-editor of a recently published edited volume “Caring for Eeyou Istchee: Protected Area Creation in Eeyou Istchee” (UBC Press, 2019).

Monica is a founding member of CICADA (the Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives), and an honorary member of the ICCA Consortium (Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Areas and Territories). Her current research projects include her participation in the SSHRC-funded “Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership” (CRP) and in “FISHES: Fostering Indigenous Small-scale fisheries for Health, Economy, and food Security”, a large-scale applied research project partly funded through Genome Canada and Génome Québec.