Research Projects
Dr.Grant Murray
Canada Research Chair in Coastal Resource Management
Click here for Grant Murray's working papers.
Existing Research Projects
Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction: A Canada-Africa Research and Learning Alliance (Primary Investigator)
This collaboration involves VIU, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Parks Canada, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, the University of Victoria, Sunyani Polytechnic (Ghana), the College of African Wildlife Management (Tanzania), and a number of other government and community partners. The research on protected areas and the surrounding communities is focused on four principal streams: 1) the flow of benefits/costs from eco-tourism; 2) human-wildlife conflicts; 3) governance; and 4) information and knowledge sharing.
Community-University Research for Recovery Alliance (CURRA) (co-applicant)
This project is being led by Dr. Barbara Neis of the Department of Sociology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. This project is centred on the West Coast of Newfoundland, and involves an innovative program of community-based research that will support regional efforts to devise and implement a recovery strategy for fish stocks and fishing communities on the West Coast of Newfoundland. In this context, ‘recovery’ means the possibility of a vibrant future for people, communities and their natural environment. Key requirements for recovery include good science, broad community involvement, timely intervention and effective governance.
Cumulative Effects and the Human Environment: An Oral History Approach
Ongoing collaboration with Rutgers University and the New Jersey Sea Grant Program that examines the cumulative effect of regulations on fishing communities in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States.
Ongoing collaboration with Rutgers, Stanford University and several Mexican institutionsthat examines the performance (broadly defined) of several Mexican fishing cooperatives in context of environmental uncertainty.
Fjord Ecosystems – Sami Communities: Local Ecological Knowledge and Social-Ecological History (co-applicant)
A project funded by the Norwegian Research Council in collaboration with the Centre for Sami Studies, University of Tromsø involving the integration of Sámi Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) with scientific information with respect to coastal fjord ecosystems.
Genome BC’s Applied Genomics Innovation Program (AGIP) (co-Primary Investigator/collaborator)
There are two projects connected with this Program. The first project involves a collaboration with Dr. Ben Koop (University of Victoria), Dr. Willie Davidson (Simon Fraser University) and Dr. Simon Jones (Department of Fisheries & Oceans). The ‘Social Science and Humanities’ (SSH) component will apply an historical perspective to explore how science has played a role in creating and mediating the widespread conflict over salmon aquaculture, and how it does and does not play a role in determining the social sustainability of the industry. The second is an interdisciplinary research project that involves an examination of the socio-cultural and economic benefits and costs that flow from the salmon aquaculture industry in British Columbia.
Network Environments for Aboriginal Research (NEARBC) (Primary Investigator)
This grant provides some development funds for team building around issues raised by community members and brought to the ICR. These issues include: 1) the extent of a perceived ‘disconnection’ between First Nations and traditional food resource consumption patterns; 2) the multifaceted social and ecological reasons behind this perceived ‘disconnection’; 3) the health implications of that disconnection; and 4) measures to address those disconnections.
Emerging Research Projects
North of Cascadia: Preparing for Surprise (NoC) (co-applicant)
This is an interdisciplinary project that is being led by Dr. Rosemary Ommer at the University of Victoria. NoC will examine community resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of global climate change. Dr. Murray will be involved in different aspects of this proposal, including a ‘nutrition’ focus that will have similar questions to the NEARBC grant described above.
Updated October 1, 2009