Arctic Minded

ArcticNet

Welcome to ArcticMinded, a podcast where we discuss life, work, and research in the Arctic. ArcticMinded is produced by ArcticNet. We bring together scientists, engineers, and other professionals in the human health, natural and social sciences with partners from Inuit organizations, northern communities, federal and provincial agencies as well as the private sector to study the impacts of climate and socio-economic change in the Canadian North.

Episodes

  1. 07/09/2025

    Keep Learning, Keep Trying: The Importance of Country Food for Inuvialuit Youth Well Being and Community-based Research

    For this episode, I was incredibly lucky to speak with two experts working on youth experiences with country food in the ISR: Maria Ramirez Prieto and Kanelsa Noksana. Maria is a Colombian Canadian PhD candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. She brings the background in nutrition and nutraceutical sciences and international development with a Bachelor of Arts and Science from the University of Guelph. Relationality and collaboration are at the core of Maria's research as she works alongside Inuvialuit co-researchers and community members in the ISR. Kanelsa is an Inuvialuit from Tuktoyaktuk Northwest Territories. She's a community research lead in Tuktoyaktuk, and has worked on several research projects, including the one we're exploring today. Kanelsa is currently in her final year for her Bachelor of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta.  These two guests are not only incredibly knowledgeable about food and health, but in this episode, they also give us a masterclass on what meaningful and inclusive community-based research can look like. And they also offer some creative ideas for knowledge exchange. If you stick around until the very end, they also share their favourite stories from fieldwork—one of them involving a very big fish. So, grab your favourite snack and enjoy this food for thought.

    43 min
  2. 06/12/2024

    The Interdisciplinarity of it All with Dr. Jean Holloway

    Interdisciplinary research, have you heard of it? On this episode of Arctic Minded, Julia talks about navigating interdisciplinary research with Dr. Jean Holloway. Plus, they discuss her experience in the fields of geology, geography, ecology and more as well as her current research in Arctic shipping, the realities of dealing with mental health issues in academia and doing research that targets policy makers.   Dr. Jean Holloway is a Research Associate at the University of Ottawa in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Geomatics. Her research interests are focused, broadly, around determining how climate change is impacting various elements of the cryosphere in the Canadian Arctic and subarctic. After receiving degrees in Environmental Science (B.Sc.) and Geography (M.Sc.) at Queen’s University, Dr. Holloway completed a Ph.D. in the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Ottawa, focused on determining the impacts of forest fires on permafrost in the boreal forest of Canada. Following her Ph.D., she joined the Environment, Society, and Policy Group (ESPG) at the University of Ottawa where she studies changes in Arctic shipping activity and the subsequent human and environmental impacts, with the goal of producing research that is useable by policy makers. Dr. Holloway currently sits on the Board of Directors of ArcticNet and is the former Chair of the Canadian National Committee of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS Canada).

    47 min
  3. 02/28/2024

    Microbes: What are they and what can they do? with Dr. Srijak Bhatnagar

    On this episode of Arctic Minded, Julia talks with Dr. Srijak Bhatnagar about small, often overlooked, key organisms in the environment: microbes. These “unsung heroes” play many roles in ecosystem services, yet we have only started the scratch the surface in learning all these organisms have to offer. Historically, microbes have received negative attention for their part in disease and illness, however from producing oxygen to their ability to degrade oil, they play an essential role in sustaining our environment. Listen to learn more about these invisible organisms and what they are capable of.   Srijak is an Assistant Professor of Microbial Ecology and Computational Biology at Athabasca University. His expertise in interpreting DNA sequencing data allows him to study microbes in various environments, including the Arctic Ocean. His research program focuses on studying ecosystems from a microbial perspective and leveraging microbes for a sustainable environment, with an emphasis on monitoring and remediation. He has been working on generating microbial baseline data to map the microbial biogeography of Canada’s Arctic Ocean and the microbial response to Arctic Oil Spills. Since his first introduction to microbes during high school in India, he has found his passion in studying these “invisible” unsung heroes and becoming a microbe superfan. Aside from research,  he is also a passionate science communicator and works with the Arctic Institute of North America to increase the awareness and uptake of DNA-based knowledge in Arctic policy and decision-making.

    39 min

About

Welcome to ArcticMinded, a podcast where we discuss life, work, and research in the Arctic. ArcticMinded is produced by ArcticNet. We bring together scientists, engineers, and other professionals in the human health, natural and social sciences with partners from Inuit organizations, northern communities, federal and provincial agencies as well as the private sector to study the impacts of climate and socio-economic change in the Canadian North.