Dr. Hannah Harrison
Assistant Professor
Website:
Email: hannah.harrison@dal.ca
Phone: 519-731-1339
Mailing Address:
Research interests
- Salmon conservation hatcheries and stocking programs
- Great Lakes commercial fisheries
- Natural resource conflicts
- Alternative seafood network development in Canada
- Coastal access in Nova Scotia
- Science communication methods development and experimentation, including filmmaking and podcasting
Current Courses
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I am originally from traditional Dena’ina lands (Homer, Alaska) where I grew up in a salmon fishing family. My work and interests stem from a close relationships with fish, community, and the lands and waters on which I grew up.
By discipline, I am best described as a human ecologist, meaning I’m interested in the many facets of human-environmental relationships. I specialize in qualitative research and am interested in critically exploring problems related to marine social-ecological systems, particularly within fisheries and coastal community contexts.
I earned my Bachelor of Science (Natural Resource Management) and Master’s of Science (Environmental Ethnography) at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. My PhD was earned as part of a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions ITN at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. I came to Canada in 2019 as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Guelph on Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe territory (Guelph, Ontario). In July of 2022 I joined the Marine Affairs Program at AV¾ãÀÖ²¿ in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), where I now work as an Assistant Professor and teach in the Master of Marine Management program.
Research Approach
My research focuses on topics where human-environmental relationships are challenged, contested, or evolving to meet the challenges of the Anthropocene. As a human ecologist, my work is inter- and transdisciplinary, drawing on theories and literature from human geography, political ecology, anthropology, and other fields that can contribute toward my understanding of a case. I am especially interested in cases where conflicts are occurring over natural resource use. I approach research topics through a critical lens, and craft my research to be applicable to policy-makers and resource users as well as meaningful to the communities in which I work. I craft my work around reciprocal relationships with natural resource stake and rights-holders, and value working across disciplines to build multifaceted understandings of human-environmental relationships.
In addition to my research, I am highly interested in innovating around science communication and knowledge mobilization (KMb) approaches. Â I have worked with producing films, podcasts, and public-facing written materials as a means of communicating knowledge to general audiences and improving accessibility to science.
Most Recent Publication
Harrison, H.L. and Gould, J.G. (2022), Big Catch, Undecided Risks: Perspectives of Risk, Reward, and Trade-Offs in Alaska's Salmon Enhancement Program. North Am J Fish Manage.
You can also LISTEN to an annotated and abridged version of this paper here:
Website: