Dr. Justine Townsend, Post-doctoral Fellow

Justine (she/her) is leading a project with ACT and the Indigenous-led Restore, Assert, Defend (RAD) Network that supports First Nations in overcoming obstacles to Indigenous-led nature-based solutions and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) in BC. This is an extension of her work supporting Indigenous-led conservation through previous positions with the Indigenous-led IISAAK OLAM Foundation, Vancouver Island University, and as a postdoctoral fellow at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. 

In 2022, she earned a PhD in Geography, through which she conducted community-engaged research to support the advancement of IPCAs and reconciliation in Canada. Justine is a second-generation Canadian of European ancestry who gratefully resides in K'ómoks territory on Vancouver Island.