Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI), Atlantic Canada - Sustainable, Safe, and Inclusive

Today we are speaking with Dr Umme Kulsum a Postdoctoral Fellow in FOCI’s Foresighting Sustainable Coastal Community Infrastructures Work Package 1 (IWP1). Kulsum is working under the supervision of Dr. Paul Foley and Dr. Rob Stephenson to integrate and apply concepts of foresighting and full-spectrum sustainability to further the aims and objectives of the wider FOCI project working groups. Her interdisciplinary doctoral research has focused on participatory scenario-based approaches in bridging coastal community adaptation with adaptive delta management under uncertain climate and socioeconomic change.

Currently, Kulsum is looking forward to collaborating with coastal communities in Newfoundland to identify their needs, priorities and interests in a holistic approach for diverse infrastructures in the future to come.

This 5-minute podcast was developed for FOCI Webinar Workshop #5: HQP Seminar - Alternative Ways of Presenting Research to be presented through Kumospace platform.

In this podcast, we speak with Sharon King-Campbell a doctoral candidate with Memorial University’s Department of English. Sharon is a research assistant with FOCI Integration Work Package 4, Artistic Infrastructure for Navigating Ocean and Coastal Community Change. Sharon talks about the play, Melody and the Fishes, which she has written in collaboration with Dr. Jamie Skidmore (Department of English), Dr. Anne Graham (Deptartment of Modern Languages), and puppeteer and storyteller David Lane. The play is written for youth, but intended for people of all ages, and is a rich, diverse story about the impact that climate change has on marine, and coastal communities, specifically those of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Today  in our FOCI podcast we are speaking with architect Dr. Robert  Mellin  who shares with us his knowledge of local building practices in   Tilting, Fogo Island. Robert speaks to how the scarcity of resources,   coupled with an intimate knowledge of landscape and climate has  resulted  in the ingenuity of building practices that simultaneously  have created  coastal structures that are both precarious and resilient.  Robert  strongly suggests that the historical and local building  practices  within the outport coastal communities of Newfoundland be  incorporated  into the planning and building regulations of communities  in time to  come.