University of Toronto

Researchers and academics across the University have made significant contributions to Arctic research in Canada and beyond, in diverse areas including health and technology; environmental science; architecture; and the arts.

With respect to Arctic research, we have approximately 25 researchers who do research with an Arctic focus, in addition to many co-investigators and graduate students.

Thematic areas include:

Climate and environmental sciences (Professors Rudy Boonstra; Laura Brown; Irena Creed; Sarah Finkelstein; Jochen Halfar; Yuhong He; Peter Kotanen; Paul Kushner; Igor Lehnherr; Bailey McMeans; Kent Moore; Trevor Porter; Kimberly Strong) with research programs in the departments of Physics, Geography, Chemical and Physical Sciences, and Biological Sciences. This includes connections to the Canadian Sea Ice and Snow Evolution Network (CanSISE.ca), and founding members of CANDAC – the Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change, which has established the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Eureka, Nunavut.

Health and health technology: (Professors Jeffrey Ansloos; Allison Crawford; Tracey Galloway; Carmen Logie; Jana MacLachlan; Alex Mihailidis) with research programs in the the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, and Department of Anthropology. Areas of research include Indigenous knowledges, health and wellbeing; suicide prevention and life promotion; health technologies; nutrition science; sexual and reproductive health and rights; chronic disease; medical ethics; and health and public health policy.

Humanities and the Arts: This is an emerging area at the University of Toronto. Dr. Mark Cheetham, in the Department of Art History, leads a working group on Visual Cultures of the Circumpolar North at the Jackman Humanities Institute. The group brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on Indigenous, environmental, and settler pasts, presents and futures around the Circumpolar North to examine the complex visual/textual cultures of this region. Ms. Lisa Boivin, Dene artist and PhD candidate brings together bioethics and the land-based practices of Dene medicine through her paintings and writing. Dr. Allison Crawford brings medicine and the arts together through her work in the Faculty of Medicine and Department of English.

Architecture: At the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design Professor Mason White leads a research group that understands architecture as a mutable territory that is formed out of and responsive to its environment and history. Lateral Office, the design practice he founded, was awarded Special Mention from the international jury for the project “Arctic Adaptations,” at the 2014 Venice Biennale in Architecture. His SSHRC funded research has included studies on housing in Nunavut.