Ashlee Cunsolo, PhD
Vice-Provost, Labrador Campus
Dean, School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies
Labrador Campus of Memorial University
Leader | Researcher | Educator | Environmental Advocate
Former Canada Research Chair Tier II
Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists Member Emeritus
Email: ashlee.cunsolo@mun.ca
Twitter: @AshleeCunsolo
Ashlee Cunsolo, PhD, is the Vice-Provost of the Labrador Campus and the Dean of the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies at the Labrador Campus of Memorial University, and a climate change and health researcher.
Academic Administrative Leadership
In her role as the Founding Vice-Provost, Labrador Campus and Dean, School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies and Labrador Campus of Memorial University, Ashlee is working with multiple partners in Labrador and at Memorial University to lead the development of the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies (est. July 2020) in Labrador to offer Northern-led and Northern-focused undergraduate, graduate, and professional learning opportunities in Labrador, and the establishment of a Labrador Campus of Memorial University in January 2022 (read related Op Eds, Finally a University for Both Newfoundland and Labrador, Northern Sovereignty and Towards a Labrador Campus).
She is also working with local farmers, food organizations, researchers, and a diverse team at the Labrador Campus to establish and grow the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems, an 80 acre research, education, and experimental farm focused on enhancing and expanding Northern food security and food sovereignty in Labrador, and growing the agricultural industry.
She sits on a variety of research and education councils and boards, both at Memorial University and externally, and focuses on institution building, equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism in higher education, Northern sovereignty in research and education, and Indigenization and decolonization of the academy.
Research Leadership
As a community-engaged social science and health researcher working at the intersection of place, culture, health, and environment, Ashlee has a particular interest in the climatic, social, environmental, and cultural determinants of Indigenous health, intercultural learning and dialogue, environmental ethics, and the social justice implications of social, environmental, and health inequality.
She is a leading voice nationally and internationally on climate change and mental health, ecological grief, and intangible losses and damages that arise from climate change, and works more broadly at the intersection of place, culture, health, and environment. She has been recognized nationally and internationally for her community-based research and science outreach, and is a regular media contributor on climate change, mental health, and ecological grief.
She holds a variety of climate change leadership roles, including being a contributing author to the IPCC AR6 Chapter 12: North America and Cross-Chapter Paper: Polar Regions, a Lead Author on Chapters in the Natural Resources Canada and the Health Canada Climate Change Assessment Reports, and a Commissioner for the Lancet Arctic Health Commission.
She is a former Canada Research Chair (Tier II), and a Member Emeritus of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.
She currently lives in Labrador, Canada, on the ancestral and continued homelands of the Innu and Inuit.
Ashlee Cunsolo, PhD 