Adjunct Associate Professor

Dr Tristan Pearce is an Associate Professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair in the Cumulative Impacts of Environmental Change with the Department of Global and International Studies and Natural Resource and Environmental Studies, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. Tristan’s work focuses on human adaptation to global environment change. His current research program centres on the Arctic, Pacific Islands Region, and Australia, and the effects of climate change for the local Indigenous people and their communities. The goal of this research is to develop a dynamic understanding of the processes and conditions affecting community vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to climate change.

Qualifications

PhD (Geography), University of Guelph; Master of Arts (Geography/International Development), University of Guelph, Bachelor of Arts (International Studies) (Honours), University of Northern British Columbia.

Teaching areas

• Sustainability problem solving
• Arctic and Inuit studies
• Global environmental change
• Qualitative Research Methods

Research areas

• Climate change vulnerability and adaptation
• Traditional knowledge systems;
• Cumulative impacts of environmental change

Awards

• Canada Research Chair
• Australian Government Research Fellowship
• Vanier Doctoral Scholarship

Key Research Publications

Pearce T, Manuel L, Leon J, Currenti R, Brown M, Ikurisaru, I. Doran, B., Scanlon, H. and Ford, J. (2021). Mapping Social Values of the Sigatoka River Estuary, Nadroga-Navosa Province, Viti Levu, Fiji, Human Ecology.

Ford, J, Clarke, D, Pearce, T, Berrang-Ford, L, Copland, L, Dawson, J, Mark, N & Harper, S 2019, ‘Changing access to ice, land, and water in Arctic communities’, Nature Climate Change.

Pearce, T, Rodríguez, E, Fawcett, D & Ford J 2018, ‘How is Australia Adapting to Climate Change Based on a Systematic Review?’, Sustainability.

Pearce, T, Currenti, R, Mateiwai, A & Doran, B 2018, ‘Adaptation to climate change and freshwater resources in Vusama Village, Viti Levu, Fiji’, Regional Environmental Change, vol. 18(2), pp. 501-510.

Pearce T, Ford J, Cunsolo Willox A and Smit B. (2015). Inuit Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), subsistence hunting and adaptation to climate change in the Canadian Arctic. Arctic 68(2):233-245.

Pearce T, Wright H, Notaina R, Kudlak A, Smit B, Ford J and Furgal C (2011) Transmission of environmental knowledge and land skills among Inuit men in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. Human Ecology, 39: 271-288.

Contact Dr Tristan Pearce via email Tristan.pearce@unbc.ca.