Ashlee Cunsolo

Ashlee Cunsolo is the Founding Dean of the School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies at the Labrador Campus of Memorial University, and an international climate change and health research leader, particularly in the areas of climate change and mental health, and ecological grief and anxiety. As both an administrative and research leader, Dr. Cunsolo emphasizes Northern and Arctic research and education sovereignty and self-determination. In her role as Founding Dean of the Labrador Campus, Dr. Cunsolo works with multiple partners in Labrador and at Memorial University to lead the development of a brand new Northern-led and Northern-focused campus and academic unit, including creating undergraduate, graduate, and professional learning programs, expanding Northern and Indigenous-led research, and growing infrastructure. She also leads and oversee the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems, a new 80-acre research, education, and experimental farm focused on enhancing and expanding Northern food bases, food security, and food sovereignty in Labrador. As an academic administrative leader, Dr. Cunsolo prioritizes institution-building, Indigenization and decolonization, equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism, and Northern sovereignty in research and education. As a researcher, Dr. Cunsolo has been working for 15 years on community-based and community-led climate change and health research in the North and internationally. She holds a variety of climate change leadership roles, including being a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, 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, living and working on the homelands of the Innu and Inuit in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.

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