• Job Description

  Req#: 16003
  Dr. Chad Walker and his team are now seeking applications for a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in a research program called Advancing Water Stewardship Across Wabanaki. In partnership with the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority (AFNWA) and the Ulnooweg Education Centre (UEC), Dr. Walker is working with a team from Dalhousie’s Centre for Water Resource Studies (CWRS; including Principal Investigator Dr. Graham Gagnon, and Co-Applicant Dr. Amina Stoddart) to better understand pathways toward co-developed, and sustainable clean water systems in participating First Nations in Atlantic Canada. This project has received support from a Joint NSERC Alliance + Accelerate grant.
  
  
  The AFNWA’s Mission
  The AFNWA is the first Indigenous owned and operated water utility in Canada. Through its full service de-centralized (hub and spoke) model, the utility exists to transform water and wastewater services delivery to participating First Nations communities. Along with building capacity and promoting growth and prosperity for First Nations communities, the mission is rooted in self-determination and reconciliation.
  
  The AFNWA is owned by the communities it serves and currently has 12 member communities from the following regions:
  
  
  • Unama’ki (Cape Breton) • Misigeneegatig (New Brunswick East)
  • Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island) • We’kopekwitk (mainland Nova Scotia East) • Wolastokuk (New Brunswick West) • Kespukwitk (mainland Nova Scotia West)
  
  
  Project Goals
  The overall goal of this research partnership is to establish a substantive and sustained relationship between the AFNWA, Dalhousie's CWRS and the UEC that will facilitate First Nations-led co-generation of innovation and knowledge in drinking water and wastewater treatment, Indigenous water management, and community water stewardship and trustbuilding.
  We are seeking an engaged and driven Postdoctoral Fellow who will focus on one of the three research themes, Community Capacity for Water Stewardship. In particular, the successful applicant will work with the AFNWA, UEC, and participating communities to help facilitate community-led research designed to: i) better understand community knowledge and needs related to guiding an Indigenous water utility and ii) build a community engagement and confidence tool.
  
  
  Note while all those interested are encouraged to apply, we are prioritizing Indigenous applicants for this position. In particular, we are interested in First Nations candidates from Wabanaki (i.e. those territories of the Mi’kmaq or Wolastoqey).
  
  
  Key Responsibilities
  The successful applicant will work closely with Dr. Walker, the AFNWA, the UEC, and participating communities to co-manage the project, build relationships, co-design research, collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and write a variety of public-facing and community-facing reports and academic publications. This work will be done with the primary aim to learn from and share knowledge surrounding water stewardship and management through the AFNWA – Canada’s first Indigenous-owned water utility. Project and Fellowship success will be measured across a range of factors including impact within the communities we work with as well as within academic contexts (i.e. publications in high-impact journals and conferences).

• About the company

  Dalhousie University is a public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, and medical teaching facilities in Saint John, New Brunswick.

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