[Internal] Call for Applications - Director Search - Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF)

On February 11, International Women in STEM Day, the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) is highlighting a few of the women across the Institute whose work shows what science looks like when it is built for impact. Their roles span the full spectrum of a research community, from a PhD candidate finishing a dissertation, to a professor leading a global conservation team, to scholars shaping Indigenous-led fisheries research and governance. What connects their work is not a single topic or a single method. It is a shared commitment to asking hard questions, building evidence, and turning knowledge into action.

For the IOF, that impact can start in unexpected places, including deep water. Salome Buglass is about to defend her PhD thesis, focused on characterizing a novel kelp forest in the Galápagos and assessing its vulnerability and resilience in the face of climate change. This is a major milestone. At the heart of her research is a gap she says matters: deep-water mesophotic tropical kelp ecosystems are largely understudied, yet they may play an important role in climate resilience as deep-water thermal refugia. Her work also emphasizes accessibility. By developing low-cost methods to study these systems, she aims to support scientists, conservation practitioners, and policymakers working to protect marine ecosystems in a changing climate. One achievement she is especially proud of is uncovering the presence of a novel mesophotic kelp forest in the Galápagos Archipelago, a discovery that expands how we understand where kelp ecosystems can exist and what they might mean for resilience.

STEM stories are not only about discoveries. They are also about the realities of building a career, and the conditions that shape who feels safe, supported, and able to thrive. Salome describes sexual harassment as one of the most challenging experiences she faced as a junior scientist, including the difficult process of reporting it in the hope of protecting future junior scientists. She also speaks to the lack of representation as a Black woman and how it can amplify impostor syndrome, along with the challenge of navigating academic institutions that can be structured around outdated power dynamics. Her response is not framed as a neat solution, but as a strategy for staying grounded: leaning on therapy for perspective and intentionally building communities of like-minded people who share similar experiences. Looking ahead, she is most excited about finishing her PhD and starting a postdoctoral position at University of California, Los Angeles focused on training and supporting students from underserved communities. What advice she would she offer to younger women and girls interested in STEM? Find supportive communities that lift you up, speak up when you are ready, and choose your battles carefully.

The science undertaken by women is aimed directly at changing how the ocean is used and protected. Dr. Amanda Vincent, Professor and Director of Project Seahorse, says her personal passion right now is to end bottom trawling in most of the ocean through a combination of science, management, policy, and communication initiatives. Her team’s work lies in seahorse science, marine protected areas, non-selective fisheries and wildlife trade, blending research and action to effect change at local, national, and global scales. The problem she points to is urgent and wide-reaching: bottom trawling is highly destructive and non-selective, creating ecological, economic, and social problems. For her, the goal is transition, moving toward less damaging and more sustainable gear that can reconcile fisheries and conservation while bringing socioeconomic benefits and reducing pressure on ecosystems.

Her pride in her work is tied to both scientific firsts and lasting change. She was the first biologist to study seahorses underwater, focusing on male pregnancy, and she has used these remarkable fishes to help drive major conservation outcomes, including the first global export regulations on marine fishes. Even the small details of scientific recognition come with a larger message about responsibility. She shares that a friend and colleague, Dr. Diego Luzzatto, found a new pipefish species and named it Leptonotus vincentae. Yet her response immediately turns to concern: she is deeply worried it is assessed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and she emphasizes the need to reduce fishing pressure and recover habitats. Asked about challenges in STEM, she describes a different kind of pressure: the overwhelming number of meaningful opportunities in conservation and the difficulty of saying no. She notes that being a single parent helped her keep work in perspective and set priorities. Her advice to younger women and girls is about mindset and momentum: foster optimism, identify the problems, and then focus on finding solutions. In 2026, her team will celebrate 30 years of measurable achievements in ocean conservation, and she will return to fishing villages in the Philippines where her work began, reconnecting with communities and the marine protected areas they helped establish.

STEM also includes scholarship that bridges disciplines and insists that fisheries are never only about fish. Dr. Dianne Newell, Professor Emerita in the Department of History and IOF and Interim Director of the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries, describes current work that spans species, ecosystems, and the long impacts of colonialism. She is about to submit a paper with Dr. Daniel Pauly on white sturgeon in British Columbia, their life history and the history of sturgeon fisheries. She is also a co-author on a paper examining colonialism and salmon in the lower Fraser River, and she has co-authored a review focused on the ecological importance of the decline in kelp forests, offering a framework on the value of Macrocystis kelp forests globally. Across these projects, she emphasizes the deep value of fish and aquatic plant species for Indigenous communities, including nutritional, economic, social, cultural, spiritual, and ceremonial meaning, and she notes how communities have had little or no access to some of these species for more than a century while the species themselves have declined. She also points out the scale of risk, noting that sturgeon as a family are among the most endangered vertebrates globally in the 2020s.

When asked to describe what responsible partnership looks like in practice, Dianne points to an approach that is increasingly central to the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries CIF): Indigenous-led research, co-created projects and methodologies, and respect for data sovereignty. She stresses that this goes well beyond treating Indigenous people as data sources and instead recognizes that Indigenous researchers, including some trained through IOF, are developing models for meaningful, productive, and just projects. Looking to 2026, she is excited about working with Oceans and Fisheries students of culturally and academically diverse backgrounds and welcoming a new faculty member to the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries. She also highlights the broader influence of feminist scholarship from women in STEM, describing how renowned scholars, such as Evelyn Fox Keller, examined how gender ideology shaped scientific practice, including the way certain attributes were privileged or devalued.

That same commitment to justice-oriented work is central to Dr. Sara E. Cannon, Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow at CIF. She works in partnership with First Nations to support just and effective aquatic governance. Her current research focuses on Pacific salmon and the cumulative impacts of industrial fisheries on Indigenous rights, access, and stewardship responsibilities. Sara is leading a project titled “Toward social justice and sustainability in Canadian salmon fisheries: industrial transboundary fisheries and Indigenous rights,” examining how marine mixed-stock salmon fisheries intercept salmon before they return to Indigenous territories, and what that means for Indigenous fishing rights, food security, and cultural continuity. She explains the core concern in simple terms: many First Nations fisheries operate in rivers or near river mouths, catching salmon when they return home to spawn, and First Nations have long raised concerns that industrial mixed-stock fisheries at sea undermine constitutionally protected rights by intercepting salmon before they return. Her work aims to address an evidence gap by collating interception data and combining it with First Nations perspectives, with research designed to benefit Indigenous communities first and foremost, while also informing policy, conservation, and cross-border governance. She notes that this work may inform upcoming renegotiations of the Pacific Salmon Treaty set to be renewed in 2028.

Sara’s pride also extends to teaching and community-building. She helped co-develop an IOF graduate course, FISH 506Y: Co-Creating Aquatic Science, designed to prepare students to engage in community-driven and collaborative aquatic science. The curriculum foregrounds Indigenous perspectives and emphasizes relational accountability, reciprocity, and ethical engagement, and it is being taught for the first time this semester with an inaugural cohort of 11 students. When she reflects on challenges, she describes navigating STEM spaces that were not designed to value relational, justice-oriented, or Indigenous-led approaches to science. She credits mentorship, collaboration with Indigenous scholars and communities, and supportive peer networks for helping her stay grounded and confident in doing science differently without compromising rigour or impact. Her advice to younger women and girls is a reminder that belonging should not require shrinking yourself: you do not have to change who you are to belong in STEM, and your values, relationships, and lived experiences are strengths, especially in fields that shape people’s lives and environments.

Together, these stories show why International Women in STEM Day matters. It is not only a celebration of success. It is also a chance to see what “STEM” actually looks like in practice: discovering and protecting hidden ecosystems, fighting for healthier oceans through policy and action, building research partnerships grounded in justice, and training the next generation with care and accountability. Across IOF, these women demonstrate that science is not just about what we know. It is about what we choose to do with that knowledge, and who gets to be part of creating it.

Tags: Aboriginal fisheries, Amanda Vincent, Centre for Indigenous Fisheries, CIF, Dianne Newell, faculty, Indigenous fisheries, International Day of Women and Girls In Science, IOF postdoctoral fellows, IOF students, kelp, Kelp forests, Research, Salome Buglass, Sara Cannon, women, Women in Science