A Greenhouse research talk by Dr. Ellorie McKnight and Dana Jennejohn. All are welcome.
Dr. Ellorie McKnight and Dana Jennejohn are colleagues from Yukon University who have recently started working together to explore the intersection of their respective fields of research (climate education and social work) with the goal of increased interdisciplinary collaboration centering climate justice.
They will each introduce their roles and research/teaching programs at YukonU, and outline the interdisciplinary collaborations they are either currently working on, or hope to work on - including curriculum development, co-publications, and interwoven fieldwork. They will also speak to both the barriers and benefits of this interdisciplinary initiative, as well as suggest some best practices.
Dr. Ellorie McKnight (she/her) works as an Outreach Climatologist with Climate Change Research at Yukon University, Canada. While her background is rooted in climate science, Dr. Ellorie McKnight’s research interests and priorities have pivoted in recent years towards climate education, communication and policy. She currently offers climate knowledge training and climate action support to a variety of Yukon and Northern audiences, including youth, educators, government staff, and decision makers. Her practice emphasizes reflection, worldview awareness, and climate action using a systems-thinking and justice-centered approach.
Dana Jennejohn (she/her) is an Instructor for the Bachelor of Social Work in the School of Health, Education and Human Services at Yukon University, Canada. She centers her teaching in community collaboration, reflexivity, decolonizing social work, and the richness of northern-Indigenous influences. She has completed research engaging anti-colonial social justice-informed understanding of the unique nature of social work practice in the Yukon and has coordinated land-based learning in partnership with Yukon First Nation governments for social work students for 15 years. Those experiences have shifted her interest towards exploring the connection between social work and environmental and climate justice.