Robin Westland, PhD, MSc.

Thompson Rivers University

2023-Present​

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• Undergoing a research project focused on studying the effectiveness of reflexive, feminist, and teamwork-based pedagogies for the teaching of geographies of gender;

• Using student reflexive assignments, class discussions, and post-course interviews, am exploring the effectiveness of less-conventional pedagogies for teaching geographies of gender;

• The research will feed into the intentions of the TRU Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Unit to create improved training for students and staff at TRU.

​Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation Government

2020-2022

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• Designed a community research project focused on identifying Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in cultural values and principals through traditional storytelling. The core values of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in identified were integrity, justice, balance, interconnection, and respect: values that are mirrored in the way that the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in interact with the natural world.

• Developed community-appropriate research and engagement methodology;

• Mentored a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in co-worker to support data analysis of story session transcripts;

• Produced the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Land Vision, a high-level values document that will guide Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Government operations into the future;

• Designed workshops focused on integrating the cultural values of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in to redesign policy and procedures to better reflect the core values.

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​Queen's University

2018-2020

• Research Assistant for the interdisciplinary research project, Rekindle the Past to Spark the Future: Frontiers in Glacier Research under the Principal Investigator: Canada Research Chair in Integrated Glacier Monitoring Practices, Dr. Laura Thomson.

• Coordinated research activities and liaised with research participants, early scientists involved with the McGill Arctic Research Station on Axel Heiberg Island.

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Thompson Rivers University

2022-Present

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• Working with Twyla Exner, a professor of Visual Arts, and a community partner, have designed a research project building on our experience teaching interdisciplinary "sister courses" that engaged students in art, geography, and participatory action research;

• Supported by the TRU Research Office, designed a pilot project in Winter, 2023, that entangled our two courses: Empowering Geographies and Making Art with Community and a community partner, the Kamloops Food Policy Council; 

• Have scaffolded the pilot into a larger research project of community-based engagement, art, and community empowerment.

​Queen's University

2016-2020

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• Designed a mixed-methods research study with the principal research question, “How does one transform an environmentally destructive society?”

• Utilized interviews, focus groups, and participant observation techniques, as well as new qualitative methods designed for the research;

• Explored a variety of human geographical theories in the work: emotional, feminist, material, Indigenous, and cultural geographies;

• Ecopsychology was the principal theory guiding the analysis and the mining industry, as well as the rocks and minerals it commodifies, were the focus of the work;

• As a worldview, ecopsychology is a powerful tool to support empowering humanity by changing our understanding of our place in the world and achieving truly sustainable societies.

​Queen's University

2017-2020

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• Research Assistant for the project, Recording Nature: The Life and Geography of William W.H. Gunn, under the Principal Investigator, historical geographer, Dr. Laura Jean Cameron.

• Transcribed personal journals of William W.H. Gunn and supported efforts to identify the personal growth, and developing conservationism, of the author as he took part in the Muskox Expedition to the Canadian Arctic.

​Thompson Rivers University

2022-Present

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• Exploring through ethnography and reflexive practice the process of creating gender-safe places at Thompson Rivers University;

• Working with the Sexual Violence and Prevention Unit, a community representative/consultant, intersectionality researcher, and an undergraduate researcher, we are undergoing the process of developing safe spaces at TRU to discuss the ongoing gender-based issues at the University;

• Gender-based support work is fraught with social and professional challenges which will be explored and navigated through this study.

​Queen's University

2010-2012

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• Investigated minerals in the hydrous ferric sulfate system. Ferric sulfates are one of the mineral groups found in acid mine drainage. My work was guided by the paper by mineralogists Posnjak and Merwin (1922) as well as the Chilean explorations of Mark Bandy in the 1930s. While highly technical, this research sparked an interest in historical geography.

• Created minerals using the method identified by Posnjak and Merwin and then observed them using both polarizing and scanning electron microscopy;

• Employed both modern and historical x-ray diffraction techniques;

• Developed a recognition that more holistic engagement with the world would be more effective for sustainability than the reactionary work of environmental geology.

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​Queen's University

2013

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• Conducted participant observation on the interactions between Indigenous representatives and those of the Mining Industry;

• Developed a series of recommendations to improve communications between the groups;

• Recommendations were used to help create the document, Forging Stronger Pathways to Education and Employment: A Report from the Proceedings of the Aboriginal Mining Education Forum, Toronto, 2013.