ESAC Conference 2015 Call for Proposals
CALL FOR PAPERS – 2015 Annual Conference
University of Ottawa June 2–4, 2015
EXTENDED DEADLINE: FRDIAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015
The Environmental Studies Association of Canada (ESAC) is pleased to invite you to participate in our Annual Conference at the University of Ottawa (www.uottawa.ca) as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2015 (http://congress2015.ca).
As Canada’s leading association of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners involved in a diversity of environmental fields, ESAC facilitates networking and dialogue across environment-related fields and practices. Our 2015 conference is an excellent opportunity for delegates to take part in a lively exchange of ideas relating to the environment among academics, students, researchers, members of NGOs, community groups, the public and private sector, practitioners, policy-makers and activists. All are encouraged to make submissions on a broad range of issues, themes and case studies, including (but not limited to):
- Knowledge and environment
- Environmental education
- Politics of environmental knowledge
- Environmental policy
- Marketing sustainability Consumption/production
- Sustainable livelihoods
- Climate change
- Resilience
- Community sustainability
- Sustainable development
- Environmental or ecological economics
- Sustainable food systems
- Gender and environment
- Resource management
- Environmental psychology
- Political ecology
This year’s conference theme, Capital Ideas, refers to the power of ideas. As the Congress organizers have noted, “ideas captivate our hearts and minds; ideas connect people and ignite discussions and debates; ideas create knowledge and spark discoveries. Ideas represent an invaluable currency capable of changing our lives and our world.” Reflecting this theme, ESAC keenly invites new ideas in scholarship and practice to engage with, and address the vital environmental opportunities and challenges facing the world today. We invite proposals for paper presentations, pre-organized panel sessions, poster presentations, or—new this year—3-minute thesis presentations by students.
Submission instructions
All proposals must be submitted by Friday, January 23, 2015 Friday, February 6, 2015. The conference organizing committee is accepting four distinct types of proposals:
- Individual paper presentations of 15-20 minutes. Presenters will be placed in the most appropriate session available based on the topic or method.
- Pre-organized panel sessions of 1.5 hours. Sessions may include a series of papers (each 15–20 minutes long) on a single issue (with or without a discussion of the issue by a panel) or a workshop addressing a specific topic. Sessions must have a coordinator. The coordinator organizes the session, ensures their contributors are registered to the conference and are members of ESAC, and informs them of scheduling, etc. As part of the session proposal the coordinator should submit an abstract for the session along with the names of all contributors. Coordinators will then be required to follow up with a more detailed write-up, including abstracts for each contribution, by the end of March (to be used for the conference extended program).
- Conference poster (and presentation): the ESAC Poster Competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students. Posters will be displayed and authors will be available for informal discussion during ESAC’s wine and cheese event on June 2. For further details when available, see www.esac.ca.
- 3-minute thesis presentations are open to graduate students and presented on June 3.?
All submissions should clearly state the type of submission (ie. individual paper, pre-organized session, conference poster, or 3-minute thesis, etc.) and include an abstract of 300 words or less including:
- The object of study or theme of session
- Theoretical framework, concept or research question/objective
- Methodology or practice
- Main conclusions
- Relevance to the theme of Capital Ideas
- At least three keywords to assist the conference committee in assigning your paper to an appropriate session if not a self-contained panel or workshop proposal
- The institutional affiliation and contact email of the contributor(s).
Submissions should be sent by email to ESACconference2015@gmail.com by January 23, 2015. Acceptance e-mails will be sent out in March 2015.
Membership and registration
You must be an ESAC member in good standing to present at the conference. Presenters not possessing membership will be removed from the program. Please visit https://www.esac.ca/join-esac/ for details on joining ESAC. All delegates must also register for both ESAC and Congress through the Congress registration website.
June 2: ESAC opening plenary and program, poster competition, wine and cheese, Eco-Award
June 3: ESAC program, 3-minute thesis presentations
June 4: ESAC program, banquet
Keynote speakers already confirmed include:
John Bennett, Executive Director, Sierra Club of Canada
John Bennett has a long history of campaigning on energy and environmental issues. In the 1970s, John co-founded the first Greenpeace office east of the Rockies and launched Greenpeace’s first nuclear power campaign. He created a media session by leading a trio of Greenpeace activists who canoed into the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant to prove it lacked security. John was communications director for the Green Party of Canada, including the 2008 campaign in which the Greens, led by Elizabeth May, won nearly a million votes and was the only party to increase its total. His experience has demonstrated the importance of collaborating with other groups and including as many people as possible, and their ideas, in whatever work must be done. That was especially obvious in the creation of the Green Budget Coalition, which analyzed federal budgets in terms of their impact on environmental concerns. He also wants the knowledge he and others have gained to be passed on to younger people, particularly those in the Sierra Youth Coalition, “to ensure there’s someone to take up the torch.” (www.sierraclub.ca/en/users/john-bennett)
Dave Ireland, Managing Director, Centre of Biodiversity, Royal Ontario Museum
Dave Ireland unites his passion for conservation and biodiversity efforts with his commitment to public environmental awareness, launching well-received and powerful exhibits such as Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the Carbon 14: Climate is Culture Exhibit and Program Festival at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Before joining ROM in 2011, Mr. Ireland designed and delivered conservation education programs for the public at the Toronto Zoo. In addition to his professional positions, Mr. Ireland is also well-known and well-respected for his leadership in and founder of the Ontario Road Ecology Group (OREG), which he also chairs, and for which he won ESAC’s ECO-Award in 2014. OREG works with multiple stakeholders to protect biodiversity from the threat of roads and traffic, and is a leader in bringing in ecological thinking to road design and management. (https://www.esac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Dave-Ireland-ECO-Award-Winner-Press-Release-2014_FINAL.pdf)
Collaboration
We are planning a collaboration with another national, scholarly association, aimed at hosting joint sessions and more in conjunction with our respective annual conferences at Congress 2015. Details will be announced soon.
Program Chair and ESAC President: Veronica Wahl
Local Coordinators: TBA
Download the 2015 Call for ProESAC 2015 CFPposals as a PDF
Hello. I’m a research associate in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania. I’m interested in attending your conference – perhaps the whole conference or maybe only part of it. Are you accepting registrations from people who are not part of the society provided they are not presenting papers? Alternatively, if I were interested in presenting a paper, would I be able to join the society so that I could do this, or is the society only open to Canadians. Best wishes, Lyn.
Motivation for the viability of the lobster fishery in the Northumberland Strait
Object of study
The lobster fishing industry in the Northumberland Strait has experienced some decline in
the past decade. Although some conservation measures have been implemented, the stocks may
be at risk. In this case study, we focus on the different aspects that should be considered when
conservation management of a resource is considered. This includes understanding the
motivation of industry stakeholders, particularly fishermen, in function of the need for an
integrated and sustainable approach to this vital industry for the Atlantic Canada. Here, we
examine the three following issues:
Concepts of research
i)the concept of the social representations that should be considered to guide the conservation
measures of the main industry players of the lobster fishery; ii) the importance of the integration
of the various components of this fishery such as the industry pressures (measures of ecological
certification), the state of the ecosystem and lobster population (larval recruitment) that may or
may not encourage players to adopt best practices that take into account the precautionary
principle; and iii) the need for a new approach that takes into consideration the development of
the territory while overlapping the pressures on the industry and the ecosystemic approach where
the notion of territory differs.
Methodology
This presentation reflects on available scientific data from the literature, databases on inventory
management of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and information previously
published from concerned key sectors informants (fishermen, processors). We will compare
information from key industry representatives on the Northumberland Strait District 25 with a
look at 26 districts A and B in Cape Breton and 23 A and B of the Bay of Chaleur where
voluntary restrictive conservation measures such as increasing the size of the lobster carapace
have experienced some success.
Discussion
This case study transposes the global concerns at the local scale where challenges must be dealt
through we believe a consensus that will balance the various types of representations and
integrate them in the issues of territorial development and ecosystem management for a better
sustainability of the resource. Through a conservation strategy that is socially acceptable for the
stakeholders, it is predicted that fishing would be more suited to the environmental changes and
therefore more resilient across its territory. Since 2000 fishers have to deal with climate changes
which affect the quality of lobster.
The main conclusion brings some ideas on what are the ingredients that should be considered to
successfully ensure the sustainability of the coastal communities and their ecosystems.
The relevance of the presentation is linked to the lobster trade between the two countries.
Three key words : ecosystemic approach, conservation, sustainability
Affiliation : Omer Chouinard, Omer.Chouinard@umoncton.ca,
Please let me know if it’s acceptable for the Ottawa Conference
I was just wondering if it would be too late to submit a paper presentation related to knowledge systems.
Unfortunately the deadline for submissions has passed. But here are some answers to the comments above:
Anyone can apply for ESAC membership. You do not need to hold membership when you apply to the Annual Conference, but you DO need to hold membership by the time you present at the conference. Memberships are good for one year and are available here: https://www.esac.ca/2013/11/esac-membership/
To apply for the Annual Conference you need to submit a proposal by email to the conference organizers via the email address provided in the Call for Papers. No other proposals will be accepted.