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Trent University Announces Appointment of 2010 Roberta Bondar Postdoctoral Fellow in Northern and Polar Studies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Scott Heyes to Arrive at Trent from Australia in
February 2010 to Begin Term as New Bondar Fellow

Monday, October 26, 2009, Peterborough

Trent University is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Scott Heyes, a lecturer from the University of Melbourne in Australia and northern Indigenous researcher, as the 2010 Roberta Bondar Postdoctoral Fellow in Northern and Polar Studies.

"I am honoured to have been selected as Trent’s new Bondar Fellow,” Dr. Heyes said. “I am looking forward to traveling from Melbourne, Australia, to Peterborough, Canada, and to collaborating with the enthusiastic faculty and students at Trent. I am grateful to have been given this opportunity to build upon my research in the Arctic and to contribute to the teaching of Indigenous studies in such an esteemed academic setting."

Dr. Heyes, who holds a Ph.D. in geography from McGill University, is a lecturer in landscape architecture at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has been conducting research on Indigenous conceptions of landscape for nearly a decade, including fieldwork with the Inuit of Arctic Quebec.

In his current research, Dr. Heyes is developing a dictionary of sea-ice terms for an Inuit community as part of a knowledge preservation project, and is investigating how Aborigines in Southern Australia have historically modified the land to facilitate fishery enterprises. He is also investigating how Inuit have been involved in the design and determination of Arctic parks in Northern Quebec.

Dr. Heyes will arrive at Trent on February 1, 2010 to begin one-year residency, during which he will teach an undergraduate course at the University and deliver two public lectures. During his time at Trent as the Bondar Fellow, he plans to pursue studies of Inuit conceptions of the land and sea, and Inuit's sense of attachment to the environment in the face of changing social and physical settings.

"The Frost Centre is very pleased that Dr. Heyes will be joining us as the second Roberta Bondar Fellow,” said Dr. Julia Harrison, director of the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies at Trent. “His research intersects with the interests of faculty in Environmental Studies, Indigenous Studies, Geography and Anthropology. He will be a great resource for both graduate and undergraduate students and undoubtedly a stimulating colleague for faculty across the University."

The Roberta Bondar Fellowship in Northern and Polar Studies is a postdoctoral teaching and research award. The fellowship is intended to attract up-and-coming northern scholars to Trent for the period of one academic year. The fellowship named in honour of Dr. Roberta Bondar, renowned space scientist, neurologist, astronaut and former Trent University chancellor, is intended to foster interest in Northern Studies at Trent, and is based in the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies.

Dr. Heyes is the second Bondar Fellow. The inaugural fellow was Dr. Derek Mueller, Trent alumnus and renowned polar scientist.

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For more information, please contact:
Dr. Julia Harrison, Director, Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, Trent University, (705) 748-1011 x7772