Category Archives: News & Updates

The latest news and updates from the Institute of Island Studies (IIS) at the University of Prince Edward Island.

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Press Releases | IIS News Archive (1998–2020)

MAIS News: Student Awards

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March 30, 2021 —
MAIS Student wins UPEI Faculty Association Master’s Medal

Congratulations to Master of Arts in Island Studies (MAIS) student Joyce Ferguson for winning this year’s UPEI Faculty Association’s Master’s medal for her work on “Prince Edward Island and Renewable Energy: The Preconditions for a Sustainable Future.” The thesis, with co-supervisors Drs. Jean Mitchell and Udo Krautwurst, examines the relationship between energy policy and community in her home province of PEI through a case study of the wind farm expansion controversy in eastern Kings County.

ABOUT JOYCE
Joyce Ferguson graduated from UPEI with an Honours BA in Sociology, where she was on the Dean’s Honours List, and received one the Ambrose Kwok-Yau Lee Awards for 2018-19, the Roderick Stirling MacDonald Scholarship, and the Dr. Satadal Dasgupta Memorial Award. She was awarded a Future Prosperity Scholarship when she entered the MAIS program and has since received a Canada Graduate Master’s Scholarship from SSHRC. Joyce and her family live in Rustico and she is the very proud mother of nine-year-old Leo.

Learn more about the Master of Arts in Island Studies Program

COVID-19 ISLAND INSIGHTS SERIES: Iceland, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Prince Edward Island

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March 22, 2021 —
COVID-19 ISLAND INSIGHTS SERIES:
Iceland, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Prince Edward Island

The latest installment of the COVID-19 Island Insights Series features insights from Iceland, Newfoundland & Labrador, and right here on Prince Edward Island and discusses how these island regions have responded to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the extent to which their recovery plans are able to promote long term resilience and sustainability.

Click here to read more

Island Lecture Series – March Event

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March 16, 2021 —
ISLAND LECTURE SERIES MARCH EVENT

Learning from Financial Crisis: Towards Sustainable Island Futures for Iceland and Newfoundland and Labrador
Professor Mark Stoddart and Dr. Ásthildur Elva Bernharðsdóttir
Tuesday, March 30, 2021 · 1:00pm – 2:00pm ADT
Press release | More details and registration

Island Studies Journal moves to new institutional home

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March 15, 2021 —
Island Studies Journal moves to new institutional home

The Institute of Island Studies is grateful to have been the founding institutional home of Island Studies Journal (ISJ), which has grown over the past 15 years to become an internationally recognized journal of great repute. We look forward to continuing to support ISJ as it embarks on this new chapter at its new institutional home of Fróðskaparsetur Føroya/University of the Faroe Islands, and congratulate Executive Editor Adam Grydehøj and the ISJ editorial board for their hard work and continued dedication to the study and discussion of conditions and issues impacting islands and island life.
Click here for full announcement

COVID-19 Island Insights Series: Jamaica & Barbados

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March 9, 2021 —
COVID-19 ISLAND INSIGHTS SERIES:
Jamaica & Barbados
What does COVID-19 recovery look like for tourism-reliant islands in the Caribbean?
The latest reports in our COVID-19 Island Insights Series come from Jamaica and Barbados, two island nations that are shifting towards more resilient, equitable, and sustainable tourism models. 

Click here to read more

MAIS Thesis Defense: Ian McIsaac

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March 8, 2021 —
MAIS THESIS DEFENSE: IAN MCISAAC
Master of Arts in Island Studies student Ian McIsaac recently defended his thesis, “Factors influencing change in the Prince Edward Island Lobster Fishery” via Zoom. The session was recorded and is now available to stream on the Institute of Island Studies YouTube channel.

→ Watch now: bit.ly/MAIS-mcisaac


Background:
In 2015, the PEI Marketing Council created the Lobster Fishers of Prince Edward Island (LFPEI) Commodity Board after holding a plebiscite. Ian conducted research to better understand what factors led to the decision, and to discover if any aspect of islandness may have influenced this independent group of Island business men and women who compete with each other to catch the same fish.

NEWS: Info Session – Master of Arts in Island Studies @ UPEI

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MAIS Info Session: Master of Arts in Island Studies @ UPEI

March 1, 2021—

Have you ever thought of completing a Master’s degree in, among other things, island tourism, sustainability, or international relations, all while staying on the Island?
If so, please join us on March 4th, 20201, for an information session on UPEI’s Master of Arts, Island Studies programs!

Master of Arts in Island Studies Information Session
Thursday, March 4, 2021
12:00 – 1:00 pm via Zoom
Everyone is welcome! Please email Laurie Brinklow at brinklow@upei.ca to receive the Zoom link if you would like to attend.

ABOUT THE MAIS PROGRAM

In addition to the traditional thesis-based option, you are now able to take one of three course-and work-study-based Masters specializing in Island Tourism, Sustainable Island Communities, or International Relations & Island Public Policy. Sessions will be delivered using a combination of face-to-face classes, video link and online, starting in September. Entrance Scholarships for these and the thesis version of the program are available.

Learn more at islandstudies.com/mais-program

New report from IIS Research Associate Graeme Robertson: One year timeline of COVID-19 pandemic impacting islands worldwide

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February 10, 2021 —
New report from IIS Research Associate Graeme Robertson: One year timeline of COVID-19 pandemic impacting islands worldwide

IIS Research Associate Graeme Robertson has compiled a report titled One year timeline of COVID-19 pandemic impacting islands worldwide, which features over 600 articles documenting the impacts of COVID-19 on islands around the world from January 26, 2020 to February 10, 2021. The purpose of the report is to act as a resource enabling all those who are interested to undertake further research. 
Learn more | Download PDF

NEWS: Institute of Island Studies launches the COVID-19 Island Insight Series

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Institute of Island Studies launches the COVID-19 Island Insight Series

Series will examine how islands around the world have performed during the pandemic

November 19, 2020 —

The Institute of Island Studies at UPEI is pleased to announce the launch of the COVID-19 Island Insights Series, an initiative led by the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance (SCELG) and the Institute of Island Studies, in collaboration with Island Innovation. The series aims to bring together critical assessments of how specific islands around the world have performed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent to which their recovery plans are able to promote long-term resilience and sustainability.

The COVID-19 Island Insights Series will lead to a series of “thematic primers” aimed at assisting policy-makers and wider island-related stakeholders to encourage islands to move to a more resilient and sustainable future.

Every two weeks, Island Innovation will release COVID-19 Island Insights Series reports from two different islands via their website (islandinnovation.co/blog).

The first two instalments of the series were launched on November 2, and feature insights from Malta and the Egadi Islands (Italy). The next installments, released on November 16, focus on Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago. 

For more information about the COVID-19 Island Insights Series, to read the reports, and for a full list of the islands the series will cover, head to islandstudies.com/island-insights-series


NEWS: Two UPEI Faculty Members Win Publication Award

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Two UPEI Faculty Members Win SSHRC Exchange Publication Awards

June 29, 2020—

Two faculty members at the University of Prince Edward Island, Laurie Brinklow and Lori Mayne, have been awarded SSHRC Exchange Publication Awards. Two $5,000 awards are given out annually to support the publication of manuscripts written or edited by UPEI faculty in the social sciences and humanities.

Both of these books will be published by Island Studies Press in 2021. Island Studies Press would like to congratulate the award recipients and thank the University of Prince Edward Island for supporting faculty publications.

A photograph of Lori Mayne smiling


Lori Mayne‘s manuscript, co-authored with Mo Duffy-Cobb, is The Chemistry of Innovation: Regis Duffy and the Story of DCL, which shares the story behind one of Prince Edward Island’s most successful companies and brilliant entrepreneurs.

A photograph of Laurie Brinklow, simling


Laurie Brinklow‘s manuscript is a collection of poetry titled, My island’s the house I sleep in at night. Drawn from interviews with writers, artists, and musicians from Newfoundland and Tasmania, the manuscript weaves their words with her own poetic imaginings and explores the theme of ‘islandness’.

Click here for the full press release.

For more details about these and other publications from Island Studies Press, go to islandstudiespress.com