Martina Jakubchik-Paloheimo

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Geography and Planning, Queen's University, Ontario
I have 11 years of international and Canadian experience with specialized knowledge in Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Qualitative research, Facilitation, Peace-building, Restorative Justice and Reconciliation. As a Educator, Mediator and Circle Keeper I bring a unique and highly diverse set of experiences to my teachings, research, project management and trainings. Being trained in International and cross-cultural settings in Canada, Haiti and Ireland. I bring a set of highly attuned skills to the projects I work with. I am competent in grant writing, conflict transformation process design, power rebalancing, Indigenous rights advocacy, consensus building and conflict coaching.

I have completed my Masters of Philosophy in International Peace Studies from Trinity College in Ireland and have obtained Advanced Dispute resolution training from York University, and the GlenCree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. I have worked with and for NGO's, Government, and Communities. I am fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish and can speak some Haitian Creole. I learned to speak both Spanish and Portuguese while living abroad in South America after completing my undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Environmental Studies. My experiences abroad and especially in Latin America, have created a passion for reconciling relations to our natural world and one another.

I am currently in my forth year of my PhD at Queens University working in Human Geography in the Heath, Environment and Communities lab working with Dr. Heather Castleden. My research is examining decolonial knowledge production, power in neocolonial extractive landscapes, feminist political ecology and geographies of peace in the Ecuadoran Amazon. I am working in collaboration and partnership with members of the Indigenous Shuar Community through community-based participatory research to preserve their ancestral territory and traditional ecological knowledge.

My research is also working to support their Community Based Eco-Tourism Projects, and broader Foundation founded by the Shuar for Indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon and stewardship of their forests. Visit the project at: Inishanunka.org

Having travelled to 42 countries across the globe all of my experiences, studies, and have shaped my commitment to social and environmental justice. As of right now I am available for part-time consulting work at home in Toronto, remotely, and internationally. Over the next few months you will find me back and forth from the Ecuadorian Amazon, the site of my field research as I finish my disseration.