THE 1st ISISA GLOBAL STUDIES WEBINAR: "A 31-hour nissological marathon"
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The 1st ISISA Global Island Studies Webinar (GISW-1) ran on Wednesday June 24, 2020, and was a festival of contributions from around and about our 'world of islands' over 31 hours, using Cisco Webex platform technology.
ISISA thanks the Harris Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), Canada, for providing the IT infrastructure and support to make this webinar possible... and for offering a taste of the same professionalism, organisational flair and quality we can expect when MUN hosts the ISISA Conference in June 2021.
There were 220 unique viewers over the course of GISW-1, many of whom returned multiple times during the course of the event.
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The word cloud you see here, courtesy of Evangelia Papoutsaki, is the result of the processing of the text in the book of abstracts for the June 24 Webinar (with due apologies to the islanders of Tasmania).
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The complete book of abstracts for all 62 presentations is available here (as pdf), and the complete programme of the event (with multiple time zones as reference) is available here.
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We are thrilled to announce that the UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability has been renewed for another four years, until July 13, 2024.
The chair, originally held by Dr. Jim Randall (UPEI) and Dr. Godfrey Baldacchino (U of Malta), is one of 700 UNESCO chairs around the world and is the first in Atlantic Canada. With the stepping down of Godfrey, the renewed chair will continue to be held by Jim at UPEI, where it will continue in its work of expanding academic and research programs on islands at home and around the world.
Read the full announcement here.
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Successful thesis defense
We are delighted to report that Pooja Kumar successfully defended her MA Island Studies thesis entitled Evolving perspectives on urban wildlife and their implications for policy-making in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The Examination Committee felt that no revisions were necessary. The committee included Godfrey Baldacchino, Carolyn Peach Brown, and supervisor Marina Silva-Opps. External examiner was Dr. Mark Lapping from the University of Southern Maine.
Congratulations to Pooja for joining the ranks of the MAIS alumni!
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WHAT'S HAPPENING @ UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
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The team at UPEI's GeoREACH Lab is still looking for volunteers to participate in the Back 50 Project, their interactive mapping exercise about rural land use change on PEI over the past 50 years. For more information, please visit www.upei.ca/back50.
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES & WEBINARS
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Virtual Island Summit
September 7-13, 2020
Full program announcement coming soon!
The Virtual Island Summit is a free and entirely online event designed to connect global islands to share their common experiences through a digital platform. Join islanders from around the world to share ideas, good practices and solutions.
Registration is FREE, but spaces are limited, so reserve your spot now:
https://www.islandinnovation.co/summit/#register-now
For more information, visit the Virtual Island Summit website.
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UPDATE: Creating Inclusive Economies: Building Bridges Between Public, Private and Civil Society Sectors [RESCHEDULED]
Fall 2021 - Rimouski, Québec

In the interest of the health and wellbeing of participants, organizers, and the host community during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Creating Inclusive Economies: Building Bridges Between Public, Private and Civil Society Sectors will now take place during the Fall 2021 in the beautiful City of Rimouski, Québec.
For updates, please keep an eye on the Creative Inclusive Economies website. As details are confirmed, the website will be updated and CEDEC and CRRF will distribute news through their respective social media and other communication channels.
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In our May/June newsletter, we introduced this 'special section' compiling key reports, webinars, and other resources relating to the impacts of COVID-19 in island and rural contexts. The most recent offerings on the topic are below.
For even more information and resources, you can revisit our last newsletter here.
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UPDATES FROM ONGOING PROJECTS
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CRRF Rural Insights Series on COVID-19
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The Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) is producing a series of rural insights on key issues impacting rural communities as they face the challenges of managing the pandemic and look to future recovery.
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Rural Insights Series: COVID-19 reports will be published on a rolling basis throughout 2020.
LATEST REPORTS:
For past reports, more information about the series, and to keep up to date as new reports are published, visit http://crrf.ca/covid19.
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'Island Responses to COVID-19'
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Dr. Francesco Sindico gave an update on the 'Island Responses to COVID-19' survey and project during the Global Island Studies Webinar (GISW-1) on June 24. The abstract for his presentation is available here.
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To stay in the loop about the project, keep an eye on the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Governance's Islands and COVID-19 page.
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LATEST WEBINAR RECORDINGS
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Strengthening Island Resilience
Discussion examining responses to crises and risk reduction, with leaders from Hawai'i, the Atlantic Council, NOAA, and Dominica.
Data Tools and Innovation to Support Building Back Better
Discussion on the intersection of development, technology, access, and accountability, with leaders from Anguilla, the Pacific Island Development Program, shift7, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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CALLS FOR PAPERS & OTHER PUBLICATION NEWS
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Shima ranks highly in latest SCImago global rankings
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In the latest SCImago global Journal Rankings, Shima features:
- In the top 25% percentile cluster (Q1) for Cultural Studies.
- In the top 25% cluster (Q1) for History.
- In the second 25% cluster (Q2) for Anthropology.
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And, in terms of open access journals in Cultural Studies, Shima is ranked in 25th position globally.
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"This excellent showing reflects the quality of contributors to Shima, the quality feedback offered by referees and the willingness of contributors to revise work to referee guidelines. My sincere thanks for all your efforts." - Dr Philip Hayward, Editor of Shima.
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CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Studying islands, rethinking island methodologies
Elaine Stratford, Godfrey Baldacchino, Elizabeth McMahon, and Rosemary Gillespie
Our aim is to develop the first collection of provocative and thoughtful essays that critically consider the how of island and archipelagic studies. The book will bring together leading thinkers in island and allied studies to share critical and creative insights on the methodologies and associated practices, protocols, and field techniques they use in. their work. The text will fill significant gaps in the literature and reflect on research methodologies and associated methods - those in island studies proper and those about varied quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and scientific inquiry that engage somehow with islands, islanders, and/or island life. It will span disciplines and cover hemispheres and sociocultural, spacial, and other contexts.
If this opportunity interests you, please contact Elaine.Stratford@utas.edu.au as soon as possible to receive a copy of the full paper outlining how to propose your chapter for consideration. The deadline for the proposal is midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time on July 31, 2020.
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ONGOING CALLS FOR PAPERS
Coolabah Special Issue: Mythical and Fictional Islands
Papers due September 15, 2020.
Authors are encouraged to reach out to the editor with an abstract prior to submission.
More information here.
Okinawan Journal of Island Studies (OJIS): Submissions for Volume 2.
Submissions due August 10.
More information here.
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APPLICATIONS OPEN - MASTER OF ARTS IN ISLAND STUDIES
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We are accepting applications for our long-running Master of Arts in Island Studies Program, an interdisciplinary program that accepts students from all disciplinary backgrounds. All we ask is that you have a passion for islands. Thesis stream students may adopt a comparative approach to study islands or explore a topic or issue that is crucial to one island. Either way, the program will prepare students with the practical research skills and knowledge they need to succeed in a world increasingly defined by interconnections and interactions among peoples and regions.
New stream for 2020-21 academic year
The MAIS program has a new offering for the 2020-21 academic year in the course/work-study program. In addition to Island Tourism and Sustainable Island Communities, we will offer International Relations and Island Public Policy. This is in addition to the long-running thesis program.
"Future Prosperity for PEI" scholarships
These scholarships are open to incoming students in the thesis program and are worth $12,500/year x 2 yrs. Students who are awarded one of these scholarships must agree to write their thesis generally on one of the following topics:
- Enhancing Rural Labour Markets in an Era of Rural Population Challenges
- The Development of Prince Edward Island as an All-Seasons Tourism Destination: Lessons from other Cold Water Small Islands
- An Analysis of Entrepreneurship on Prince Edward Island: A Case Study of [insert a sector here]
- PEI as a Living Lab for Renewable Energy: The Preconditions for a Sustainable Future
- A Longitudinal Analysis of Newcomer Entrepreneurs on Prince Edward Island
- Stories of Island Repatriation: A Qualitative Analysis of Islanders Who “Lived Away”
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