Julia Christensen

Julia Christensen Julia Christensen is a PhD student in Geography at McGill University in Montreal. She was born and raised in the Northwest Territories, Canada, where her father was born and her family still lives. Growing up in the North, Julia witnessed firsthand the incredible change taking place around her. Questions concerning how these changes take place, and what they mean for the future of northern peoples, have inspired her academic research interests. Julia is dedicated to making a meaningful research contribution to the North, a region that has supported and encouraged her so much over the years. After completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of British Columbia, she pursued a Master of Arts degree in Geography at the University of Calgary. There, her research focused on political change in the Northwest Territories, particularly as it relates to the politics of Indigenous knowledge in resource management through the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. She has continued her focus on the North in her PhD, as she studies issues of housing security, homelessness and resource development in the Northwest Territories. Thanks to active communication with community groups, this research promises to shed light on these areas of critical concern. Julia’s academic and professional interests have taken her all over Canada and the world. Yet no matter how far she travels, the Northwest Territories is always home. She and her GAPS colleagues look forward to working closely with northern communities to study the various ways in which oil and gas development affects notions of security in the circumpolar North.

Julia’s research is supported in part by a SSHRC CGS Doctoral Scholarship, the Northern Scientific Training Program, and the Canadian Northern Studies Trust.