Dr. Paul Foley of the Environmental Policy Institute has received one of the largest research grants for a Grenfell Campus researcher from the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), "a transnational hub for ocean research" created through a historic partnership between Dalhousie University, Memorial University, and the University of Prince Edward Island.

Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI): Designing Safe, Sustainable and Inclusive Coastal Communities and Industries for Atlantic Canada, co-led by Dr. Foley and Dr. Lorenzo Moro of Memorial's Department of Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering, received $4 million last year thanks to its potential to expand sustainable development research – that's one quarter of the total $16 million that OFI released to fund six of its Phase 2 Large Research Projects. OFI is a world-leading research initiative in search for solutions that will contribute to safer and more sustainable uses of the ocean created through a massive investment of $95 million from the federal government through its Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), as well as attracting $125 million from provincial governments and partners.

The FOCI Consortium includes researchers and professionals working in physical, technological, natural, social, political, economic and cultural fields of Atlantic Canada. Coastal communities and oceanic challenges arising from climate change and other Anthropocene Era physical and climatic events, known and unknown, are already being studied around the globe. To enhance those studies, interdisciplinarity is key as it may give researchers a more holistic outlook and results.

Dr. Foley, associate professor with the Environmental Policy Institute and graduate officer, master of arts in environmental policy program, explained that the purpose of this interdisciplinary program is to design "infrastructures essential to the development of safe, sustainable and inclusive Atlantic Canadian ocean industries and coastal communities in the face of climate and ocean change."

"We're re-thinking ways to design, develop, and manage infrastructures, with an overarching aim to ensure the designs of the future are sustainable, safe and inclusive," said Dr. Foley, who received the 2019 Grenfell Campus Research Award.

FOCI will carry out co-designed and collaborative research that is committed to equity and inclusiveness, monitoring the development of innovative infrastructure that supports inclusive sustainability and safety. In addition, the consortium aims to create opportunities for a wide range of academics and professionals, including Indigenous groups and diverse demographics beyond Atlantic Canada.

Organized around the training of over 80 individuals in master's, PhD and post-doctoral fellowships, the project will rely on existing and continuous studies and collaborations with more than 70 local, regional and international partners such as the Centre for Marine Socioecology in Australia, Lobster Node Inc., the Association for New Canadians, Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, Municipalities of Newfoundland and Labrador, Ocean School and many of the different academic units of Memorial University.

"Researchers are carrying out activities to help FOCI and OFI achieve the objective of designing infrastructures to enhance the capacity of ocean industries and coastal communities in Atlantic Canada to safely, sustainably, and inclusively respond to change," said Dr. Foley.

The project entails 13 sub-projects, ranging from modelling ways to improve search and rescue in remote coastal regions of NL, to analyzing ways to enhance inclusion, social justice and equity in urban and rural coastal communities. It will serve as a planning mechanism for adapting to climate, ocean and social change, as well as applying the lens of diverse social and ecological infrastructures. This will support the assessment and enhancement of designs to support ocean and coastal communities and industries in ways specifically targeted to enhance sustainability, safety and inclusiveness.

In 2019, Dr. Foley published three articles and one book chapter on topics ranging from fishery policy to business governance, including in Marine Policy, the leading journal of ocean policy studies.