SSI Graduate Accepts Postion with New England Sustainability Consortium (NEST)

Bridie McGreavyBridie McGreavy’s doctoral work at UMaine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative, a program of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center, extended far beyond the constructs of her discipline and far beyond the boundaries of the university.

“A highlight of this academic experience has been the development of multiple partnerships across disciplines and with different types of stakeholders,” McGreavy said. “I did not realize that my academic experience would result in so many deep and productive relationships on which I will continue to build for the remainder of my career.”

McGreavy was a research fellow on SSI’s Knowledge-to-Action team. Her work focused on building more resilient partnerships between stakeholders – such as communities or non-governmental entities – and universities. She looked at the influence of and potential improvements in communications that could in turn enhance the chance of successful sustainability collaborations. Her results, laid out in a series of academic papers and conference presentations, showed that collective communication, mutual decision-making and the inclusion of diverse ideas led to progress toward sustainability-related goals.

Her research was supported by National Science Foundation award EPS-0904155 to Maine EPSCoR at the University of Maine.

McGreavy has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship with the New England Sustainability Consortium (NEST). Led by UMaine’s Mitchell Center and the University of New Hampshire, NEST is a regional research partnership focused on strengthening the scientific basis for decision-making in the management of coastal systems. Her research with this group will continue to focus on communication and collaboration. She will also be conducting research with shellfishing communities across Maine and New Hampshire to better understand and improve risk communication and resilience to threats such as bacterial contamination and other changes within intertidal ecosystems. Ultimately, she intends to work as a communication scholar in the field of sustainability science with a goal of remaining in the New England area and hopefully her home state of Maine.