About
Our Team
The CIFAL Victoria consists of a collaborative administrative team responsible for the management and activities of the centre. Based in the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria (UVic), we aim to connect UVic researchers and community partners to global networks who share our commitment to advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Indigenous rights
Crystal Tremblay
Director
Dr. Crystal Tremblay is a faculty member in the Department of Geography at UVic and Director of CIFAL Victoria. She is a social geographer and community-based scholar with interest in environmental sustainability, participatory resource governance and critical pedagogy.
In 2018, Crystal co-founded the Salish Sea Hub, an initiative of the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research (CBR) Knowledge 4 Change global Consortium. This organization is building capacity and leadership in CBR to address the SDGs and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As a researcher, Dr. Tremblay specializes participatory video and arts-based methods. These tools foster creative citizen engagement and the co-creation of knowledge leading to environmental and social equity. At UVic she teaches Community-based Research and participatory mapping, supporting student-community partnerships for the SDGs.
Nicole Bates-Eamer
Associate Director
Dr. Nicole Bates-Eamer is the Associate Director of CIFAL Victoria. She also holds a position as an Adjunct Professor in Political Science at UVic. She earned her PhD in Political Science from UVic in 2022. Her dissertation looked at the intersections of climate change and human mobilities. It also explored the disconnect between climate-related mobilities both domestically and internationally.
Nicole has worked at UVic since 2008. In that time, she managed international research programs and has conducted policy research related to global governance, sustainable development, climate policy, borders and migration. This included a postdoc exploring the relationship between public health and evacuations from floods and wildfires in British Columbia. Before coming to UVic, Nicole worked in UN refugee camps in western Tanzania with the NGO Right to Play. She also studied International Affairs at Carleton University, taught English in South Korea and studied history and chemistry on a soccer scholarship at the University of Memphis.
Bethany Woodbridge
Program Officer
Bethany Woodbridge is the Program Officer at CIFAL Victoria and a research associate in the Department of Geography at UVic. She has a Master’s degree in Geography from UVic and a Bachelor’s degree, also in Geography, from the University of British Columbia.
Bethany’s graduate research was with the BIOSCAN Canada project, examining Indigenous environmental value systems. She worked with the T’Sou-ke First Nation on a case study exploring their relationship with cedar trees. She first began working with CIFAL Victoria as a part-time communications coordinator while completing her graduate studies. With her degree completed in December 2024, Bethany has now joined the team full-time as Program Officer. She also has continued to work as a research associate with BIOSCAN on environmental management research with Indigenous communities on Vancouver Island.
