Amber Fletcher

Dr. Amber Fletcher’s research examines how gender and social inequality shape the lived experience of climate change through the lens of climate disasters (flooding, drought, and wildfire). Focusing on rural and Indigenous communities in the Canadian Prairie region, her work reveals the lived impact of inequality in the context of crisis.

Amber is currently Principal Investigator on a SSHRC-funded project (2016-2022) entitled “Social Dimensions of Climate Hazards: Adapting to Wildfire and Flood in Saskatchewan's Farm, Forestry, and First Nations Communities”. She is also leading a research project called “The Value of Arts and Culture for Community Cohesion”, which is funded by SSHRC and MITACS. She is co-investigator on several other projects, funded by SSHRC and CIHR, on the topics of environmental impact assessment, public safety, and community-engaged learning.

She has published research in international peer-reviewed journals, including Regional Environmental Change, Agriculture and Human Values, Journal of Rural Studies, Society & Natural Resources, Cuadernos de Desarrollo Rural, Geoforum, Climate Policy, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Evidence & Policy, Natural Hazards, International Social Work, and The Canadian Geographer/le Géographe canadien.

Amber has also published chapters in a number of anthologies, including Handbook of Social Inclusion: Research and Practices in Health and Social Sciences (2021, edited by P. Liamputtong), Water Security Across the Gender Divide (2018, edited by C. Fröhlich et al.), and Gender and Climate Change in Rich Countries: Work, Public Policy and Action (2017, edited by M. Griffin Cohen). Her own book (with Wendee Kubik) entitled Women in Agriculture Worldwide: Key Issues and Practical Approaches was published by Routledge in 2016. She is currently authoring an open-access textbook on qualitative research methods.

Amber has delivered 98 presentations in Canada and worldwide—including invited talks in Spain, England, Italy, and the USA—and has contributed to expert testimonies for two Standing Committees of the Parliament of Canada. In 2012 she spoke at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on the topic of rural women’s wellbeing. Dr. Fletcher has also served as a consultant to the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme. She is a contributing author to Chapter 7 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019).

Dr. Fletcher is a past President of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (2018-19). She holds two medals from the Governor General of Canada for her research and advocacy on gender equality in Canada.  In 2020, she was the Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

She teaches courses in qualitative research methods, social research methodology, sociology of gender, and sociology of families. She enjoys integrating community-engaged learning opportunities into her classroom and is always interested in partnering with community and non-profit organizations with research questions or data needs.

 Links to publications:

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amber_Fletcher