FishPeoplePlace Lab

A student-centered lab working in service to learning, education, and outreach.

Our Research Areas

Our research areas change and evolve as different people bring fresh ideas and interests to the lab. Regardless of topic, all FPP Lab projects are united by human dimensions themes, theories, and approaches to environmental and conservation social science. Currently, we are working on:

- Aquatic ‘invasive’ species in the Margaree River Valley

- The use of hatchery and stocking programs for salmon conservation in Atlantic Canada, Pacific Canada, and the UK

- Coastal access mapping, equity, and climate pressures in Nova Scotia

- Great Lakes commercial fisheries culture, livelihoods, and economics

- Kelp aquaculture in the Atlantic region

Our research draws on a variety of theories, perspectives, disciplines, and methods depending on the project, its partners, and what is appropriate for the time, place, and questions being asked. Recent projects have used qualitative interviewing, participant observation, podcasting, and photovoice to generate data.

Want to learn more about these research topics? Click the button below.

Radical Salary Transparency

Radical salary transparency is a practice used in the business world to build a sense of trust between people who work together under the same employer, and ensure fairness of same pay for the same work. Unfortunately, academia has a long history of exploiting academic workers, particularly those who are in precarious positions, by underpaying them for the work they do. We consider that practice to be unacceptable, and practice radical salary transparency as one method of undermining exploitive academic hiring and work practices.

FishPeoplePlace founder Hannah Harrison first became interested in salary transparency as a PhD student, and later co-organized her postdoc group to form a union at the University of Guelph, largely inspired by the radical pay disparity experienced there amongst postdocs.

Today, the FishPeoplePlace lab practices radical transparency in how funding is acquired, how students, postdocs, and faculty are paid, and advocates for dignified wages for student labor. This table (below) offers insight into what students at different career stages could expect to be paid, or have their pay adjusted to, as funding becomes available.

  • The FishPeoplePlace lab often hires Master of Marine Management (MMM) students or other graduate internship positions between May - August each year. These positions are usually paid $15,000 CAD for full-time work during that period, or about $25CAD/hour on a stipend basis.

  • The FishPeoplePlace lab endeavors to hire PhD students at or above the wage standards set by the Canadian Tri-Council, which in 2025 were $40,000 CAD/year. This amount is usually composed of a combination of student awards and scholarships and grant funding. Whenever possible, we aim to offer a fully-funded PhD program (4 years).

    We are not always successful at offering PhD students a dignified wage upon first hire, or offering all four years of support up front. This is sometimes because the original funding for a project is not substantial enough to offer a meaningful wage for all four years, so we offer more money for fewer years with the goal of finding additional funds to support the remainder of a student’s study.

    If and when this situation should occur, we require transparent, honest conversations with the student before they accept a PhD position so they are aware of the risks and we can make a plan to fund their stipend throughout their PhD.

    Our goal is that all students should be funded throughout their PhD at or above Tri-Council levels. PI Harrison commits to supporting students in pursuing awards and grants to ensure dignified wages.

  • From time to time, the lab will have funding available to hire temporary research assistants for specific projects. For these projects, we commit to offering $25CAD/hour or more, depending on the source of funding, length of project, and skill/experience level of the research assistant.