Christine Barnard, PhD

Dr. Christine Barnard is a bilingual northern research and infrastructure executive with more than nineteen years of leadership experience in Arctic and northern research networks. As Executive Director at ArcticNet, the world’s largest national Arctic research network, Dr. Barnard leads a team to support, promote and develop multidisciplinary and cross-cultural Arctic research. She has steered ArcticNet into a new phase of its mandate, focused on science discovery and empowering northern communities and strengthening national and international partnerships that bring Canada’s Arctic expertise to the world. She believes in participatory leadership, thinking strategically and acting purposefully. Dr. Barnard brings a wealth of senior leadership experience managing the research and infrastructure program at the Centre d’études Nordiques (CEN) at Université Laval, a collective of over 300 multidisciplinary scientists studying northern terrestrial and freshwater systems. She co-developed research stations with Inuit communities and managed millions of dollars in infrastructures funds. Since 2006, Dr. Barnard has served and currently serves on numerous national and international boards and advisory committees, such as international Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) Board of Directors and Advisory Panel of the Arctic Council, the Canadian Consortium for Arctic Data and Interoperability (CCADI), the Board of Directors for the Canadian Network of Northern Research Operators (CNNRO), the Hudson Bay Consortium Steering Committee, the Infrastructure Working Group for the Institut nordique du Québec. She has also represented Université Laval and CEN at the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies, the International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT) and the University of the Arctic. Over the course of her professional career, Dr. Barnard has gained a reputation for sound program management, collaborative partnership development, and science management expertise. She is passionate about the role research can play in supporting the sustainable development of a healthy North. Dr. Barnard holds a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences. She is a mother of 3 and an outdoor enthusiast.