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College of Education

Research Area(s)

  • environment; sustainability; youth; educational policy

About

Marcia McKenzie is a Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Director of the Sustainability and Education Policy Network (www.sepn.ca). She has recently authored a number of reports for UNESCO, and leads the SSHRC-funded Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Change Education (MECCE) project, a six-year global partnership project to advance the quality and quantity of climate change education, training, and public awareness. Encompassed within Dr. McKenzie’s empirical projects are theoretical and applied contributions at the intersections of comparative and international education, global education policy research, and climate and sustainability education, including in relation to policy mobility, scale, affect, intersectionality, and other areas of social and geographic concern. She is also co-author/editor of four books, including: with Eve Tuck, Place in Research: Theory, Methodology, and Methods (Routledge, 2015); and with Andrew Bieler, Critical Education and Sociomaterial Practice (Peter Lang, 2016); and is co-editor of the Palgrave book series Studies in Education and the Environment. 

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Theory and Implementation, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 2004
  • Master of Education in Studies in Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Education, Brock University, 2000
  • Diploma, Outdoor Leadership, Capilano College, 1998
  • Bachelor of Science in Biology, University of British Columbia, 1995

Teaching

Undergraduate Courses

  • Urban Education
  • Land-based Education
  • Pedagogies of Place
  • Cross Cultural Issues
  • Educational Thought and Values
  • Introduction to Education

Graduate Courses

  • Education Policy and Politics
  • Foundations of Education
  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Research Methods
  • Climate Change Education
  • Investigations in Culture and Environment
  • Environmental Change

Research

Active Grants: 

  • SSHRC Partnership Grant Stage 2 ($2,500,000 SSHRC, with additional $2 million cash and in-kind), PI with 80 international partners and collaborators, 2020-2026. Project: Monitoring and evaluation of climate change education (MECCE) partnership.
  • Insight Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ($280,000), PI, 2019-2023. Project: The development and mobilization of UN policy programs: Mitigating climate change through education
  • SSHRC Partnership Grant ($1,964,966 SSHRC; with additional $1,131,380 cash and in-kind), PI with Collaborators, 2012-2020. Project: The Sustainability and Education Policy Network: Leading through Multi-Sector Learning
  • International Thematic Network, University of Ghent, $210,000, Collaborator, November 2015, Project: Sustainability education – Teaching and learning in the face of wicked socio-ecological problems

Completed Grants (selected): 

  • SSHRC Partnership Grant Stage 1 ($20,000, with Stage 2 application pending for $2,500,000 SSHRC, with additional $2 million cash and in-kind), PI with 80 international partners and collaborators, 2020-2026.  Project: Monitoring and evaluation of climate change education (MECCE) partnership
  • Canada Foundation for Innovation, Leaders Opportunity Fund ($100,000 CFI; with additional $150,000 matching contribution), PI, 2012. Project: Sustainability Education Research Institute
  • SSHRC Connection Grant ($25,000; with additional $37,000 matching contribution), PI, October 2015, Project: Connecting Education and the Environment: Mobilizing Sustainability in Education Research, Policy, and Practice
  • SSHRC Standard Grant, 2011-2014, PI, Youth Identifications with Place and Sustainability: Implications for Environment-related EducationSSHRC Standard Grant, 2005-2008, Principal Investigator, Discursive approaches to teaching and learning about social & ecological issues: Collaborative research on the experiences of teacher educators and beginning teachers
  • SSHRC Standard Grant ($44,010), PI, 2005-2008. Project: Discursive approaches to teaching and learning about social & ecological issues: Collaborative research on the experiences of teacher educators and beginning teachers

Service and Outreach

Adjudication Committees

  • Partnership Grants Mid-term Review Committee, Social Sciences and Research Council, Canada, 2017-2020

Journal Editorships

  • Associate Editor, Environmental Education Research, 2007 - 2020

Journal Editorial Board Member

  • Research in Education, 2015 -
  • Policy Futures in Education, 2014 -
  • Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 2012 -
  •  Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 2011-
  •  Journal of Environmental Education, 2008-
  •  Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 2007-
  •  Environmental Education Research, 2007-2015
  •  Canadian Journal of Education, 2007-2012

Offices and Committees (selected) 

  • Academic Advisory Committee, SDG Academy, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), 2-3 meetings per year in person in New York or at a distance
  • Chair, North American Association for Environmental Education Research Symposium, 2019 (Conference in Fall 2019)
  • Co-Convener, EECOM National Conference, 2018 (Conference in 2019)
  • Chair, Environmental Education Special Interest Group, American Education Research Association, 2012-2013

Graduate Supervision

C. Kwauk R. Assoc. EFDT Climate Change Education 2020-in progress
N. Stahelin  R. Assoc. EFDT Education Policy 2020-in progress
P. Chasse               Postdoc EFDT   Climate Change Education 2020-in progress
K. Hargis                  PhD SENS  Climate Change Education 2017-in progress
J. Murray                  PhD SENS Sustainability Education 2015-in progress
Y. Li                      MEd EFDT Climate Change Education 2017-in progress
Niv Moorthy MEd EFDT Climate Change Education 2017-in progress
J. Ostrow Postdoc/RA EFDT Sustainability in Higher Ed 2018-2019
E. Lee  Postdoc/RA EFDT Env & Sustainability Ed 2018-2019
V. Pitton Postdoc/RA EFDT Education Policy 2018-2019
R. Regier         MEd EFDT Sustainability K-12 Ed 2016-2019
S. Shneider      Postdoc EFDT Sustainability Education 2016
D. Bentham
MSEM SENS Sustainability in Aboriginal Education
 2013-2014
M. Todd
Postdoc  EFDT GIS Analysis
 2014-2016
A. Bieler
 Postdoc  EFDT Sustainability Education 2014-2016
Y. Vizina PhD SENS Aboriginal Education 2014-2018
P. Vaughter  Postdoc  EFDT Sustainability Education 2012-2014
K. Aikens   PhD SENS Sustainability Education 2013-2019
J. McRuer PhD EFDT Sustainability Education 2013-2017
R. Datta  PhD SENS Nature/culture & Territory 2010-2015
H. Lake MEd EFDT Place-based Education 2012-2018
K.McIver MEd EFDT Environmental Education 2010-2014
J. Kayira PhD SENS Indigenous Eco Education 2009-2013
M. Sysing MEd EFDT Ecojustice as Curriculum 2009-2012
D. Kasun MEd EFDT Ecojustice as Curriculum 2009-2012
S. Dyck  MES SENS Green Families 2009-2012
V. Anderson MEd EFDT Post-secondary Activism 2007-2011
J. Sawyer  MEd EFDT Indigenous Science 2007-2011
S. Turkeli  MSEM SENS Schoolyard Gardening 2010-2011
C. Gupta MSEM SENS Classroom Gardening 2010-2011
D. Peacock MEd EFDT Transformative Learning 2007-2009
Y. Hansen MEd EFDT Food Knowledge 2007-2009
B. Harasynchuk MEd EFDT Eco Education 2007-2009

Selected Publications

  • McKenzie, M. (2020). Affect theory and mobility: Challenges and possibilities for critical policy research. In B. Lingard (Ed.), Globalisation and Education (ch. 12). London: Routledge.
  • Rickinson, M., & McKenzie, M. (2020). Understanding the research-policy relationship in ESE: Insights from the critical policy and evidence use literatures. Environmental Education Research. DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2020.1804531
  • McKenzie, M., & Aikens, K. (2020). Global education policy mobilities and subnational policy practice. Globalisation, Society and Education. DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2020.1821612
  • McKenzie, M., & Bieler, A. (2016). Critical education and sociomaterial practice: Narration, place, and the social. New York: Peter Lang.
  • Tuck, E., & McKenzie, M. (2015). Place in research: Theories, methodologies, methods. New York: Routledge.

Selected Presentations

  • McKenzie, M. (2020, October). Global Studies and Climate Change Education. Social Transformations in Education Hub, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, virtual.
  • McKenzie, M. (2020, October). Mobilizing Climate Change Education Research in Policy and Practice. Keynote, at North American Association for Environmental Education Research Symposium, virtual.
  • McKenzie, M. (2019, July). Panel perspectives on cognitive, social and emotional, and behavioral learning in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education. UNESCO Forum on Education for Peace and Sustainability, Hanoi, Vietnam.
  • McKenzie, M. (2019, June). Country progress on climate change: A comparative analysis of 366 national submissions to the UNFCCC. 7th Dialogue on Action for Climate Empowerment, UN, Bonn, Germany.
  • McKenzie, M., Stahelin, N., & Reid, A. (2019, May). Policy networking: Examining the role of meetings in the global governance of environmental and sustainability education (ESE). Comparative and International Education Conference, San Francisco, California.

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