Author Support

JAFSCD endeavors to support new authors, increase collaboration between researchers and professionals in the field, and create professional development opportunities for all folks working on food systems issues. The JAFSCD Author Support Team is lead by:

Dr. Paivi Abernethy

Paivi Abernethy is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria, BC, Adjunct Professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and a Climate Change & Health Specialist with the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia, Canada. She has been working as a practitioner and researcher on food systems as part of sustainable healthy community development with Indigenous and rural communities since 2005. Paivi has Masters degrees in social and natural sciences from the universities of Lancaster in England and Copenhagen in Denmark, respectively. She has also years of experience working both as a scientist and as a public health practitioner. Paivi's Ph.D. in Social and Ecological Sustainability, from the University of Waterloo, focused on bridging different ways of knowing and integrating health and sustainability for better policy development and decision-making. Paivi has been supporting the JAFSCD team in various roles since 2010.

Ms. Stacey Foster

Stacey Foster has been an English instructor at Pine Technical & Community College within the MinnState System in Minnesota, USA, since 2008. Her areas of teaching include entry and advanced college writing, technical writing, literature, creative writing, and college readiness. In other roles, she has edited graduate-level theses, undergraduate-level student writing, and creative writing. She is a published poet and writer of creative nonfiction. In addition, she is a self-defined environmental advocate who utilizes her teaching platform as a way to spread consciousness. She volunteers with environmental organizations such as the Women’s Environmental Institute, Farm Table Foundation, and the Natural Heritage Project, for which the latter two she had written awarded grants. She participates in many professional development events such as writing and environmentally focused conferences and courses. Her passion for living within awareness also comes through in her organic gardening, influenced by permaculture design and biodynamic growing.    

Paivi and Stacey manage two programs to support authors:

Consulting Editor Program is for experienced authors whose native language is not English.

Author Mentor Program is for new scholars or non-academic authors who need help in structuring their manuscript and preparing it for peer review.