Michaela Meil
Research Assistant
Michaela (she/her) is a fourth year Geography and Environmental Studies major, and an
Indigenous Studies minor at the University of Victoria. Michaela has been living and studying on
the unsurrendered territories of the Songhees and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations since 2020. She has
previously worked as a Lead Aquatic Research Technician where she gained experience being
a field team lead, collecting data on 22 watersheds across Vancouver Island to understand
logging impacts on aquatic food webs.
Michaela’s main interests lie in Food and Waste Geographies as pathways to understand
power, history, and environmental challenges. Her interdisciplinary degree has given her a
unique skill set, including geographic information systems, and knowledge of socio-
environmental issues, to solve a diversity of pressing research questions.
Within the Environmental Governance Group, Michaela has been working on a research article
with Dr. Friedman, examining where public and private corporate accountability in food systems
intersect, specifically analysing the strength of coffee companies’ environmental and social
responsibility metrics.
Environmental Governance Group 