Fellows Profile

Received Sylff fellowship in 2018.
SRA2018-2
FR: Portland State University
To: Chile (Fieldwork)

Academic supervisor: Dr. Andrés Holz
Academic achievements, social engagement initiatives:
Since completing my master's research in SW Patagonia in 2010, I have been awarded and applied nearly $49,000 towards research and conservation of an ecologically unique and culturally important conifer that is now considered threatened on a global scale. Through the Sylff Fellowship and SRA award, I am continuing my efforts to understand the changing social-ecological dynamics of the forest-peatland ecotone in which the tree is a keystone species.

Using the Sylff Research Abroad award, I will collect interview data in support of a Social Network Analysis. The goal of the SRA is to determine whether knowledge held or information produced about the forest-peatland ecotone of SW Patagonia (e.g., by Sphagnum spp. harvesters, land managers and/or researchers like myself) is currently circulating amidst stakeholders at different socio-political scales, or whether there are gaps that could be filled or barriers (such as the lack of social relations based on trust, or issues of legitimacy) that could be removed through active ‘network weaving’.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyla-zaret/