Aspiration PDF success

November 16, 2023

Launched in 2022, UVic’s Aspiration Postdoctoral Fellowships program attracts outstanding postdoctoral fellows from around the world to conduct cutting-edge research at UVic. Aligned with Aspiration 2030, UVic’s research and creative works strategy, their funded projects will advance equity, diversity and inclusion principles in one or more of UVic’s five research impact areas.

“This investment,” says Lisa Kalynchuk, vice-president research and innovation, “extends our world-class training and commitments to developing the next generation of research leaders.”

One such leader is Lucy Hinton.

She completed her PhD in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the University of Waterloo. As a UVic Aspiration 2030 Postdoctoral Fellow from 2022-23, Hinton conducted SSHRC-funded fieldwork that examined the intersections of Caribbean food systems and decolonization. For her project “Partnering Beyond Taste: Channelling Caribbean Approaches to Decolonizing Chocolate into the Canadian Consumer Experience," Hinton interviewed Caribbean cocoa-growers and chocolate-makers to understand what decolonial cocoa and chocolate might look like in the future. This research shone a light on the continued injustice of trade and capital accumulation in global trade of luxury goods like chocolate, and aims to shift us towards more just and sustainable global value chains.

“The Aspiration 2030 Postdoctoral Fellowship was a wonderful opportunity to work with the world-class scholars at the University of Victoria, especially in the Geography and Political Science departments and at the Centre for Global Studies. These communities gave me the space and time to do meaningful research that springboarded my academic career. The relationships I built during the Aspiration 2030 Postdoctoral Fellowship—with co-supervisors, with fellow Aspiration postdocs and with grad students in the departments—have all continued to this day and proved great opportunities for co-authorship and wider network collaboration. I can only see these partnerships deepening moving forward."

Hinton is now an Assistant Professor with the Department of Politics and International Relations at King’s University College, at Western University.

Health and wellness and social justice and equity are the Aspiration impact areas that will benefit most from Hinton’s work. She’s also advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2 Zero hunger; 3 Good health and well-being; 10 Reduced inequalities.