Email: semorton@mun.ca semorton[at]mun[dot]ca

Supervisors: Dr. Max Liboiron; Dr. Nicole Power

Committee Member: Dr. Alice Hovorka

I (settler, she/her) am a PhD Candidate and Vanier Scholar studying the institutional techniques that produce animals as solutions to large scale problems. I’m examining this phenomenon by tracing how commercially low-valued fish and fisheries waste have been hooked into solutionist projects designed to increase economic value or stimulate regional development.

I use archival research and qualitative interviews to explore how categories such as bycatch, discards, and underutilized species were produced as problems and the solutions proposed to ‘fix’ them. Taking a historical lens, I examine Newfoundland and Labrador’s commercial fisheries (1975-1995), including programs focused on underutilized species and Canada’s use of fish in international food aid. My research offers critical insights into contemporary debates about repurposing fisheries waste and building bioeconomies within the blue economy agenda.

My MA research examined gender and work among development practitioners in Lao PDR, Southeast Asia. I have also worked as a research assistant with the Ocean Frontier Institute and as a trainee with the SSHRC–CIHR Partnership Healthy Professional Knowledge Workers.

Research Interests: political economy & ecology; political animal geographies; work; gender; politics of protein

Research Groups:

Civic Lab for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR)

Human-Animal Interaction & Wellness (HAIW), part of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research (NLCAHR) Research and Knowledge Exchange program

Education:

PhD Candidate, Geography, Memorial University
Supervisors: Dr. Max Liboiron & Dr. Nicole Power. 2022-Present.

M.A., Sociology. Memorial University. Thesis Title: Development Workers and Gender Work in Lao PDR. Supervisors: Dr. Nicole Power & Dr. Liam Swiss. 2022.

International Development Postgraduate Certificate. Humber College, Toronto, Canada. 2016.

B.A. Honours, International Development. University of Guelph. 2013

Publications:

*Power, Nicole G., Janet Mantler, Ivy L. Bourgeault, Christine Tulk, Natasha Ball, Sam E. Morton, and Christina Young. 2025. “An Analysis of University Mental Health Initiatives Aimed at Academic Workers.” NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy 10482911251366462. doi:10.1177/10482911251366462.

Morton, Sam E. 2022. “Animal Traffic Review.” Society and Space. (https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/animal-traffic-review?fbclid=IwAR1EIbjYBbFvwXeYnYzgJqlMreTQldODA-sgc5cmgSp_pOtSS35k51LeZg4).

*Morton, Sam E., Judyannet Muchiri, and Liam Swiss. 2020. “Which Feminism(s)? For Whom? Intersectionality in Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy.” International Journal 75(3):329–48. doi: 10.1177/0020702020953420.

Morton, Sam E. 2018. “Becoming a Researcher: Exploring the Intersections of Feminism and Graduate Student Research.” Sociology on the Rock. (https://sociologyontherock.tumblr.com/post/179084511545/becoming-a-researcher-exploring-the-intersections).

*peer-reviewed

Conference Presentations:

• “Animals in Foreign Aid.” Lightening Talk (5 min) presented at the Atlantic Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers (ACAG) Regional Conference. November 2023.
• “More than a means to an end: a research agenda for foreign aid-funded multispecies livelihood projects.” Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Annual International Conference. Imperial College London. London, England. August 2023.
• “How do universities address mental health in academia?” with Nicole Power, Janet Mantler, Natasha Ball, Christine Tulk, Christina Young, Justine Pascual, and Ivy Bourgeault. Canadian Sociological Association at Congress. Virtual. May 2022.
• “Development Workers and Gender Equality Work in Lao PDR.” 38th Annual Qualitative Analysis Conference. Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. June 2022
• “’I’ is always ‘we’: finding my way through qualitative analysis with wayfinders”. 37th Annual Qualitative Analysis Conference. Brescia University College, London, Ontario, Canada. June 2020. Meeting cancelled due to Covid-19.
• “Entangled Selves: exploring the gendered lives of development workers in Lao PDR.” Canadian Sociological Association at Congress. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. June 2019.
• “Humans, Animals, and Power: addressing the animal question in international development.” Canadian Sociological Association at Congress. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. June 2019.
• “How Feminist is Canada’s Feminist Foreign Aid?” with Judyannet Muchiri and Liam Swiss. Swedish Development Research Conference. University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. August 2018.

Scholarships, Fellowships, and Awards (select):

• 2022-25. Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship ($150,000)
• 2022-25. Dean’s Award of Excellence, Memorial University ($22,500)
• 2024. Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) Research Grant, Memorial University ($7,400)
• 2023. Graduate Research Award, Memorial University. Best thesis award. Awarded by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of Sociology ($400)
• 2022. Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies, Memorial University (awarded in recognition of outstanding academic achievement throughout a graduate program)
• 2020. International Development Research Centre Research Award (CA$41,310-$47,822 + $15,000 travel stipend; offered but declined)
• 2019. Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ($6,000)
• 2018-19. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship ($17,500)
• 2018. Dean’s Award of Excellence, Memorial University ($5,000)
• 2016. International Development Award, Humber College. Awarded to one student in a cohort ($2,000)

Academic Community Building (current):

• 2022-present. Geography Graduate Student Association, Co-Chair. Memorial University.
• 2020-present. The Nexus Centre, Nexus Advisory Board Member, Memorial University. The Nexus Centre is an interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences research hub that regularly organizes and hosts workshops, talks, and writing retreats.