2021 - Jennifer LANGILL’10
Passionate from a young age about helping others and building a more equitable world, these interests were further developed during Jennifer Langill’s time at Branksome Hall. Today, these same values drive her personal and professional endeavours.
Knowledgeable in five languages, she earned a BA in global development studies from Queen’s University and an MA in geography from the University of Toronto, and is currently working towards her PhD in geography at McGill University.
Through her master’s program, Jennifer examined human-environment relationships in the Peruvian Amazon, and how environmental hazards are affecting livelihoods, local ecological knowledge, and gender roles for riverine populations. In her doctoral program at McGill, she takes a feminist approach to investigating intergenerational livelihood change for ethnic minorities in the highlands of northern Thailand. In addition to her dissertation work, she maintains multiple research collaborations, mentors undergraduate students, and co-leads anti-racism initiatives in her department at McGill.
Author of several articles in academic journals, Jennifer has organized and presented at numerous conferences. She is the recipient of over a dozen academic awards, including a Doctoral Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the American Geographical Society Council Fellowship, and the Gilbert F. White Best Thesis in Hazards Geography Award.
In 2011, Jennifer founded Gollucoh, a non-profit micro development organization that focused on individualized support to interested households, including financial literacy training, alternative income generation, and women’s educational development in impoverished villages in Laos. While stepping back due to her dissertation work, she continues to offer youth mentorship and support for women and girls’ education in Laos. She is currently based in Toronto with her husband and their infant son.
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