Source: Virginia Tech News — “Research builds a cultural bridge across continents”
Via: Virginia Tech on LinkedIn
Published: May 27, 2026 | Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment
Overview
Virginia Tech doctoral student Sithuni Mimasha traveled to Pangnirtung, Nunavut on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic as part of a community-engaged research program linking Inuit communities with Indigenous communities in Sri Lanka. The work is supervised by Dr. Eranga Galappaththi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, who has made nine research visits to the community since 2016.
The research sits at the intersection of climate change, food security, Indigenous knowledge systems, and cross-cultural resilience — and offers a model for how academic institutions can build meaningful, long-term partnerships with Arctic communities rather than extractive one-off field visits.
The Research: What They’re Studying
The core focus is how climate change is reshaping food systems, livelihoods, health, and well-being in Arctic Indigenous communities. Specific areas include:
| Research Area | Arctic Context |
|---|---|
| Sea ice change | Shifting ice conditions altering wildlife movement and hunting safety |
| Caribou migration | Changing patterns making traditional hunting more difficult |
| Food security | Reduced availability, access, and quality of traditional foods |
| Arctic char and seal | Documentation of changes in quality and reliability of key food sources |
| Community health | Downstream effects of food system disruption on physical and mental health |
| Cultural identity | How environmental change intersects with cultural practices and knowledge transmission |
The Cross-Continental Connection
The distinctive element of this research is its global north–south comparative framework. Mimasha also works with the Vedda Indigenous communities in Rathugala, Sri Lanka — communities living in tropical forest environments roughly 7,000 miles from the Arctic tundra.
Despite the dramatically different environments, the communities share parallel challenges:
- Food security pressures driven by environmental change
- Threats to cultural identity and traditional knowledge
- Health impacts from shifting resource availability
- Youth disengagement from traditional practices
The Youth in Action program connects Inuit youth in Pangnirtung with a youth-led self-sufficiency initiative from the Vedda community in Sri Lanka. When Mimasha shared videos and stories from Sri Lanka with Inuit youth, the response was immediate recognition.
“What stood out to me most is exactly what we hope for—knowledge should be shared. We should learn from one another and grow together.” — Sithuni Mimasha
“When Sithuni shared stories and videos from Sri Lanka, the youth were deeply engaged. They want to learn from each other because they are facing many of the same issues.” — Dr. Eranga Galappaththi
The Researchers
Sithuni Mimasha — Doctoral student, Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE). First visit to Pangnirtung. Research focus: community-engaged food systems, Indigenous resilience, cross-cultural knowledge exchange.
Dr. Eranga Galappaththi — Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Virginia Tech. Nine visits to Pangnirtung since 2016. Principal Investigator. Also a member of the Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON), which connects insights from 17 countries and over 100 Indigenous communities globally.
Community Partners in Pangnirtung, Nunavut
The research is built on decade-long relationships with community leadership:
- Mayor Umar Kukkadi
- Deputy Mayor Markus Wilcke
- Noah Shapik (community elder)
- Madeleine Qumuatuq (community elder)
- Sheila Alikatuktuk (Inuit community partner)
The research philosophy explicitly rejects extractive academic models. As Galappaththi noted, an Inuit collaborator told him: “People come here to find answers to their own questions, not to solve ours.”
Broader Network: Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON)
The research connects to IPON, a global network bringing together insights from 17 countries and over 100 Indigenous communities. IPON provides a comparative framework for understanding how climate change affects Indigenous food systems and livelihoods across vastly different environments.
Why This Matters for the High North
This research is directly relevant to several High Northern Exposure themes:
Climate & Security Nexus: Changing sea ice and food systems in the Canadian Arctic are not just ecological phenomena — they are security and sovereignty issues. Inuit communities are the human terrain of the Arctic. Their food security, mobility, and cultural continuity are foundational to Canadian Arctic sovereignty and to any realistic assessment of Arctic stability.
Indigenous Knowledge as Strategic Asset: Traditional Inuit knowledge of ice conditions, wildlife movement, and seasonal patterns represents a form of environmental intelligence that no satellite or sensor network can fully replicate. Academic research that documents and preserves this knowledge has direct relevance to Arctic operational planning.
Long-Term Partnership Model: Galappaththi’s nine-visit, decade-long commitment to Pangnirtung represents the kind of sustained engagement that produces actionable knowledge. It stands in contrast to the extractive “parachute research” model that has historically characterized academic work in Arctic communities.
Youth Resilience: The Youth in Action program’s cross-continental exchange model offers a template for building Arctic community resilience that connects local youth to global peer networks — a form of soft power and community cohesion with long-term strategic implications.
Source: Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech LinkedIn | IPON Network