Susan O'Donnell

My professional life is grounded in research, writing and activism. For three decades, my research focus has been the adoption of technologies: their social, political, economic, cultural, institutional and media contexts. I'm the lead investigator of CEDAR (Contesting Energy Discourses through Action Research), a five-year project based in the STU Sustainability and Environmental Studies program with partners in two universities, two Indigenous organizations, and three non-profit organizations. CEDAR is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

I'm currently a board member of five non-profit organizations, including the NB Media Co-op, which publishes stories with a social justice lens. I have a journalism background and like to write and have been publishing in popular media outlets since 1994. Since 2017, I've written more than 150 short news stories and commentaries on a range of topics for the NB Media Co-op, listed here. 

Many of my research, writing and activist projects are in partnership and solidarity with Indigenous communities. Indigenous perspectives and experiences of settler colonialism, capitalism, reckless resource extraction and destruction of nature have shaped my understanding of the world. We live on a finite planet. Failing to limit economic growth has led to most of the planetary crises we face, including the climate crisis. My critical commentaries about false solutions to the climate crisis, particularly nuclear energy, have been published in the NB Media Co-op, The Energy Mix, The Hill Times, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In October, 2023, the first CEDAR major event – A Day of Dialogue about Degrowth, Decolonization and Energy Transitions – discussed many of these issues. I am on the organizing committee of the next CEDAR major event in partnership with other groups, the New Brunswick Social Forum to be held in October 2025.