Research Interests

My research revolves around understanding the ecological and social dynamics of water dispossession and water knowledges in South Asia through the lens of political economy and decolonial theory.

Research Interests

My research interests lie within the themes of social movements and sustainable agriculture. Generally, I am interested in local food systems, food sovereignty, and agroecology. More specifically, I am examining issues around labour on ecological farms in Ontario, utilizing a feminist political ecology and labour studies framework. I wish to explore the nexus between environmental sustainability and social sustainability.

Research Interests

My research focuses on critical engagements with the history of Canada as an extractive state. I take a historical materialist approach to the origins of extraction throughout Canada but particularly in the North and how it has impacted Indigenous and minority communities. In addition to extraction and resources, my work also investigates the political economy of tourism and hospitality in rural, remote, and indigenous communities. Alongside my supervisor Dr. Rebecca Hall, we work with Dene communities in the Northwest Territories on post-extraction development and Indigenous-led alternative development. Overall, I utilize a Marxian political-economy framework as well as critical decolonization studies to approach the topic of development.

Research Interests

My research focuses on alternatives to agribusiness development that challenge the dominant neoliberal food regime and contribute to potential sustainable transitions. Particularly, I am interested in understanding the complex working of power in oil palm and soybean agribusiness for their consolidation in Colombia and Bolivia and the strategies of resistance of grassroots organizations aimed at eroding this power, such as the peasant economies, agroecology, and food sovereignty.

Research Interests

My research examines queer care and social reproduction in northern Canada, with a focus on health/care disparities for transgender and gender non-conforming folks. I am particularly interested in the ways in which queer, trans, and GNC youth care for one another in the context of institutional failure to meet their mental, physical, and sexual healthcare needs, and how these caring relations shape their experiences of community. I approach the intersections between queer care and northern health disparities through a decolonial, feminist political economy lens, utilizing arts-based research methods.

Research Interests

My current research focuses on the interplay between conflict-induced internal displacement and disability protection. Along the way, it will unpack the policy, legal and institutional landscapes on internal displacement. Moreover, it will indulge in examining the real-life conditions and treatment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in general and those with disabilities in East Africa (Ethiopia). It will further dis-aggregate the experiences of women, children, and the elderly as it is imperative to investigate the intra-group distinctions for a more complete understanding of the matter. The effect of ethnic affiliation on differential treatment of IDPs in the study area also forms a part of the proposed study. Overall, the proposed study applies a human rights-based approach to the assessment of the global and national responses to internal displacement.

Research Interests

My research looks into how land use planning mechanisms can be re-established for the benefit of Black agroforestry practices in the Alto Cauca region of Colombia. I generally wish to better understand what post-neoliberal development can look like in relation to labour dynamics, natural resource management, and land use planning.

Research Interests

My research interests are grounded within Feminist Political Economy and social policy. Broadly, my research focuses on the political economy of social policy and its impact on marginalised populations paying attention to the intersections of gender, race and class.

Research Interests

I propose to explore the use of regenerative and no-till agriculture in Ontario and Quebec through research and interviews with farmers and government and non-governmental agencies involved in this work. I seek to better understand the motivations, challenges, and experiences of transitioning to this type of agriculture and the conditions for its successful adoption. Agriculture is an incredibly complex social practice, deeply rooted in local cultures but also highly manipulated by large corporate interests. Current research on alternative agriculture highlights themes of social and environ-mental justice, climate change, food sovereignty, inequality and the ownership of both knowledge and nature. I seek to learn more about debates over sustainable agriculture and rural development and apply them to current agricultural models and our (in)ability to realize meaningful food system transformation close to home.

Brief Biography

Christina is a doctoral candidate in Global Development Studies. She holds an MA in Geography from Queen’s University and a BSc in Environmental Science from Carleton University. She also has experience working in government and language teaching. 

Research Interests

Christina researches the justice outcomes of climate finance in Colombia and Indonesia’s energy transitions. Christina uses a qualitative, multi-scalar comparative case study design, linking macro-level financial governance tools to their local impacts. 

Awards

• 2026 Mitacs Globalink Research Internship
• 2025-26 Senator Frank Carrel Fellowship
• 2024-25 Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS)
• 2019-20 SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (CGS-M)
• 2019 David Edney Research Travel Award
• 2018-19 Queen's Graduate Award                                                                                                            

Teaching Experience 

• DEVS 361: Policy Advocacy (winter 2025, winter 2026)
• DEVS 280: Global Engagement (fall 2024, fall 2025)
• DEVS 260: Globalization, Gender, and Development (summer 2025)
• BIOL 243: Introduction to Statistics (summer 2019, fall 2019 [online course development], winter 2020)
• GPHY 101: Introduction to Human Geography (fall 2018, winter 2019)

Publications

Frendo, C. (2025). Feeding the green gentrification machine: Urban Agriculture and the Barriers to a Just Ecological Transition in Montréal, Québec. Urban Geography. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2025.2577144

Donald B., Frendo C., & Southey, B.P. (2020). Public geographies. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Second Edition. pp. 75-77. Elsevier, New York.

McCune, J., Frendo C., Ramadan M., & Baldwin, L. (2020). Comparing the effect of landscape context on vascular plant and bryophyte communities in a human-dominated landscape. Journal of Vegetation Science, 32(1), e12932. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12932

Little A.J., Sivarajah B., Frendo C., Sprague D.D., Smol J.P., & Vermaire J.C. (2019) The impacts of century-old, arsenic-rich mine tailings on multi-trophic level biological assemblages in lakes in Cobalt, ON. Science of the Total Environment, 709, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136212