Paige West

Paige West is The Claire Tow Professor of Anthropology at Barnard College and a faculty member at Columbia University. She directs Columbia's Climate School Transdisciplinary Research Lab. Her work focuses on environmental conservation, Indigenous sovereignty in Melanesia, and climate change adaptation. She earned her Ph.D. in cultural and environmental anthropology from Rutgers University, with earlier degrees from Wofford College and the University of Georgia.

Dr. West has conducted over 100 months of fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, collaborating with Indigenous communities to revitalize socio-ecological systems. Her research bridges anthropology with political ecology, examining linkages between environmental policy and international development. Key interests include Indigenous knowledge systems, conservation inequities, and commodity cultures.

• Director: Columbia University Climate School Transdisciplinary Research Lab
• Co-founder: PNG Institute of Biological Research and Roviana Solwara Skul
• Anthropological Director: Ailan Awareness NGO

Award-winning author of three books, she founded the journal *Environment and Society: Advances in Research*. Her 2016 book *Dispossession and the Environment* won the Columbia University Distinguished Book Award. Current projects include a Guggenheim-funded book on climate change and kinship.

Notable recognitions include Guggenheim Fellowship, Phi Beta Kappa Lecturer (2017-2018), and designation as one of 2021's 50 people changing the world by The Explorers Club. Her work integrates academic research with applied conservation initiatives, emphasizing Indigenous-led methodologies.