Cathy Sturgeon
Cathy oversees business and strategic partnership development for a top-tier feminist research consultancy that helps international organizations collect, analyze, and take action on gender data. In this capacity, she works across various thematic areas such as climate action, social protection and care, economic empowerment, technology and digitization, gender-based violence, women peace and security, gender data, and social norms.
Her other professional experience includes working with the International Development Research Centre supporting researchers in the “Global South” on climate adaptation and resilient food systems. Through a non-profit organization, Cathy also led projects across Africa and Latin America addressing mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining and working to highlight the gender dimensions in this mostly informal sector. These projects were supported by the Global Environmental Facility, the United Nations Environment Program, the US Department of State, and the German Corporation for International Cooperation.
Cathy is a member of the British Columbia Council for International Cooperation, was a Delegate to the 65th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and participated in the Generation Equality Forum convened by United Nations Women and the Women Deliver global conference held in Vancouver.
Cathy’s doctoral research explores the climate finance and gender equity nexus, power dynamics, and structural inequities in climate finance flows to women-led community initiatives and feminist movements. Her research interests also include the role of private foundations in advancing feminist agendas and gender-just climate action in the renewable energy access context in low-carbon transitions. Her research aims to contribute to novel models of collaboration, partnerships, and hybrid institutional arrangements that put women’s rights and gender justice organizations at the centre, are locally driven, context-specific, and sustainable for systemic change.
Cathy holds a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University (2016), a Bachelor of Commerce in international management (2000) from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish literature (2000) from the same University. She also studied at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Mexico, and the University of Sydney, Australia.
