Dr. Joanna Kafarowski FI'21 FRCGS FRGS has a passion for  writing about the lives of forgotten polar women. She is currently completing her latest book about women's exploration in Greenland which will be published in 2026 by Princeton University Press. She is the author of "Antarctic Pioneer The Trailblazing Life of Jackie Ronne." This is the first biography of a female Antarctic explorer and was published in May, 2022 by Dundurn Press. She also wrote "The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame A Life of Louise Arner Boyd" (Dundurn Press, 2017) which is the first comprehensive biography of a female Arctic explorer. 

Joanna is a Canadian geographer and independent scholar who has worked extensively with Indigenous women across the circumpolar North. She is the editor of "Gender, Culture and Northern Fisheries"  (University of Alberta, 2009) and has published extensively on Indigenous women, gender and polar history and gender and natural resource management in the Arctic. She is a longtime member of the Society of Woman Geographers and currently sits on their board and is Chair of the Communications and Engagement Committee. She is also a Member of  International Arctic Social Sciences Association, an Associate of the American Geographical Society and a Member of The Antarctican Society.