Charlotte Potter

Charlotte Potter is a cross-disciplinary researcher and socio-cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on food systems, knowledge systems, and the processes that produce, sustain and connect them. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) at the University of Guelph, working with land managers, farmers, NGOs, corporations and governments in Alberta on prairie grassland conservation, and understanding the governance, decision-making and incentives that drive conservation.

Charlotte received her BA from Carleton University and her MSc from University College London, both in Socio-Cultural Anthropology, and completed her PhD in Rural Studies at the University of Guelph in December 2025. Her dissertation examined Indigenous food systems in Northern Ontario and the Andean Highlands of Peru to understand how Indigenous Knowledge Systems are produced and reproduced to support food security and food sovereignty. Working closely with Indigenous communities and organizations in both countries, this participatory, cross-case investigation used participatory and systems thinking approaches to co-produce research grounded in community priorities.

Her work spans diverse contexts and actors, producing peer-reviewed scholarship, community-facing outputs, and policy recommendations, contributing to funded research projects supported by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Bridging academic and community audiences, Charlotte's research in food and knowledge systems remains committed to supporting food sovereignty and community resilience.