Shelagh Dawn Grant is a historian, researcher, author, editor, and adjunct professor at Trent University. She studied nursing science before earning an Honours BA in History and Canadian Studies and a Masters Degree in History. In 1996, Shelagh became the first historian and first woman to receive the Northern Science Award. Her most recent book, Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America, is a unique comparative history of Alaska, Arctic Canada, and Greenland. She and her partner live in Peterborough, Ontario.