After conducting her post-doctoral fellowship at Cambridge University, Clapp returned to North America and accepted an Associate Professor position at York University.[2] She later joined the faculty at Trent University, where she taught courses regarding shrinking the Global Food Supply Chain.[3] While there, she also received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to help Canadians " improve their quality of life."[4] Clapp joined the faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo in 2005.[5] A few years later, while still at Waterloo, Clapp edited "The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges and Opportunities" with Marc J. Cohen.[6]
From 2008 until 2012, Clapp served as co-editor of the journal Global Environmental Politics. In her last year as co-editor, Clapp published "Hunger in the Balance: The New Politics of International Food Aid" and "Food."[7] Her book "Food" focused on what contributes to society that influences and shape the current global food system, with a specific interest on industrial agriculture, corporate control, inequitable agricultural trade rules, and the financialization of food.[8] Similarly, her book "Hunger in the Balance: The New Politics of International Food Aid" focused on the politics of food aid with a specific focus on contemporary clashes between donors and recipients.[9] It was also shortlisted for the Donner Prize, an award given to a book considered to be excellent in regard to the writing of Canadian public policy.[10] She would also be appointed Associate Dean of Research on January 1, 2012[5] and win the Canadian Association for Food Studies Award for Excellence in Research.[11]
The year after her last term, Clapp was appointed a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability,[12][13] and was the recipient of a Trudeau fellowship for her work in global environmental and food policy.[14] In 2014, Clapp was the recipient of Waterloo's Excellence in Graduate Supervision Award.[15] Two years later, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for her contributions to global environmental politics and international food security.[16]
By 2017, Clapp was honoured as with Waterloo's Outstanding Performance Award.[17] The next year, she received the Royal Society of Canada's Innis-Gérin Medal for enriching social sciences literature,[18] and the Distinguished Scholar Award of the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association.[19]
