Dr.Vanessa Swarbrick

Jessica's Bio

Jessica Needham | Youth Advisory Council Coordinator, Ducks Unlimited Canada
Projects in Action Workshops (Saturday morning)

Jessica is currently the Youth Advisory Council Coordinator for Ducks Unlimited Canada. She has the privilege of working with youth from across Canada who are helping to shape the future of conservation and youth engagement at DUC. Jessica is also a part of the National Education Team at Ducks Unlimited Canada, where she helps to develop and deliver educational programming.

In recent years, Jessica has been conducting research on how to transform local knowledge into spatial data that can be used to help make conservation decisions. She completed the Master of Environmental Studies program and a BSc in Environmental Science at Dalhousie University.

Ducks Unlimited Canada

Lisa's Bio

Lisa Dryden | Environmental Innovation and Research Advisor, Vertex Resource Group Ltd.
Innovation Gallery (Saturday morning)

Lisa Dryden, Environmental Innovation and Research Advisor with Vertex Resource Group Ltd., holds a BSc. in Environmental and Conservation Sciences, majoring in Land Reclamation from the University of Alberta, and a Professional Agrologist (P.Ag.) Designation in Alberta. She started her career as an Environmental Scientist where she consulted on remediation and reclamation projects for upstream oil and gas.

Also working in the non-profit world, she fostered relationships that promoted an industry association and the environment industry with other industry sectors and levels of government. Lisa currently works in Research and Development at Vertex Resource Group Ltd., focusing on managing and expanding projects that better the environment industry and promotes the company’s long-term success. 

Vertex

Autumn's Bio

Autumn EagleSpeaker | Outreach Coordinator, Keepers of the Water
Round Tables (Friday afternoon)

Autumn is Blackfoot from Kainai First Nation in Southern Alberta and African American. As Indigenous Outreach Coordinator at Keepers of the Water, a grassroots Indigenous and ally supported organization rooted in decolonizing Indigenous water governance, Autumn assists in amplifying Indigenous community voices impacted by proposed and existing coal and fossil fuel extraction projects. Through educational sessions and community dialogues Autumn is sharing how these projects impact water, land, affect people, animals and species at risk.

Autumn believes firmly in the protection of the environment and Indigenous rights. She has worked in the area of Indigenous consultation, non-profit management and cultural event curation. Autumn’s educational background is Indigenous governance and political science. 

Keepers of the Water

Patrick's Bio

Patrick Hanington | Professor, University of Alberta
Projects in Action Workshops (Saturday morning)

Patrick is an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. Patrick and his group use molecular biology to detect and quantify organisms that pose a risk to human and environment health in aquatic ecosystems. Part of this research involves engagement of community and school-based participants to expand the scope of research projects, encourage community participation in scientific research and increase water literacy.

University of Alberta