Climate+Water Research Symposium - Day One

syilx scholar Dr. Armstrong is a Professor in Indigenous Studies and academic coordinator of Interior Salish languages at UBC Okanagan. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada. She was born and grew up on the Penticton Indian Reserve.  Dr. Armstrong is an award-winning writer, visual artist, researcher, educator, leader and activist. Her research is in Indigenous philosophies and Okanagan syilx thought and environmental ethics coded into syilx oral literatures. She collaborates with Salish speaking groups to re-establish Indigenous languages, historical relationships, and food resource ceremonies through gatherings, trading and protection of water and land practices.  As an influential advocate for Indigenous peoples’ rights, Dr. Armstrong has been a force of change and widescale community impact through her artistic, research and educational vision.

John conducts research on human/water relations in the Okanagan Valley, the Columbia River Basin in Canada and the United States, and in Papua New Guinea. In his current Columbia River Basin research, John is focusing on the relationship of the Columbia River Treaty to climate change, food systems, and settler colonialism. In the Okanagan Valley, he has conducted research on settler colonialism, the history of water management, and floodplain restoration as a climate change mitigation strategy. As a co-investigator for the Peachland Creek Watershed Ecosystems project, his focus is on community-based research in support of Indigenous-settler co-governance processes and institutional innovation.  

Rheanne Kroschinsky is a water governance researcher currently pursuing her PhD at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Her work, made possible through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, explores governance and decision-making frameworks for community (source) watersheds in British Columbia. Through partnerships with Syilx communities and the District of Peachland, her research emerges from the UBC Okanagan Watershed Ecosystems Project, a community-engaged initiative focused on the Peachland Creek watershed. She also is a research assistant in the Watershed Science and Research Facilitation Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, building community partnerships and bridging institutional resources into community-identified watershed challenges. Rheanne is a Visiting Governance Research Fellow at the University of Victoria’s POLIS Water Sustainability Project, where her work is focused on the exploration of a watershed boards framework for British Columbian watersheds. 

Adam Wei is the lead of the Watershed Ecosystem Research Excellence Cluster, and is a professor of forest hydrology and watershed management in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences.  He is also coordinator of the IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organization) Task Force on Forests and Water Interactions in a Changing Environment, and associate editor of Ecohydrology.

His major research interests include forest disturbance and hydrological responses in large watersheds and landscapes, watershed ecosystem analysis, and climate change impact assessment. He has published about 200 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals including Science, Nature Communications etc.

Alessandro Ielpi leads UBCO's Surface Processes Group which promotes a novel integration between geomorphology and sedimentology, environmental sciences, geomatics, and geophysical modeling.  

Craig Nicol's expertise includes: hydrogeology and vadose zone processes; regional groundwater resources; surface water and groundwater interactions; agricultural irrigation efficiency and nitrate leaching; agricultural greenhouse gas production; acid rock drainage and mine reclamation; soil physics and geoscience education.

Kristen Hannam is an Adjunct Professor in Biology at UBCO and a Systems Agro-Ecologist at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada at the Summerland Research Station.  Her research focuses on examining water, carbon and nutrient dynamics within agro-ecosystems at a range of spatial scales. 

Sheena Spencer is a research hydrologist with the Ministry of Forests and an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographic Sciences.  She conducts research on the hydrologic response to forest disturbance and regrowth as well as runoff generation in headwater catchments. Sheena is also project lead for the Upper Penticton Creek Watershed Study, a long-term research site addressing the effects of logging and subsequent regrowth on streamflow quantity and quality, snow accumulation and snowmelt, and subsurface flow. 
 

Aleksandra Dulic is an artist-scholar working at the intersections of interactive multimedia installation and live performance with research foci in cross-cultural media performance, interactive animation and computational poetics. She has received a number of awards for her short animated films and interactive media works. Her work is widely presented in exhibitions, festivals, conferences and television broadcasts across Europe, Asia and North America.  These works include films, animated media performances, interactive computer installations and software tools for interactive animation. She is active as an artist, curator, writer, educator, teaching courses, presenting and publishing papers across North America, Australia, Europe and Asia.

He is a passionate leader in water management and social network analysis, serving as Water Stewardship Director for the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) for the past 18 years. His work focuses on ensuring our waters are safe to drink, swim, and fish in, blending science with community engagement to solve complex water challenges.  His research interests include: applied limnology and water management technologies; social network analysis for watershed governance and organizational performance; innovative decision-support tools for community networks and policy development.

Rheanne Kroschinsky is a water governance researcher currently pursuing her PhD at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Her work, made possible through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, explores governance and decision-making frameworks for community (source) watersheds in British Columbia. Through partnerships with Syilx communities and the District of Peachland, her research emerges from the UBC Okanagan Watershed Ecosystems Project, a community-engaged initiative focused on the Peachland Creek watershed. She also is a research assistant in the Watershed Science and Research Facilitation Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, building community partnerships and bridging institutional resources into community-identified watershed challenges. Rheanne is a Visiting Governance Research Fellow at the University of Victoria’s POLIS Water Sustainability Project, where her work is focused on the exploration of a watershed boards framework for British Columbian watersheds.