Biography

 

I am an ethnobotanist and artist interested in social-ecological systems from both economic and cognitive points of view. My research explores the human relationship with the natural world with a particular focus on the use and perception of plants and the power of narrative to alter perspective. Paradigms drive behaviour and experience and I am interested in exploring past and present paradigms to invite a more inspired, rooted, and sustainable future for humans and everyone else on the planet. My academic research is well-informed by my background in hands-on work as a labourer and chef; counselling psychology; the creative and martial arts; and years of travel and living among many cultures. My current project involves a reinterpretation of the 16th Century maps of North America, through the lens of place-based mariner knowledge.

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Education

 

PhD Candidate, The History of Cartography (UBC, 2017-present)

MSc Ethnobotany (UBC, 2017)

BA Writing and Literature (Naropa University, 2000)​

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Selected Publications

 

Wolsak, Saskia, David Wingate and Quentin Cronk. (2017). "Environmental change in the terrestrial vegetation of Bermuda: revisiting Harshberger (1905)." Brittonia, A Journal of Systemic Botany.

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Selected experience

 

2015-present: Guest Lecturer: UBC, SFU, Douglas College (Vancouver), Bermuda College, THINK Fest, St. Georges' Foundation World Heritage Centre (Bermuda)

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2005-present: Counsellor, Program Designer and Co-ordinator (Choose Again Retreat Centre, Costa Rica)

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2016 - 2020: Teaching assistant: Plants and People (UBC)

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2012-2017: Database technician and researcher (Botanical Dimensions, California) 

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2012-2015: Collections manager and database technician (UBC Herbarium

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2008-2009: Program developer (Be the Change Earth Alliance, Vancouver)

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Early years: Sushi Chef (8 yrs), Builder/Renovator, Tree-planter, Botanical Artist, Aikido TA

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Selected Awards and Scholarships

 

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2024-2025: Short-term John Carter Brown Fellowship, Brown University 

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2019/5- 2022/4: Joseph Armand-Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship Program Scholarship - Doctoral Scholarship (3 years)

 

2018/5-2019/5: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Centre (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship (1 year)

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2016/5 - 2017/5: Joseph Armand-Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship Program Master's Scholarship (CGS-M) (1 year)

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2018/8 London-Wen Gaia Scholarship from the Matthew London and Sylvia Wen Gaia Fund: first ever recipient of a new scholarship for women in ethnobotany

 

2018/6: National Science Foundation Conference Travel Award, to attend the Society of Ethnobiology and Society of Economic Botany joint conference

 

2017/9 - 2022/4: UBC 4 Year Fellowship Tuition Award (4 years)

 

2017/9 - 2018/5: UBC 4 Year Fellowship (4YF) (1 year)

 

2017/9: UBC Go Global Award, to attend Forests as Complex Social-Ecological Systems course in Vallombrosa, Italy

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2017/1 - 2017/8 Research grant from the Dept. of Community and Cultural Affairs, Bermuda

 

2015/9 - 2016/8: UBC Graduate Support Initiative (GSI) Tuition Award

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