Celebrating our graduates

Dr. Meaghan Efford

Meaghan recently completed her PhD in the Global Oceans Modelling Lab under the supervision of Dr. Villy Christensen.

Meaghan Efford

In collaboration with Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Meaghan developed a new transdisciplinary method to leverage archaeology, Tsleil-Waututh Traditional Ecological Knowledge, historical/archival records, and ecology to reconstruct what the Burrard Inlet ecosystem would have looked like and estimated diets of Tsleil-Waututh communities before the devastating impacts of settler-colonization. Her team tracked how environmental stressors like smallpox, settler fisheries, shoreline change, and urban/industrial development impacted the Inlet ecosystem over time.

Archaeological salmon bones in 2022. Photo credit: Meaghan Efford.

Meaghan hopes to continue in this line of research, continuing to use archaeology and historical ecology in service of Indigenous communities and Indigenous sovereignty. She is excited to graduate and have completed this work in service of Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Meaghan is also looking forward to becoming a parent!

Josh McInnes

Josh McInnes

Josh’s research focused on the ecology, behaviour, and habitat use patterns of transient (mammal-eating) killer whales within the California Current System – which extends from southern British Columbia to southern California. He studied the association patterns of individual whales over a large temporal and spatial distribution in order to assess current government stock assessments of transient killer whales.

Josh’s work will help to provide a new baseline for the population dynamics of transient killer whales along the Pacific coast. He anticipates his research will provide information that can be used by governments to reassess the stock structure of transient killer whales in order to support conservation of these apex predators.

Most recently, Josh returned from a 20-day US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey where he studied transient killer whales in open ocean environments of the California Current System. He looks forward to graduating and applying what he learned at the IOF to the ecology and conservation of marine species. Josh has joined California State University Monterey Bay as a research associate to create a program for killer whale monitoring in the California Current that will collaborate with NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of British Columbia.

Lauren Shea

Lauren recently completed her MSc in the Fisheries Economic Research Unit under the supervision of Dr. Rashid Sumaila.

Lauren’s research focussed on the spatial footprint and climate risk of the global fishmeal and fish oil industries. She worked to compile a publicly-available dataset with names, locations, and fisheries data for individual fishmeal and fish oil factories around the globe which she hopes will help to promote transparency within the industry and allow policy-makers to make more sustainable decisions regarding the end use of fisheries resources.

Lauren is excited to apply what she has learned through her MSc to her future work. She has started working at the University of Victoria, supporting two collaborative projects in Dr. Julia Baum’s marine conservation lab, the Kelp Rescue Initiative and Blue Carbon Canada. She is looking forward to spending more time underwater while testing various kelp outplanting methodologies.

Dr. Kristen Sora

Kristen recently completed her PhD in the Changing Oceans Research Unit under the supervision of Dr. William Cheung.

Her research focused on climate change in the Canadian Arctic, both historically and projected changes into the near future. She used ecosystem models to understand how increasing water temperatures, losses in sea ice extent, deoxygenation, freshening, and acidification may impact the food web, and how these changes may make it difficult for marine protected areas to meet their conservation goals, including ecosystem biodiversity, and Indigenous food and cultural security.

The models she used can improve our understanding of Arctic ecosystems in a changing climate and help plan for adaptation efforts to achieve conservation objectives and sustain essential ecosystem benefits such as food security, climate moderation, and cultural support. Her work is relevant to ecologically and culturally important Arctic species who face a variety of threats.

Kristen is looking forward to graduating and in the short-term plans to work as a post-doc with William Cheung. In the long-term, she hopes to work with the provincial or federal government as a research biologist.

Zac Warham

Zac recently completed his MSc in the Marine Mammal Research Unit under the supervision of Dr. David Rosen.

Using public datasets, Zac gathered data on Antarctic fur seals and identified patterns in how they navigate the open ocean. His work will help future researchers study the specific cues used by Antarctic fur seals to navigate.

Graduation is the “bittersweet” end of a chapter for Zac and also the start of a new one. He has begun working as a course coordinator for the Master of Data Science program. In the future, he plans to return to research in the biological sciences. He hopes to visit Antarctica for research someday!