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Sept. 5 – ICER is hiring a URA Work Study Accessibility Assistant

By Joanne Carey on September 5, 2023

Apply by Sept. 12, 2023

We’re excited to work with an undergraduate student to help us update our best practices re accessibility and knowledge mobilization!

Please email your resume and cover letter to: icer.ok@ubc.ca

CER 2023-24 Work Study: Accessibility Assistant

Wage: $20/hr

Hrs per wk: 12

NB: The Workstudy funding this year is designated for undergraduate students, not graduate students.

Description

The ICER Accessibility Assistant will conduct an accessibility audit of the Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER) regarding best practices for ICER events, ICER communications, and will also establish new Web Content and social media accessibility guidelines.

The student’s time will be focused on the topic of accessibility and knowledge mobilization and how this is best applied at ICER.

For the Fall and Spring of 2023-4, the Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER) seeks a dynamic individual to become the ICER Accessibility Assistant to join the team to work on the creation of new online and social medial accessibility guidelines that are informed by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) international standard, including WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2 as well as addressing accessibility in current trends in best practices of hosting accessible events. We use the term accessibility here in two ways:

One, related to the Accessible Canada Act (2019) and British Columbia’s commitment to be barrier-free by 2024.

And accessibility in the sense of ensuring everyone has access to ICER events and communications, and to online publications, and that these publications in turn meet the needs of a variety of readers.

Added to this, the Okanagan Charter: An international charter for health promoting universities & colleges International Conference on Health Promoting Universities & Colleges (7th: 2015: Kelowna, (B.C.)) also notes in Call to Action 1, in section 1.5, UBCO aims “to support equitable access” and we see it as core to the values of ICER’s commitment to social justice. This position allows a student to work closely with the Director of ICER, and the ICER coordinator and will work specifically on the creation of guidelines related to accessibility in Knowledge mobilization activities (to ensure we are meeting WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2 guidelines) as well as ensuring new trends in Open Access publishing are reflected in ICER practices re events, communications and publications.

ICER Accessibility Assistant will participate in ICER and team meetings and help draft internal deadlines and workflow processes. These might include: assisting with the creation of new formatting for communications that reflect accessibility in both print and digital media,

template designs, and informing best practices based on Open Access guidelines that have emerged in the past 24 months. ICER Accessibility Assistant will also participate in team meetings and help with communications, marketing, and event planning.

This is a dynamic role in which the ICER Accessibility Assistant can learn new skills related to Open Access policy, practices, and communications, engage in teamwork and collaboration, expand their personal goals and skills, and be integral to improving accessibility of both ICER communications and events.

Overall duties will include:

1. Researching and helping to implement current accessibility policies and best practices to ensure ICER is fulfilling its commitment to equity and accessibility to events and materials.

2. Assisting with the organizing and promotion of the ICER related events, and with the content creation for website, social media and newsletters with a view to ensuring best practices re accessibility (in person and virtual).

Qualifications

The job requires an individual with excellent communication and organizational skills no matter what their field of study. The student must be currently enrolled as a senior undergraduate student; have some previous experience with communications, design, research, and event planning. They should have a solid understanding of accessibility and inclusion issues and have a strong eagerness to work as part of a collaborative team (using various platforms from Workday, to Teams, to UBCO Outlook). They should have community-based research principles and objectives and be attentive to detail. And who is willing and eager to learn about Accessibility regulations and Open Access best practices.

Location

Kelowna, British Columbia Canada

Contact Information

Christine Schreyer, Associate Professor (Anthropology),

Acting Director, Institute for Community Engaged Research

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June 15th – Lunch and Livestream of the Partnering in Research Conference Keynote and Plenary

By Joanne Carey on May 18, 2023

Teal blue background with the UBC Logo in white in the upper left corner. Horizontal lines in black, fushia and blue and white cascade down the rights side. The words Partnering in Research conference in the center.

The Institute for Community Engaged Research and The Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship, with support from the VPRI Office, UBC Okanagan, are delighted to host a lunch and livestream of the Partnering in Research Conference at UBC Vancouver, and organized by the UBC Knowledge Exchange and the UBC Community Engagement Office.

June 15th
9:15 am to 4:30 pm livestream in Arts 368, everyone is welcome to drop by for any or all of the plenary sessions
12:45 pm to 3:00 pm lunch, please register below
Arts 368, UBC Okanagan

Please note, that the livestream in ICER will present the plenary talks and panel discussions as listed below, and not the concurrent sessions listed on the conference agenda. 

The Partnering in Research conference taking place on June 15th in Vancouver will share examples of projects and challenges of community engaged research. Three ICER members are presenting (Drs. Heather Gainforth, Onyx Sloan Morgan and Paul van Donkelaar). We will have a  livestream available in ICER throughout the day. Please come and join us at any time.

During the day we will be providing ‘hotelling’. So, if you have work do, please do not feel obliged to watch the entire event, there will be workstations available in the Institutes so that you can dip in and out of the talks that you find most interesting.

We hope that you can join us for this in-person/virtual lunch event in ICER (Arts 368) on June 15th. Lunch is limited to 20 participants, so if you are interested in joining us, please register here by June 8.

Schedule of Livestreamed Talks:

9:15 — 9:40 am: Welcome and land acknowledgement + opening remarks from Elder Roberta Price, and Dr. Gage Averill (Professor, Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver)

9:40 — 10:25 am:  Keynote talk with Dr. Heather Gainforth (ICORD Principal Investigator and Associate Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan). Talk title: Meaningfully Engaging in Research: Advancing the Science and Practice of Research Partnerships.

11:40 — 12:25 pm: Keynote talk with Dr. Angela Kaida (Simon Fraser University Distinguished Professor and Scientific Director, CIHR Institute for Gender and Health), Azra Bhanji, Simon Fraser University and Juno Roche, Writer and Campaigner. “HIV Made Me Fabulous”: A Knowledge Mobilization Partnership using Film to Address Stigma and Advance Gender Equity in the HIV Response.

1:30 — 2:00 pm: Keynote talk with Dr. Byron White (University of North Carolina, Charlotte). Community Assets, Reciprocity, and Other ideas We Struggle to Believe.

2:00 – 2:50 pm: Partnerships Panel – Lessons Learned in Community University Engagement. Featuring two CUES projects  with moderator: Dr. Andrea Bundon (Assistant Professor, UBC School of Kinesiology) and panel participants: Theresa Morris (Binche Whut’en First Nation) in partnership with Onyx Sloan Morgan (UBC Faculty of Irving K. Barber, Arts and Social Science), and Geoff Sing (BC Brain Injury Association) in partnership with Julia Schmidt (UBC Faculty of Medicine) and Jasleen Grewal (UBC PhD Student).

4:00 — 4:30 pm: Closing reflections with Adina Spivak (Manager, Community, The Sarah McLachlan Foundation), Lerato Chondoma (Associate Director, UBC Indigenous Research Support Initiative) and Dr. Paul van Donkelaar (Associate VP Research, Professor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan)

Please contact icer.ok@ubc.ca with any questions about the event or directions.

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Apr.4 – Starting a Conversation with Pegah Behroozi Nobar: Dispossession of Baha’is in Iran

By Joanne Carey on March 29, 2023

Join PhD candidate Pegah Behroozi Nobar for the next Starting a Conversation

Tuesday, April 4
12:00 to 1:00 pm (PST)
Arts 368 | Zoom

E:mail: icer.ok@ubc.ca for the Zoom link

Abstract: The talk will highlight the struggles of the Baha’i community in Iran, with a pivotal focus on
dispossession of assets and properties belonging to the Baha’i community as a powerful
motive for corrupt and politically well-connected interest groups. The Baha’is in Iran are a
religious minority that have been targeted by the Islamic Republic Regime of Iran, as their
emergence in the 19th century was seen as a direct challenge to the monopoly of the Shi’a
clergy over the religious life of the country. The article uses the recent government attack on the
village of Roshankouh as a case study to highlight some of the material and political economic
dynamics behind the systematic attacks on the Baha’i community. The attack was carried out by
more than two hundred policemen and government functionaries from the ministry of Agricultural
Jihad, the Housing Foundation, and the Organization of Natural Resources, with the aim of
confiscating 20 hectares of agricultural land belonging to Baha’i farmers and demolishing six
homes belonging to them.

The talk explores the historical and ideological particularities of the animosity of the Islamic
Republic Regime of Iran against the Baha’is, while emphasizing that the experiences of the
Baha’is in Iran are part of the wider struggle for democracy and the full rights of citizenship that
all sectors of Iranian society are now engaged in. This Starting the Conversation draws attention
to the significance of this issue that has been overlooked by both Persian and English-language
media.

Bio: As a member of Iran’s Baha’i minority community for over 30 years, Pegah Behroozi Nobar has
witnessed firsthand the struggles of this marginalized group. Despite being a young female
scholar, she was denid access to higher education and employment due to her faith. As a
result, Pegah completed her bachelor degree through an informal institution called Baha’i Institute for
Higher Education (BIHE). Now, she is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia
Okanagan.

Pegah focuses her research on grassroots strategies for addressing the housing needs of Iran’s
urban poor. After the recent attacks on the Baha’i community in Roshankouh, she conducted
interviews with locals and analyzed Persian-language articles and news.

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Cultural Economies of Academic Knowledge Production

By Joanne Carey on March 1, 2023

A Critical Geography Speaker Series

Organized by Students of Geography 480: Advanced Seminar in Critical Geography

Interested to learn about academic publishing from editors of international journals and internationally renowned scholars?

Join the students of Geography 480 for their speaker series: Cultural Economies of Academic Publishing. This series will allow students and others interested in publishing in scholarly journals, in podcasts, via social media, and using the popular media, to gain a solid understanding of the structural systems in which such knowledge production occurs. The presentations are purposely short so that there will be lots of time in each session for questions. Students in GEOGRAPHY 480 will act as interlocutors for a short period, then the presentations will be open to questions from the floor.

Moderator: Professor Lawrence D. Berg Moderator: Professor Lawrence D. Berg, former co-editor: SITES: A Journal for South Pacific Cultural Studies; co-founding editor: ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies; and former editor-in-chief: The Canadian Geographer.

Interlocutors: Students from GEOG 480

The Series will be available via Zoom: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/61639823447?pwd=bXNzTlp6MzhCSEQ2TlpkaEZra05XZz09

Presenters:

Dates and Topics:

Dr. Mary Gilmartin

 March 2nd @ 8:30PM (Pacific Time)

(she/her) is Professor of Geography, National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

The main focus of her research is contemporary Irish migration and mobility. Her book on Ireland and migration in the twenty-first century was published by Manchester University Press in 2015. She is currently engaged in two funded research projects on critical studies of migrant settlement and integration in Ireland. Mary is the former Editor-in-Chief of Social & Cultural Geography.

Dr. Eugene McCann

 March 9th @ 7:30PM (Pacific Time)

(he/him) is Professor of Geography, SFU Department of Geography.

His research focuses on the policy context of urban life, and especially on the mobility of (neoliberal) policy, and assembling the urban. Eugene is Managing Editor of Environment & Planning C: Politics & Space.

Dr. Jessica Stites Mor

 March 16th @ 7:30PM (Pacific Time)

(she/her) is Professor of History at the University of British Columbia.

Her research centres on solidarity movements, with a focus on the particularities of South- South transnational activism. Jessica is Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Dr. Karis Shearer

 March 23rd @ 7:30PM (Pacific Time)

(she/her) is Principal’s Research Chair in Digital Arts & Humanities at the University of British Columbia and Co- Director of the UBC AMP Lab.

Karis is pursuing research on gender and affective labour in the Vancouver literary community of the 1960s and 70s, a collaboration which has resulted most recently in a piece called “Gender, Affective Labour, and Community- Building Through Literary Audio Recordings” and Wanting Everything: The Collected Works of Gladys Hindmarch. (Talonbooks 2020).

Dr. Reuben Rose-Redwood

 March 30th @ 7:30PM (Pacific Time)

(he/him) is Professor of Geography and Associate Dean, Academic, at the University of Victoria.

He is Director of the Critical Geographies Research Lab at the University of Victoria, and he co-founded and serves as the current Chair of the Committee for Urban Studies. Reuben is Managing Editor of Dialogues in Human Geography.

Dr. Onyx Sloan Morgan

 April 6th @ 7:30pm (pacific time)

(they/them) is Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia.

Their work is is most often conducted in partnership with and at the direction of communities. Their positionality as a queer, non-binary white settler of Irish and Scottish ancestries steers their engagement. Their research seeks to: 1) reveal the power dynamics at the core of inequitable and oppressive structures, and 2) foreground the resistive, transformative relationalities that communities enliven every day for more just and sustainable futures. Onyx is a member of the ACME Collective and Editor-in-Chief ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies.

Dr. Minelle Mahtani

 April 13th @ 8:00 pm (pacific time)

(she/her) is the Brenda and David McLean Chair of Canadian Studies at the University of British Columbia.

She held the role of the Senior Advisor to the Provost on Racialized Faculty where she supported the recruitment and retention of racialized faculty. She is also a former national television news journalist at the CBC and was previously a journalism and geography professor at University of Toronto. She was host of a radio show at Roundhouse Radio, 98.3 Vancouver that was unapologetically anti-racist and feminist in its approach, focusing on the stories of systemically disadvantaged communities.

Sponsored by the Spatial Justice CoLab and the UBC Institute for Community Engaged Research

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March 9, 16, 23 The UBCO Local Food Values Dialogues Series:

By Joanne Carey on February 24, 2023

 UBCO students sorting apples at Curlew Orchard. “Ugly” carrot tasting at the UBCO farmer’s market. Apple tasting with Chef Brad Vigue of UBC O Food Services and apple supplier Patrick Allen from Curlew Orchard.

“Every decision we make about food is a vote for the kind of world we want to live in.” ~Francis Moore Lappe

 

The UBCO Local Food Values Dialogues are a way for the UBC Okanagan Community to more clearly identify and define the environmental and social values our university uses when purchasing local food from Okanagan food producers. Through these three dialogues, participants will think through what these values are, and how they could be identified on farms in the Okanagan bioregion, that grow some of the food that is eaten on campus.

      1. Sustainability of organic/regenerative agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and salmon habitats
        Guest speakers: Eva-Lena Lang, Organic BC, Lia McKinnon, Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship (OSS), Andrea McDonald, Salmon-Safe BC
        2:00 pm – 3:15 pm, Thursday, March 9
      2. Justice for farm workers, farmers and other food producers, particularly those representing Indigenous and other diverse groups
        Guest speakers: Robyn Bunn, Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture (RAMA), Ari Westhover, National Farmers Union (NFU).
        2:00 pm – 3:15 pm, Thursday, March 16
      3. How can we at UBCO begin to confirm these values in our ongoing food value chain relationships?  
        Guest speakers: David Speight, Culinary Director, UBC, Brad Vigue, Executive Chef UBCO; Emily Jubenvil, Shuswap Organics, Patrick Allen, Curlew Orchard.
        2:00 pm – 3:15 pm, Thursday, March 23

Register for our Local Food Values Dialogue Series by clicking here.

Participation can be via Zoom or in-person at the Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER), in the ARTS building, Arts 368, at UBC’s Okanagan campus.

This series supports the work of the UBCO Food Services/Land to Table Network Local Food Procurement Pilot Project that links UBCO’s food consumers to food producers from the Okanagan bioregion. 

If you have any questions, please email:  local.food@ubc.ca

Background information:

The food value chain under discussion in this Dialogue Series was developed through a UBCO/ L2T Local Food Procurement Pilot Project that began in September of 2021. Through this pilot project, UBCO campus food system actors (including as student consumers and advocates; staff from UBCO Food Services and UBCO Campus Health & Wellness; faculty from the Institute for Community-Engaged Research (ICER); and others) were provided with increased access to local food through the activities of the Land to Table (L2T) network’s regional food system members (including food producers, processors, aggregators and distributors).

Inspiration for this pilot project has come from both sides of the food value chain. The Land to Table network, in its quest to build a thriving, healthy and resilient regional food system, has been hearing from small- and medium- sized farmers about the challenges they face in accessing stable markets for their food products. This has culminated in calls for an institutional champion to step forward locally to provide that market and in doing so, support the rebuilding of a regional food value chain, including the reinvestment into any missing links, be they actors, processes or infrastructure.

This call for a champion was answered when one of the Okanagan’s largest institutions, UBCO, decided not to renew its contract with Aramark, its Food Services provider, in 2018, opting instead for independent management of its own Food Services. UBCO now holds greater power over its food procurement decisions, which has permitted the development of a ‘demand pull’ based on food values (as opposed to the ‘supply push’ that is more common in global food supply chains), as currently summarized in the university’s draft Food Vision and Values.

This series is hosted by UBCO Food Services, the Land to Table (L2T) Regional Food System Network with support from the Institute for Community Engaged Research and students working as Local Food Champions. 

 

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Jan. 25 – Starting a Conversation with Hanna Paul: Metis Moon Time and Decolonizing Women’s Body Image

By Joanne Carey on January 19, 2023

Join MA student Hanna Paul for the next Starting a Conversation

Wednesday, Jan. 25
12:00 to 1:00 pm
Arts 368 | Zoom

Abstract: My MA thesis centers Métis women and youth of the North Vermilion Settlement (Buttertown), Alberta and their embodied experiences with moon time (menstruation) in relation to body confidence. My aunties expressed that we must share our stories to combat the colonial master narrative in the region. The Métis method of Visiting fostered my research and reconnection journey back to my community. My methodology is best captured by the process of Saskatoon berry picking that draws from my lived experiences while in community. Through thematic data analysis of semi-structured interviews, I captured core findings that focus on confidence building of youth of future generations.

Bio: Hanna is a Michif (Métis) cisgender woman. Her Métis family names are Paul, Lizotte, Lambert, and LaFleur. She is a second year IGS Master’s student under the supervision of Dr. Gabrielle Legault and Dr. Fiona McDonald. Hanna is in the CESCE theme and currently writing her thesis.

Everyone is welcome!

This will be a hybrid event. If you’re joining via Zoom, please e-mail: icer.ok@ubc.ca for the link.

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Jan. 17 – Starting a Conversation with Dr. Farrah Bérubé: Intercultural Communication in the Digital Age

By Joanne Carey on January 10, 2023

Join visiting scholar, Dr. Farrah Bérubé for the next Starting a Conversation.

Tuesday, Jan. 17
12:00 to 1:00 pm
Arts 368 | Zoom

As an associate professor, I supervise more and more graduate students who are interested in the many and varied issues of intercultural communication. I have observed that my students are increasingly choosing to work on the impacts, contributions, and issues of the digital in intercultural communication situations. With good reason, interculturality benefits greatly from digital technology and digital technology generates more intercultural exchanges. Since the advent of digital technology, situations of intercultural relations have multiplied, become more complex, imposed and invented.

In this Starting the Conversation, I propose to explore how digital technology participates in intercultural exchanges and how it hinders these exchanges.

Bio: An associate professor at Department of Literature and Social Communication at Université du Québec à Trois Rivières, Farrah Bérubé is also a researcher at the Laboratory for Intercultural Relations Research (LABRRI) based at the Université de Montréal.  Her expertise focuses on the space and treatment of human diversity in media and on the uses of media by immigrants (media representations of human diversity, uses and production of media by immigrants). She co-coordinated a 2-volume special issue in “Communiquer” dealing with intercultural and international communication.

Everyone is welcome!

This will be a hybrid event. If you’re joining via Zoom, please register here.

E-mail: icer.ok@ubc.ca with any questions.

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Nov.17 – Characterizing Brain Injury in 2S/LGBTQIA+ Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence with Tori Stranges

By Joanne Carey on November 15, 2022

Starting a Conversation with Tori Stranges

Head shot of Tori, smiling and wearing glasses. Background are leafy green trees.Thursday, Nov.17
12:00 noon to 1:00 pm
Arts 368 / Zoom 

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public and personal health epidemic. Statistics Canada (2011) and the World Health Organization (2021) note that one in three identifying-women experience IPV in their lifetime. IPV is defined as physical, sexual, emotional, financial, psychological or identity-based abuse perpetrated by a former or current intimate partner. Of the physical instances of IPV, a recent review reported that up to 92% of women reported symptoms consistent with brain injury (BI) (Zieman, et al., 2017). All research in the field of IPV-caused BI have strictly focused on heterosexual women, ignoring the unique needs of 2S/LGBTQIA+ community members. Previous research highlights people who identify as part of the 2S/LGBTQIA+ community are at heightened risk of experiencing intimate partner violence. However, no attention has been given to the rate and ways that BI affects 2S/LGBTQIA+ survivors accessing health care.

Please email: icer.ok@ubc.ca for the link.

(Photo credit: Graham J. Farquar)

Bio:

Tori Stranges (she/her) is a PhD Student in the faculty of Health and Social Development at the University of British Columbia- Okanagan Campus. Tori’s research interests lay at the intersection of brain injury resulting from intimate partner violence in the 2S/LGBTQIA+ community. Tori recently moved to the unceded, traditional territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation where she continues to play an active role in her community advocating for social justice, connection and change. Tori is also a recipient of the 2022 ICER Graduate Research Award

 

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Oct. 28 – Transit, Community and the Power of a Strike w. Kristin Pulles and Eric Solland

By Joanne Carey on October 24, 2022

The next Starting a Conversation

Friday, Oct. 28
11:00 am to 12:00 noon
Arts 368 (ICER)
Zoom

What can we achieve when unions and communities align to fight for climate justice?

Join Eric Solland (ATU Local 1722) and Kirstin Pulles (MA Student, Community Engagement, Social Change, and Equity) to learn more about the recent transit strike in Kelowna. ATU Local 1722 won a key moment in their fight for fairness, but their work isn’t over. Local climate activists and the transit union intend to work together for a funded, fair, and publicly managed transit system for Canada’s fastest growing city.

Kirstin is all about climate justice – and that means good public transit. A current student in a Master’s in Community Engagement, Social Change and Equity, Kirstin will spend the next two years exploring the role of labour in our struggle for a sustainable future. She was also a founding member of Free Transit Ottawa, fighting for affordable and accessible public transit in Canada’s capital city.

Eric has lived in the Okanagan since 1993 and has worked in the Transportation Industry since 1984. The last 18 years have been with Kelowna Regional Transit, where he has held a position on the Union Executive for the past 12 years. He is interested in engaging with politicians and the public on creating “Better Transit”.

Starting a Conversation invites students, community members, staff and faculty to join an informal brown-bag discussion on a variety of topics, usually led by one or two speakers.

Questions: Email icer.ok@ubc.ca

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Sept.7, Across the Pond: UBCO – Exeter Symposium on Co-producing Regional Food System Networks

By Joanne Carey on August 11, 2022

Join us on Wednesday, Sept.7 from 8:30 am – 11:00 am (PDT) | 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm (BST)

Please register this event via this Qualtrics form.

This event will take place via Zoom, and with a limited number of in-person seats available.

What does it mean to re-imagine the food system?

The UBCO-Exeter symposium is an opportunity to share experiences and knowledges on the issues of regional food networks in British Columbia, Canada and Devon, UK. We’ll explore our similar and divergent experiences, existing challenges, actions for change and the role of networks in supporting pathways to co-create sustainable food systems.

Invited speakers from Land to Table, BC, Organic BC, along with Food Exeter and The Devon Food Partnership, UK, will highlight the tensions and opportunities for regional food systems in the face of climate change, COVID recovery, cost of living crises, legacies of land based injustices and more.

Rebecca Sandover (University of Exeter) and Mary Stockdale (University of British Columbia, Okanagan) will then lead a roundtable discussion between the speakers and audience members.

Agenda:

8:30 am (PDT) | 4:30 pm (BST):     Introduction and welcome

8:35 am (PDT) | 4:35 pm (BST):     Presentation by Dr. Sandover

8:50 am (PDT) | 4:50 pm (BST):     Presentation by Andy Johnson

9:05 am (PDT) | 5:05 pm (BST):     Presentation by Eva-Lena Lang,

9:15 am (PDT) | 5:15 pm (BST):     Presentation by Liz Blakeway

9:25 am (PDT) | 5:25 pm (BST):     Presentation by Dr. Mary Stockdale

9:35 am (PDT) | 5:35 pm (BST):     Bio break

9:45 am (PDT) | 5:45 pm (BST):     Panel discussion and question period

Symposium Speakers:

Rebecca Sandover
Lecturer, Human Geography, University of Exeter
Dr. Rebecca Sandover is Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Exeter.  She is a social scientist with research interests in Sustainable Food Networks, food policy partnerships and Public Participation in Climate Change policy making. Using a knowledge co-production approach, she has in recent years been investigating action toward the formation of sustainable food networks in the South West UK. Her research is particularly focused on building local food partnerships with local authorities, boosting access to sustainable local food, addressing food insecurity and issues of health and wellbeing. Recently, she has also been researching Public Participation in Climate Change policy making, exploring the setting up and running of the Devon Climate Emergency’s Climate Assembly.
Andy Johnson
Consultant, Exeter Organic Local Food Hub
Andy Johnson is a consultant and advisor who works with organic growers, farmers, buyers, manufacturers, policy makers & campaigners in the aim of changing the food system. He worked as Manager for Riverford Farm Veg box scheme before setting up his own organic eggs production business. He now applies his skills to help the organic market to grow both as a consultant and as an activist for the Exeter Organic Local Food Hub.’
Eva-Lena Lang
Organic BC, Executive Director
Eva-Lena Lang is the Executive Director of Organic BC. She grew up on an organic ranch and gained farming experience on agricultural operations in BC and Europe. To increase her capacity to support farmers and grow the regional food system she co-founded the North Okanagan Land to Table Network (L2T). This work led her to pursue a masters at the Institute for Community Engaged Research at UBCO, studying network development in food systems; applying her research to L2T.
Liz Blakeway
Land to Table, Network Director
Liz is the Network Director for Land to Table (L2T), a regional food system network based in the North Okanagan. She has grown with the organization over the past 4 years, working to create a thriving, just, resilient and re-localized food system that centers support for small scale farmers. Liz is passionate about catalyzing connections and collaboration, mobilizing network participants’ ideas, knowledge and energy to build systems that support community. She lives with her family and a growing number of animal on a small acreage/would-be-farm in the Shuswap. Liz loves to cook for her people and understands that having quality, clean, fresh local food is an absolute privilege.
Mary Stockdale
Adjunct Professor, Community, Culture & Global Studies (Geography), UBC Okanagan
Dr. Mary Stockdale is an adjunct professor and instructor for Community, Culture and Global Studies at UBCO, where she teaches and researches community resilience, sustainability and natural resource management. She has over 20 years of experience working in Southeast Asia (mainly Indonesia and the Philippines) on community-based management of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). In the Okanagan, she acts as a bridge between university and community for partnerships on topics such as regional food systems, sustainable transportation, transition town initiatives and climate change awareness.

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