Bob Jefferies Symposium

Understanding and Sustaining the North into the Future: A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Bob Jefferies

Thursday August 25 to Sunday August 28, 2011

BobJefferies

REGISTRATION:

A Symposium at the new Churchill Northern Studies Centre (LEED™ Gold), in Churchill, Manitoba, following its grand opening ceremony on August 24th.

Celebrating the life and legacy of the late Dr. Bob (R.L.) Jefferies, this 3-day conference will bring together former students and colleagues, (along with family and friends), from the broad areas of ecology in which Bob participated as an active and very productive researcher. Field trips and excursions will introduce participants to both the scientific importance and beauty of the ecosystem he loved so much.

PROPOSED PROGRAM THEMES

  1. Looking Forward based on Lessons Learned at the CNSC: Climate Change, the IPCC, Vulnerability and Adaptation in the North
  2. The Legacy of Long-term Studies at La Perouse Bay on Hudson Bay
  3. The GLOBAL LINKS of Bob Jefferies

COST

$1,100 CDN (includes conference registration, return airfare Winnipeg – Churchill, lunch and coffee breaks, wildlife and history tours, events, and all local transportation.)

See information on Travel and Accommodations.

PROGRAM STEERING COMMITTEE

Sue Jefferies, Dawn Bazely (York), David Hik (Alberta), Pete Ewins (WWF Canada), Rowan Sage (Toronto), Tom Hutchinson (Trent), Kathy Martin (UBC), LeeAnn Fishback (CNSC), Mike
Goodyear (CNSC), Maarten Loonen (Groningen), Tony Davy (East Anglia), Heather Stewart (Parks Canada), Mary Power (UC Berkeley)

For more information, to volunteer your assistance, and to pre-register: Dawn Bazely (dbazely@yorku.ca) or David Hik (dhik@ualberta.ca)

Canada lost one of its pre -eminent ecologists with the death of Professor Robert L. Jefferies on July 8, 2009, at the age of 73. In a professional career spanning 50 years, including 34 years at the University of Toronto, Bob published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and four edited books. His studies of nesting Snow Geese and tundra plants at La Pérouse Bay, Manitoba, and of the consequences of climate change and uman intervention, helped to make this one of the world’s best-understood northern ecosystems. This work influenced management policy in the North and directly informed the establishment of Wapusk National Park on Hudson Bay. Bob was a dedicated and inspiring teacher who taught ecology to thousands of undergraduate students, and trained twenty-five MSc and PhD students. He collaborated with colleagues around the world, and served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Ecology, Ecosience and Global Change Biology. In 2007 when the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Bob was among the recipients, for his contributions to the 2007 IPCC Assessment Report.

The Symposium will celebrate Bob’s contributions to ecology and provide a venue for his many friends, family and colleagues to gather and present the results of research that he inspired.

View a PDF version of this information.