For questions about the application process, please contact info@liberero.ca
To apply, please see the Fellowship Details.
Scientific Advisory Board
Nancy Baron -Nancy holds workshops around the world for academic, government, and NGO scientists to help them make their work relevant to journalists, policy makers, and the public. She is the co-leader of the Wilburforce Fellowship for Conservation Science and was the lead communications trainer for the Leopold Leadership Program from 2000 to 2014. Nancy began her career as a biologist in Banff National Park. She spent 6 years as Director of Education at the Vancouver Aquarium, then worked as an international consultant on biodiversity issues before launching a career as a freelance scientist journalist and columnist for the Vancouver Sun. Nancy held the position as Director of Science Outreach for COMPASS before retiring in 2022. She has won numerous writing honors including several Canadian Science Writers’ Science in Society and the National Magazine awards. An ardent naturalist, she published a popular field guide, The Birds of Coastal British Columbia (Lone Pine Publishing) and a “how to” communications guidebook for scientists, Escape from the Ivory Tower(Island Press). Nancy received the 2013 Peter Benchley Ocean Award for Excellence in the Media for her work at the intersection of science and journalism.
Sarah Otto (Director) – Professor of Zoology, University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the evolutionary factors that have been critical to the generation of biological diversity, using mathematical modelling and experimental evolution. Current research explores the limits of evolutionary adaptation to a changing environment and what shapes these limits. Recipient of a 2023 Killiam Prize, a 2011 MacArthur Prize and a 2007 Steacie Prize, Dr. Otto earned her B.Sc. and Ph.D. at Stanford University.
Wendy Palen (Assistant Director) – Professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Conservation at Simon Fraser University and a founding member of the Earth to Ocean Research Group. Her research focuses on identifying science-based conservation solutions for freshwater species and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and California. Recent projects span population dynamics, food web ecology, and risk assessment and focus on Pacific salmonids, amphibian species, and hydropower development. She holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and a PhD from the University of Washington.
Justina Ray – Dr. Justina Ray has been President and Senior Scientist of Wildlife Conservation Society Canada since its incorporation in 2004. In addition to overseeing the operations of this non-governmental organization, Justina is involved in research and policy activities associated with conservation-based planning, environmental assessment and biodiversity conservation, with a particular focus on ecologically intact northern boreal landscapes. Having worked for years in African and Asian tropical forests, North America has been her predominant geographic focus over the past two decades. Over the years, Justina has been appointed to numerous government advisory panels related to species at risk and land use planning in Ontario and Canada and was co-chair of the Terrestrial Mammals Subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada between 2009-2017. She is Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto (Faculty of Forestry) and Trent University (Environmental & Life Sciences).
Stephen Woodley – Stephen Woodley is an ecologist, who has worked in the field of environmental management for over 30 years. He has worked as a consultant, a field biologist, manager of a national fire restoration program and forest ecologist. For the last decade, he was the first Chief Scientist for Parks Canada, where he worked on a number of issues related to protected areas, including ecological monitoring, species at risk, wildlife disease, ecological restoration and science policy. In July, 2011, Stephen began working as Senior Advisor to the Global Protected Areas Program of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Liber Ero Fellow Board member (one-year term held by past Liber Ero fellows):
2025 – Adam Ford was a 2014 Liber Ero fellow. Adam is presently an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, the Director of the Biology, Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystems Services (BRAES) and a Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology. He is addressing the impact of human activity on the interactions among large predators, their prey, and plants, in human-modified landscapes. He investigates how forestry practices, urban growth, human-wildlife conflict, and highways not only change species abundance, but the manner in which these species move through the landscape and interact with one another.