HCTF in partnership with the First Nations-B.C. Wildlife & Habitat Conservation Forum and the Province of British Columbia’s Together for Wildlife Initiative (T4W) are proud to announce the recipients for the 2023 Together for Wildlife academic scholarships; Alexia Constantinou, Harry Yiduo Zhang, Jamie Clarke, Jeffrey Nishima-Miller, Julia Bizon, Lindsay Whitehead, Megan Winand, Persia Khan, Tyler Jessen, and Westin Cryke.
The Together for Wildlife scholarship is awarded annually to 10 master’s and Ph.D. candidates conducting research that will have a positive impact on stewardship, management, policy, or decision-making of wildlife in BC. The aim of this scholarship is to support reconciliation and collaboration, diversity of perspectives, and building community among Indigenous communities and rural areas of BC.
2023 Recipients
Alexia Constantinou
Alexia is a Ph.D. student at the University of Victoria working under the supervision of Dr. Jason Fisher, sponsored by Dr. Joanna Burgar at the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Her research focuses on British Columbia’s southern interior fisher population, its decline, and ways to improve fisher habitat by working with First Nations and industry.
Harry Yiduo Zhang
Harry (Yiduo) Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. He is a member of the Complex Environmental System Lab under the supervision of Dr. Lael Parrott. His research interest is to apply GIS and model simulation to solve practical environmental management problems in complex socio-environmental systems.
Jamie Clarke
Jamie Clarke (she/her) is a master’s student at the University of Victoria, working under the supervision of Dr. Jason Fisher and in collaboration with Holger Bohm, BC’s Ungulate Specialist. Jamie will be testing different camera trap density models and comparing them to aerial ungulate surveys – an industry-standard, but imperfect, survey method.
Jeffrey Nishima-Miller
Jeff Nishima-Miller is a PhD Candidate at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. Jeff works out of UBC Okanagan’s Centre for Environmental Assessment Research under the supervision of Dr. Kevin Hanna. Jeff’s research focuses on conservation planning, including setting population objectives, conservation goals, and management action design.
Julia Bizon
Julia Bizon is an MSc student at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George working under the supervision of Dr. Samuel Bartels. T4W funds will be used to support research for her thesis “Ecosystem Memory and Ecological Restoration of Wildlife Forage and Understory Diversity in a Young Pine Monoculture Plantation in Central-Interior BC”. Julia’s research focuses on the response of forest understory vegetation to a suite of restoration treatments involving stand-thinning and artificial canopy gaps.
Lindsay Whitehead
Lindsay is a master’s student at Thompson Rivers University, working under the supervision of Dr. Karl Larsen. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of natural disturbances, particularly wildfires, on the Western rattlesnake population—a blue-listed and threatened species at risk.
Megan Winand
Megan Winand is an MSc student at the University of British Columbia under supervisor Dr. Tara Martin, focusing her studies on wetlands, amphibians, and reptiles. Megan is studying the effects of mitigation translocation on Columbian spotted frogs.
Persia Khan
Persia Khan (she/her) is an MSc student in the Applied Conservation Science Lab at the University of Victoria and works with the Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department (HIRMD) and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. Persia holds a BSc Honours in Geography from the University of Victoria, and is excited to continue her research in coastal systems and wildlife ecology.
Tyler Jessen
Tyler is a PhD student at the University of Victoria. His thesis aims to advance knowledge on the causes and consequences of climate change on the BC coast, while also providing data that are critical to the successful management of coastal mountain goats, grizzly bears, and black bears.
Westin Cryke
Westin is a MSc student at the University of Northern BC. His research examines the impacts roads, namely the Jade Boulder Road has on Stone’s sheep, a species with a restricted range and that migrates seasonally.
If you or someone you know may be interested in applying for the Al Martin HCTF Conservation Scholarship, check out the following links:
