Professor, UVic Biology
Academic Director of the Restoration of Natural Systems Program, UVic
I am a native Texan, having settled here in the beautiful lands of the Lekwungen peoples in 2020 to take on the position of Academic Director of the Restoration of Natural Systems Program at UVic. In my research, I am primarily an ecologist and data analyst. I aim to enhance the predictability and success of restoration outcomes through experiments, observation, and synthesis. In my Directorship, my role involves supporting restoration projects regionally by fostering active partnerships between academia, students, and the community. I am new to the Living Lab Network, and am happy to discover how I can help meet the goals and support the spirit of this group. Ecosystem restoration is an effort to not only restore the spaces that we have damaged, but also to reconnect with our natural environment. I’m excited to share the hopefulness and excitement of environmental stewardship.
Professor, UVic Education / Curriculum Instruction & Teacher Training
My focus is on educational transformation in schools and teacher education programs, community partnerships, authentically integrating Indigenous ways of learning and knowing the world, aligning assessment practices with meaningful and engaged learning, focusing on transdisciplinarity and inquiry approaches to education that enable responses to global challenges and inequities.
Professor, UVic Education / Director of Indigenous Education
Boozhoo! I am Anishinaabe from Dokis First Nation, and French-Canadian from what is currently called Ontario. I am a grateful visitor on Lekwungen territory. I’m a Professor and Chair of Indigenous Education at UVic. My research focuses on bringing Indigenous worldviews to a wide audience which includes Indigenizing and decolonizing teacher education and investigating the use of Indigenous knowledge in online learning environments. I am also co-editor of Indigenous Research: Theories, Practices, and Relationships (Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2018), a ground-breaking collection for students and scholars interested in learning how Indigenous research is carried out in practice. My interest in the Living Lab stems from (see what I did there?) my passion for work that connects young Indigenous people to their lands and knowledge traditions and asserts paths that contribute to ecological sustainability and Indigenous resurgence. I also like to see young Canadians encouraged to engage in respectful relations with the Indigenous lands, knowledge and wisdom that is all around them. We all need to be better versed in Indigenous knowledge traditions to ensure our ongoing survival in harmony with all our relations.
Associate Professor, Sustainability & Strategy, School of Business, UVic
My name is Matt Murphy and I am grateful to live and work, as an uninvited guest, on the WSÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən territories. I am originally from Comanche and Kiowa territories in what is known today as Texas, but as an adult I have primarily lived, worked and studied in Europe and Canada.
Prior to returning to university in my late 30s, I worked internationally in the financial services industry before becoming active in the trade justice movement (an anti-colonial effort) and co-founding a social enterprise called Proudly Made in Africa. Currently, I work as an Associate Professor at the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria, where I teach courses on business & sustainability, and social entrepreneurship. For the past 12+ years, my research has focused on issues related to cross-sector collaboration, Indigenous rights and self-determination, and sustainable community development. Since moving to Canada to begin work at the University of Victoria in 2012, it has been an honour to work with First Nations partners supporting their work related to sustainable community development – particularly in the co-development and implementation of decision support and impact evaluation systems grounded in Indigenous values, laws and knowledge.
I am excited to join the Living Lab team and to support its efforts toward ecological restoration, decolonization, land-based learning and resurgence.
Indigenization Coordinator, Camosun College
Nugwa’am ɁIxcəmga. Gayutɫan lax Gwa’yasdams. My Kwaḱwala-given name, Ixcəmga, was given to me by my Coon family, from the village of Gwa’yasdams, of the Kwiḵwa̱sut̓inux̱w Nation. My mother is the later Louisa Lyall (nee Coon). My English name is Ruth Lyall. My father is Ron Lyall, who is second-generation Canadian, from England. I have been a visitor in WSÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən territories almost all of my life, having moved here in 1977, and I am very grateful to these lands, waters, skies and people for being such generous and gracious hosts.
I am a member of Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen, the Centre for Indigenous Education & Community Connections (IECC) team at Camosun College. I have worked in diverse areas of Indigenous Education, within post-secondary, for 20 years. I have worked as an Indigenous student advisor, Elders Voices coordinator, coordinator of community-based partnerships with local Nations, and teaching faculty of Indigenous studies. I am currently in the role of Indigenization Coordinator.
I am honoured to participate in the Living Lab project, as its goals and principles/values align with my respect and admiration for the local Nations and their resurgence efforts in uplifting Indigenous knowledge and inherent rights to/use of traditional lands and waters. In moving towards Indigenous sovereignty, I believe it is important to be led by Indigenous voices and that we, as educators, provide learning opportunities that support Indigenous capacity and self-determination.
Professor, UVic History
I teach and study the history of the Greater Victoria area as well as British Columbia more generally at the University of Victoria and have written a book on the history of Indigenous-settler relations: Makuk: A New History of Indigenous Settler Relations. I love looking at old records, particularly old maps and I am building a digital collection of BC historic maps with UVic Library. I have been involved with community-campus projects and research including field schools with the Stó:lō Nation and community projects, including mapping with local Indigenous and community groups as well as with the Stó:lō and Gitga’at. In 2017 we co-hosted a special conference on the Douglas Treaty with the Songhees. I look forward to sharing what I know, and the resources I have access to through the university, with the partners in the Living Lab Network.
UVic Library / Director of Digital Commons Staff
As Head of Advanced Research Services at UVic Libraries, I love connecting people with information and digital tools to do the work they love. I am passionate about teaching and learning and providing support to people who want to tell their stories through technology–from podcasts, to maps, to exhibits. I value the Living Lab for providing a space to learn, grow, and engage with community-based research. I am originally from the territory of the Coast Miwok and am grateful to raise my family on Coast Salish territory.
Professor, UVic Eng & Geog / Canada Research Chair in Rural & Indigenous Water Monitoring Professor
As an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering and Geography at UVic, I specialize in water sustainability, and study built and natural processes for improving water quality. I am interested in how communities can use the nature around them to improve their water security, relying on as little technology as possible – in a sense, community-led permaculture for water.
I enjoy working with Living Labs youth on understanding science and sustainability, especially in lakes, rivers, wetlands, and coastlines. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I sure am excited when I witness first-hand the power and imagination of youth driving the world away from ecological plundering and towards ecological healing.
Associate Director of Transboundary Initiatives, Western Washington University.
I live with my young daughter and partner on Lummi and Nooksack lands and waters in Bellingham, Washington. I grew up in the US Midwest and moved to the Salish Sea to complete a PhD in cultural anthropology at the University of British Columbia over 15 years ago. As a settler scholar and community member, I engage in work to address ethical relationships in higher education, settler colonial systems, and critical place-based pedagogies that cross borders and disciplines. These commitments drive my work toward grounded, relational, and bioregional teaching, learning, and programming at the Salish Sea Institute, in conversation with Living Lab at the University of Victoria and other transformative initiatives across the Salish Sea.