About Me

Hey, I’m Isabel! I grew up on a farm in Southern Ontario, Canada, where I could be found outdoors at almost any time of day, exploring the surrounding forests, the ponds, and the local river. In high school I started to develop a big interest in travel. After a lot of paper work and planning, I managed to spend one of my last high school semesters in France, where I lived with a wonderful family and learnt a lot about the language and culture. When it came time to choose what undergraduate degree I wanted to do, there was no question that it would be something to do with the natural environment. So, after high school,  I did a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science in Canada’s capital city at the University of Ottawa. However, I soon found out that it’s suffocating for a farm girl to be in a big city- I yearned to be out in nature! So I moved over to Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, which is basically a mining town in the middle of nowhere. There were great hiking trails right off the main campus and it wasn’t uncommon to see a bear on the way to class. In contrast to what many people might think, the caliber of my degree wasn’t compromised, instead it was quite the opposite. This mine town had gone through a large-scale environmental restoration after years of its degradation due to the local mining activities, so not only was I getting more into nature, but I was gaining first-hand experience of impactful research. 

During my undergraduate degree, I got to spend a summer in Germany at the University of Konstanz for a research placement. From there, I travelled around Europe: from France all the way to Turkey. I recently finished my Master of Science degree in Biology from the University of Waterloo, Ontario. I’ve so far experienced helping with research in the Dehcho Territory of Northwest Territories as well as conducting my own research in Iqaluit, Nunavut.