This talk will outline her recent research on human-bear relationships in northern communities in Canada. She will draw connections between her post-doctoral work on changing grizzly bear population dynamics in northern Manitoba and Nunavut to her current research project on black bears in northern BC.  Her research takes issues of food security, livelihoods and subsistence as a starting point for understanding how beliefs, experiences, and values shape human-bear relationships. Her research suggests that the management of human-bear conflict needs to be responsive to the nuances of local context to be effective.

Dr. Lauren Harding is an environmental anthropologist interested in how relationships with wildlife are shaped by human culture. She engages participatory and qualitative methods, with an emphasis on place-based knowledge and experience, to provide important insights into the human dimensions of conversation. She is interested in how qualitative methods developed by the social sciences can be applied to conservation issues.

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. Presentations are also made available to remote participants through Zoom Webinar. Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely.

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.