My name is Graham Brownlee and I am a new PhD student in the Ocean Relations Collaborative located in Squamish, BC, on the territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) peoples. I hold a BSc in Environmental Sciences and an MSc in Zoology from the University of British Columbia. My research has primarily focused on the impacts of human-driven climate change on coastal nearshore ecosystems through physiological and organismal responses to environmental change and their implications for ecosystem productivity and resilience. I've answered these questions through manipulative field and laboratory experiments simulating climate change, intertidal and subtidal surveys monitoring biological response to environmental stress, and through analytical techniques such as statistical modeling, geospatial statistics, and habitat suitability modeling. I have conducted ecological monitoring and experimental field work in remote locations along the coastal margin of British Columbia and worked with Coast Salish communities on marine spatial planning to support the revitalization of culturally important species.

In addition to my work in academia, I have worked as an ecological researcher in service Indigenous communities in Canada for over two years. My work largely focused on terrestrial restoration Projects on moose and caribou in northern BC and Alberta, conducting on-the-land interviews, live mapping exercises, and field data collection with members and restoration staff, and conducting regulatory reviews of major projects and developments with a focus on coastal marine contexts.

In my free time, I love to scuba dive, mountain bike, ski, paddle, and hang out with my dog Daisy!