Host and Speakers

Host and MC

Wil Fundal

Wil Fundal loves telling stories, especially about northern BC. They moved to Prince George in 2006 after working stints in Metro Vancouver in television and in the Southern Interior in private radio.

Before making the move to Canada's national public broadcaster, they worked as a senior news anchor and reporter for CJCI/CIRX and CBC TV, and as a freelance cameraman for CTV News.

When Fundal is not tearing up the slopes on the local ski hills (or at least trying to), they love performing on stage at the local karaoke bar, open mic events, and with local musical productions.

Our Speakers

Ann Duong, UNBC Alumni

Ann Duong Speaker Topic: Water Pollution

Ann is a UNBC alumni with a Bachelor Honours degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She joined the Northern Analytical Laboratory Service in the summer of 2018 where she works with an awesome team of individuals who care about making the planet better.

In her past life prior to coming to UNBC, she studied in a 15th century English castle, couchsurfed around the world, and performed in many theatre performances, including a performance at the Edinburgh and Toronto Fringe Festival. Although she loves science, music and art are her other half, and she likes to jazz up her life by capturing the beauty of the world on canvas or on the violin.

When she’s not making a mess in the lab, she likes to play with her wolf, Romca. She enjoys jamming out with her friends and hiking in the beautiful outdoors of Prince George. If you would describe her as a molecule, she is probably water, since she loves to dissolve everything! So, keep your head open, as she would say.

Abstract

Eutrophication is jeopardizing our water security and becoming a huge threat to our health. Can we find a solution with Earth’s natural minerals like clay and zeolites? At the Northern Analytical Laboratory Services at UNBC, there is research suggesting this is the case, but research is just one part of the global puzzle. There is much more we can do outside the lab bench to save the water and our lives.

Brittany Doncaster, UNBC Alumni

Speaker Topic: The Past, Present and Future of Stress

Mental Health and Addictions Clinician, Brittany Doncaster, received a BSc in Psychology at UNBC and is currently working toward a MA in Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University. After completing her undergraduate degree, Brittany fell happily into the clinical setting, where her passion for direct patient care was ignited. In her practice, she emphasizes education, accountability, and empathy. An evolutionary psychology perspective informs her position on favourite topics such as stress, boundaries, and technology. When she is not working or reading, she can almost certainly be found at the dog park.

Daryl Hatton

Daryl Hatton Speaker Topic: Fundraising

Daryl leads FundRazr, an innovative, award-winning, global enterprise crowdfunding platform. He is a serial entrepreneur who loves the challenge of building companies from scratch. He has founded multiple start-ups and helped bring one, Optio Software, to a successful NASDAQ IPO in 1999.

Daryl is frequently called upon for expert commentary on non-profit fundraising and crowdfunding topics for media sites including CBC, CTV, Global News, TVO, PostMedia, BBC, Forbes, and Bloomberg.

Today Daryl serves as a board member and advisor to multiple start-ups based in Canada and Silicon Valley, including Canadian securities crowdfunding site, FrontFundr.

He is a Director of the PayPal Giving Fund (Canada), Director of the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada, and sits on the Crowdfunding Working Group for #GivingTuesday.

Edōsdi / Judy Thompson, UNBC Faculty

Edōsdi / Judy Thompson Speaker Topic: Indigenous Language Revitalization and Reclamation

Edōsdi / Judy Thompson is a member of the Tahltan Nation and was born and raised in La̱x Kxeen (Prince Rupert, BC) on Ts’msyen territory. Besides being connected to the Tahltan communities of Tlego’īn (Telegraph Creek) and Łuwechōn (Iskut) through her maternal grandparents, she also has roots in Gitwangak (Kitwanga, BC) through her Gitx̱san paternal grandmother.

She is a trained elementary school teacher and has taught in northern British Columbia at the post-secondary level for 25 years. Over the last three decades, she has been learning the Tāłtān language, which has included learning the culture, knowledge, wisdom, and ways of knowing of her people. As the Tahltan Language Reclamation Director, her research and work has involved the development and implementation of a Tāłtān language reclamation framework. The focus has been to create learning materials, as well as safe and supportive environments, for Tāłtān learners and speakers to become more proficient in the language.

In 2018, based on her language revitalization work, Edōsdi received the Distinguished Academic – Early in Career Award from the Canadian University Faculty Associations of British Columbia. In 2018, she was also a recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award at the University of Northern British Columbia, where she was an Assistant Professor in First Nations Studies from 2015-2019. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the department of First Nations Studies at UNBC and an Associate Professor in Indigenous Education at the University of Victoria.

Guido Wimmers, UNBC Faculty

Guido Wimmers Speaker Topic: Passive Building

Dr. Guido Wimmers is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Master of Engineering in Integrated Wood Design program at the University of Northern British Columbia. He holds a Master Degree in Architectural Engineering and a PhD in Engineering Science from the University of Innsbruck. Guido is a Registered Architect in the EU and a Professional Engineer in British Columbia.

Prior to moving to Canada in 2007, he worked on modern timber design and Passive House projects in Austria, Germany, and Italy, including large non-residential buildings and various research projects in the field of massive timber construction and prefabricated building envelopes.

Since moving to British Columbia, he has actively engaged in numerous Passive House projects across the nation, and specifically throughout the Pacific Northwest. He was pivotal in the implementation of higher energy efficiency goals in Canadian design and construction practice.

Guido is one of the initiators of Canada’s first Passive House and Canada’s first application of cross-laminated timber and dowel-laminated timber. He has worked on sustainable projects countrywide. In 2010, Guido became the co-founder and managing director of the Canadian Passive House Institute, today’s Passive House Canada, and has taught courses throughout the country.

Since 2014, Guido has been leading the unique and innovative Master of Engineering in Integrated Wood Design program at UNBC, which combines an interdisciplinary approach that includes modern Timber Engineering, Building Physics, Passive House, hands-on experience, and project work.

In 2018, he was pivotal in the construction of the Wood Innovation Research Laboratory, a certified Passive House in a harsh climate, which became the most airtight building in North America.

Jaimie Boyd, Chief Digital Officer of the Government of British Columbia, Canada

Jamie Boyd Speaker Topic: The Future of Government is Digital

Jaimie Boyd serves as the Chief Digital Officer of the Government of British Columbia, Canada. She leads efforts to embrace digital change, helping government to better serve citizens using modern technologies. She previously served as the Director of Open Government in the Government of Canada, supporting government transparency, accountability and citizen engagement. Jaimie previously held several positions in the Government of Canada and the private sector. She is an alumnus of the Government of Canada’s Accelerated Economist Training Program, Action Canada, the Institute for Technology and Society’s Global Policy Fellowship and the Organization of American States’ Fellowship on Open Government in the Americas. In 2018, Apolitical named her amongst the World’s Top 20 Most Influential Young People in Government. Find her on Twitter at @jaimieboyd.

Technology is making it easier for governments to serve citizens. The digital age has brought tremendous innovation, equipping organizations of all kinds to serve people faster and better. The Government of British Columbia’s Chief Digital Officer will offer insight into how technology can help governments around the world provide services to their citizens. She’ll explore a few case studies, explore challenges, and talk about how together, governments and citizens can build a brighter future for everybody.

James Steidle

James Steidle Speaker Topic: Forestry - Case for Broadleaves

James Steidle grew up south of Prince George in the bush. In his youth he worked as a treeplanter and at Clear Lake Sawmills. After receiving a Masters in Public Policy from Simon Fraser University, he worked in the Legislative Assembly and for the Canadian Labour Congress. He then started a woodworking company called Steidle Woodworking.

James focuses on using local woods. He mills up the lumber himself and works with aspen wherever he can. He currently spends his free time advocating for aspen and broadleaf forests on behalf of Stop the Spray BC.

Lisa Dickson, UNBC Faculty

Lisa Dickson Speaker Topic: Education

Lisa Dickson is an Associate Professor of Renaissance Literature in the English department at UNBC. As a 3M National Teaching Fellow, she dedicates a lot of her time to thinking about teaching and learning, and to supporting others who are doing the same. She is a founding member and Project Leader of the 3M National Teaching Fellowship Mentoring Network, and a member the 3M National Teaching Fellowship Council Executive. She has also been an adjudicator and mentor for the 3M National Student Fellowship.

Currently, she is working on a book with two other 3M Fellows, focusing on the pedagogy of critical hope and empathy in the teaching of Shakespeare, a project that is equally exhilarating and terrifying, as any worthwhile thing can be. She is happiest in spaces of learning and collaborating, both as a teacher and a student, and enjoys being terrible at dancing and slightly less terrible at other artistic and crafty pursuits. Being terrible at things makes her a better teacher. She loves being knocked sideways by the joys of learning and by the wonder and courage of students.

Reeanna Bradley, UNBC Alumni

Reeanna Bradley Speaker Topic: Non-binary Thinking

Reeanna Bradley is a diversity and inclusion consultant working with software engineers across multiple industries. She facilitates trainings and conducts workshops to reevaluate data decisions, interrogate assumptions, and imagine new relationships between computers and humans. With a Master degree in Gender Studies from UNBC, she is equipped to think beyond outdated models of identity and society.

The example of non-binary gender is a salient starting point for challenging the status quo by identifying destructive logic and replacing it with more holistic systems. She gathers teams of developers, analysts, researchers, and executives with legal, hospitality, human resources and healthcare professionals to scour their hearts, minds, and code. This work shifts their individual perspectives and principles, which influences organizational policy, procedure, and programming changes.

Reeanna's talk explores the incredible powers of data to reinforce social inequity or liberate us from bias. She invites deliberate co-creation of artificial intelligence by outlining interventions for computer people, policy wonks, and the rest of us.

Dr. Ronny Priefer, UNBC Alumni

Ronny Priefer Speaker Topic: The Growing Fear of Science

Dr. Ronny Priefer performed his doctoral work at McGill University focused on organic and polymer chemistry after obtaining his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Northern British Columbia. He next had the opportunity to work in two industrial settings at Stark Associates and Neurochem Inc. before seguing back into academia.

Prior to joining the School of Pharmacy at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University (MCPHS) as a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, he was at the College of Pharmacy at Western New England University (WNE) for six and a half years. Before that he was in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department at Niagara University (NU) for seven years. Over this time he had had more than fifty students working with him.

While at NU, WNE, and now MCPHS, he has expanded his range of projects to include medicinal, analytical, educational, and materials chemistry. To date, he has completed forty-four scientific articles and six patents as a PI, including manuscripts on organic synthesis, physical organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, medicinal chemistry, material chemistry, and chemistry education.

Recently he was able to introduce a new class of polyelectrolytes into the realm of multilayer (i.e. pseudo-polyelectrolytes), which has led to a spin-off company called Breath Health. He worked to develop a breathalyzer for screening and monitoring diabetes with potential for expansion into screening for cancer, lactose intolerance, and marijuana use. Members of his lab have presented over 150 different oral and poster presentations at local, regional, and international conferences and have won numerous awards.

Shelby Richardson, UNBC Staff

Shelby Richardson Speaker Topic: Movement and Social Exchange

Shelby Richardson is a choreographer, curator and designer located in Prince George, BC. Her research over the years has spanned various disciplines including performance art, museology, anthropology, as well as art and design history. Shelby first completed a BFA in Criticism in Curatorial Practice from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. She then went on to complete her Master degree in Anthropology from the University of Victoria in 2012. During this time, Shelby’s research focused on the ways in which institutions, such as museums and art galleries, worked to relay and represent Indigenous ideologies and identities through uses of space and curatorial projects.

Over the years, Shelby has taught and choreographed for various studios and companies across Canada. Her choreographic work has been recognized internationally and she has received numerous awards and grants pertaining to her research in the realms of anthropology and the arts. Her current research focuses on the ways in which dance and other art forms can be integrated into local communities to help prompt social exchange and dialogue. She works with her students to understand complex theories underlying contemporary art forms and the ways in which they speak to our current socio-political climate.

Currently, Shelby is working at the University of Northern British Columbia. She is also an instructor and choreographer of Modern Dance at Judy Russell’s Enchainment Dance Centre.