Dawn R. Bazely

Dawn R. Bazely (born 30 August 1960) is a full professor in biology in the Faculty of Science, and the former Director of the Institute for Research Innovation in Sustainability (2006-2011 and 2012–2014), at York University in Canada. In 2015 she was awarded the title of University Professor for services to research, teaching, and the institution. Bazely has been a field biologist for forty years and her research specializes in plant-animal interactions in ecology. She has also been recognized for her science communication.

Early life and education Bazely was born in India, and moved as a toddler to England, United Kingdom.

She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in biogeography and environmental studies at the University of Toronto. She then completed a Master's (MSc) degree in botany, under the supervision of Robert L. Jefferies, at the University of Toronto. Her MSc thesis investigated the impact of grazing by Anser caerulescens caerulescens (lesser snow geese) on the Hudson Bay shores' salt-marsh vegetation. supervised by John R. Krebs; she investigated sheep grazing behaviour. In this role, she developed expertise in sustainability, science policy and environmental security, and expanded her research focus. Currently, Bazely is a University Professor within York University's faculty of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Research Bazely's research lab focuses on ecology (specifically forests, grasslands, herbivores, climate change and invasive species), and broader issues of sustainability, as well as exploring intersections with science policy, open access, citizen science, and science communication. She has published over 70 academic publications, as well as books and book chapters, resulting in over 2,000 citations and an h-index of 26.

Teaching In 2003, Bazely received York University's Faculty of Science and Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award. In a The Washington Post editorial, Bazely writes that she uses editing Wikipedia pages as a tool to teach her students the skills of HTML-style coding. Bazely also co-sponsors a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at York University.

Public engagement and science communication In 2015, Bazely co-founded York University's Annual International Ada Lovelace Day with York University's Science and Engineering Librarian, John Dupuis. In July 2018, she was an invited speaker for a science communication panel at the 2018 Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution Annual Meeting, where she spoke about communicating science to policy makers.

Awards

2017 York University's Sustainability Leadership Award. 2022 Sandford Fleming Medal for Excellence in Science Communication. 2022 Minister of Colleges and Universities’ Awards of Excellence.