Dr. Dawn Bazely

Dawn is a biology professor in York University's Faculty of Science. She directed York’s Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability for seven years, receiving the university’s Sustainability Leadership Award and the title of University Professor in 2017.

Dawn is a grass biologist at heart. She has spent over forty years studying grasses and their grazers, including snow geese and St Kilda’s Soay sheep. Dawn cut her botanical teeth in the sub-Arctic salt marshes west of Cape Churchill, Manitoba, where she spent five years becoming a world expert on goose poop.

From 2006 to 2011, Dawn led the Canadian section of the International Polar Year project, Gas, Arctic Peoples, and Security. She advocates for public science, clear science communication, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity in STEM. Her chapter on the under-appreciated contributions of 19th-century women to Ontario horticulture features in the 2022 book on Canadian botany in the 1800s, Flora’s Fieldworkers. Dawn has received many awards over the decades, including, in 2022, the Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities’ Award of Excellence for Future-Proofing Students, by leading the way in virtual teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, and the Royal Canadian Institute for Science's Sandford Fleming Medal for excellence in science communication.

In September 2024, Dawn will spend the upcoming academic year as the Fulbright Canada Distinguished Visiting Professor at Yale University, carrying out research into Adventure Canada as a case study for regenerative tourism.