Jonaki Bhattacharyya

Board Member

Jonaki Bhattacharyya is an ethnoecologist who does applied research and conservation, specializing in wildlife and habitat stewardship, primarily through community-based and Indigenous-led stewardship initiatives. Jonaki provides technical support, stewardship and land use planning, and facilitation services to Indigenous nations, NGOs, and their partners. She draws on an interdisciplinary background and diverse cultural experiences when working with humans, animals and ecosystems, to integrate multiple ways of knowing and research methods in creative ways.

Jonaki earned a PhD in from the University of Waterloo Faculty of Environment. She is part of the core team who have been working to establish Dasiqox-Nexwagwez?an (Tsilhqot’in Protected Area) since 2012. Having engaged in applied stewardship work and research for over 15 years, in the last decade she has provided technical and research services to support Indigenous communities and First Nations throughout Canada.

An Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria (BC), Jonaki is a recipient of the 2015 Wilburforce Fellowship in Conservation Science, and is currently a research partner with the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP). She has served as an Advisor to the Spirit Bear Research Foundation, and is part of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative’s National Advisory Committee on Indigenous Wildfire Management and Stewardship.

On board since: September 2021

Boards:

  • West Coast Environmental Law Association
  • West Coast Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund Society