My name is Dawn Bazely (or D. Bazely, or D. R. Bazely, or Dawn R. Bazely, depending on the publication and "miss", "professor", or "hey", depending on the student). I prefer to just be called Dawn. You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Slideshare, Vimeo & Soundcloud. In 2014, Dr. Marie McNeely of People Behind the Science Podcast interviewed me about my life as an ecology professor.
I've been a Biology Department faculty member since 1990. Undergraduate students thinking about taking a course taught by me will be relieved to know that I've both been nominated for and won teaching awards across faculty, university and national levels. In 2013, the Globe and Mail Newspaper gave me props as York University's Hotshot Professor in their 2014 Canadian University Report.
I did my Bachelor's and Master's degree at the University of Toronto, in Biogeography and Environmental Studies (B.Sc.) and Botany (M.Sc.) respectively. My 1984 M.Sc. thesis, with Bob (R.L.) Jefferies, was on the impact of grazing by lesser snow geese on salt-marsh vegetation on the shores of Hudson Bay. Bob did research in the Churchill area from 1978-2009!
The Churchill Community of Knowledge, a Yorkspace digital archive, celebrates this 50 year long-term research project in which I participated from 1980-84, first as an undergraduate student, and then as a graduate student.
In 1984, I headed back to England, where I lived until I was 14, to do my doctorate, though I was born in India, and came to England as a toddler, when my parents, who are multi-generational Anglo-Indians, and so am I, emigrated to the UK. My 23 and me profile at left, is a cool illustration of my genetic heritage.
At the University of Oxford I did my D.Phil. thesis on sheep grazing behaviour. My supervisor was John R. Krebs, and I was based in the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, in the Zoology Department. After that, I held research fellowships at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Since returning to Canada in 1990, I've done field work in forests and grasslands all over Canada and Europe, with lots of students and colleagues. You can find a list of my publications on my public Google Scholar Page.
Read about active lab members, including Dr. Mark Vicari.
The people who survived their time in the lab., and even thrived afterwards(!) can be found on the "Where are they now?" page.
