Dr. Mimi E. Lam wins Conservation Beacon Award

She received the award for pioneering an ethical approach to the conservation of marine resources, both natural and cultural, through interdisciplinary research and community engagement at the science-policy interface.

Dr. Lam is a Research Associate with the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries who specializes in the human dimensions of fisheries and aquaculture. Her research focuses on the complex interactions governing the structure and dynamics of coupled human and natural systems. She is a recognized expert of seafood ethics and sustainability, marine policy and governance, and participatory research and community engagement.

Dr. Lam’s conservation initiatives range from the local to the global scale. She is inspiring diverse audiences through her local outreach efforts, such as commissioning indigenous artwork, Herring People, and producing a video, Herring Quest, to communicate herring values and science to society. Dr. Lam was recently awarded a prestigious Marie Curie Individual Fellowship for her innovative and timely research project, eSEAS: Enhancing Seafood Ethics and Sustainability, which she will undertake at the University of Bergen.

The Society for Conservation Biology is an international professional organization dedicated to promoting the scientific study of the phenomena that affect the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biological diversity. The Conservation Beacon Award was initiated to provide recognition to women of marginalized and multiply marginalized status who are traditionally under-served within higher education.