Keynote Speakers

Speaker Bio: 

Dr. Anindita Bhadra is a behavioural biologist at the Department of Biological Sciences,

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata. She is engaged in studying the

behaviour, ecology and cognitive abilities of dogs using the free-ranging /street dogs in India

as a model system. She is particularly interested in understanding the evolution of the dog-

human relationship. Dr. Bhadra is the recipient of the INSA young scientist award, SERB

women excellence award, IAP young scientist award and the Janaki Ammal National Women

Bioscientist award Young category 2021. She was involved in the founding of the Indian

National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) in 2014, and was the Chairperson of INYAS

during its first three years of existence. She has been a member of the Global Young

Academy since 2016, where she served as a Co-Chair during 2020-21. She is currently an

alumnus of both INYAS and the GYA. Anindita believes in the responsibility of a scientist in

engaging with the society and is actively engaged in various science outreach activities,

science diplomacy and policy. She is a member of the Inter-academy panel of women in

STEMM, India, and is vocal about various issues faced by women in academia. She serves on

the editorial board of several journals and Frontiers Policy Labs, and is an advisor of the

Open Research Europe community gateway on Evolution and Ecology. A mother of two, she

is also a professional thespian and leads the Bangla theatre group mukhOsh with her husband.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Candace Croney is Director of Purdue University’s Center for Animal Welfare Science, and professor of animal behavior and well-being in the departments of Comparative Pathobiology and Animal Sciences.

Dr. Croney earned her PhD in animal sciences from Penn State University.  Before joining Purdue University, she conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Following this she served as Assistant Director of Conservation Education at the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and then held faculty appointments in animal behavior and bioethics in the Animal Sciences Department at Oregon State University and in Preventive Medicine at The Ohio State University.

Her research focuses on developing and applying non-invasive metrics of welfare in agricultural and companion animals; understanding effects of rearing environments and management on animal behavior, health, and welfare; public perceptions of animal agriculture and welfare; and bioethics-science interfaces in animal care and welfare policy, practice, and public communications.

She has applied her collaborative research on canine welfare to create and operate the first voluntary, 3rd party-audited national certification program, TMCanine Care Certified, that sets rigorous standards for the care and welfare of dogs in breeding kennels.

Dr. Croney’s research has been featured in numerous national and international media outlets and has been spotlighted in broadcast programs by outlets such as Animal Planet, National Geographic, and the British Broadcasting Corporation.

She serves as scientific advisor on animal welfare to numerous groups, including the American Humane Association, Fairlife, Merck Animal Health, Morris Animal Foundation, Tyson Foods, and Post Holdings.

Speaker Bio: 

Audrey T. Lin, DPhil, is a paleogeneticist whose research bridges ancient genomics, history, anthropology, and Indigenous knowledge. She is currently an APART-USA Fellow funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and is based at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna. She previously was a Gerstner Postdoctoral Scholar in Computational Biology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, a George Burch Postdoctoral Fellow in Theoretical Medicine and Affiliated Theoretical Science and a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Her research utilizes recovering ancient biomolecules from archaeological and museum specimens and objects to answer diverse questions on human-mediated evolutionary processes, including domestication, extinction, and mechanisms of zoonoses. She focuses on dogs because she finds their relationships with humans throughout history endlessly interesting. Her work has been published in Science, PNAS, and Proc B.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Ana G. Jiménez received a Ph.D in Marine Biology from the University of North

Carolina at Wilmington. She then completed two post-docs: the first at The Ohio State

University while working on bird physiology, and the second at Loyola Marymount University

and Hopkins Marine Station working on marine bivalve physiology. She is now an Associate

Professor in the Biology Department at Colgate University, a liberal arts college in upstate New

York. Her research has included animals from fish and crustaceans, a multitude of bird species

to, now, dogs. Her background in biochemistry and physiology allows her to ask question across

levels of organization from the whole-organism to their cells. She has over 90 peer-reviewed

publications, has recently co-edited the first edition of the “Canine Science” textbook, and her

lab has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Panelist: Special Event - A Focus on the Woolly Dog

Liz holds a MA in Educational Technology and a Master Spinners Certificate. Now retired from Vancouver Island University where she held the position of Director of Research Services, she spends much of her time studying Coast Salish textiles. She is a Research Associate with the Smithsonian and with VIU’s Anthropology Department. She has worked with various museums including: the British Museum, Pitt Rivers Museum, the RBCM, the Smithsonian Institution, MoA at UBC and the Burke Museum helping to identify yarns, fibres, tools and techniques used to create textiles. Liz was instrumental in identifying a rare blanket in the Burke Museum confirmed to be made of Woolly Dog hair.

Liz has given many presentations and workshops on the subject of Coast Salish spinning and textiles to Coast Salish spinners and weavers and has written articles on the subject for magazines such as Selvedge, Spin-Off, Ply, BC Studies and the latest one “The History of Coast Salish ‘Woolly Dogs’ Revealed by Ancient Genomics and Indigenous Knowledge” was published in Science. She also reviews books for The British Columbia Review. Her book with Coast Salish contributors The Teaching of Mutton – A Coast Salish Woolly Dog is being published by Harbour Publishing in the Spring of 2025. Liz lives on Protection Island, BC, in Snuneymuxw territory.

Panelist: Special Event - A Focus on the Woolly Dog

Andrea Fritz is a Coast Salish artist and author from the Lyackson First Nation of the Hul’qumi’num-speaking Peoples on Canada’s West Coast. Trained in West Coast Native art in the Victoria school district by Victor Newman (Kwagiulth), she creates work that reflects her People’s history and future, with a focus on animals, place, and their interconnected relationships. Working in acrylic on canvas and wood, serigraphy, vector art, and multimedia, Andrea has exhibited widely and teaches Coast Salish art to students throughout British Columbia. She is also active in community-based art projects and continues to share her knowledge while creating new work that celebrates the beauty of the people, lands, and stories of her region.

Panelist: Special Event - A Focus on the Woolly Dog

Debra Sparrow has been deeply involved with the revival of Musqueam weaving for over thirty years, and has many years of study, trial and learning directly from the work of her ancestors. Her work has been collected and exhibited nationally and internationally, including the University of British Columbia, the Canadian Museum of History, the Royal BC Museum, the Vancouver International Airport (YVR Collections), the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Seattle), and the Smithsonian. She was the recipient of the BC Creative Achievement Award for First Nations Art in 2008. Most recently, she participated in The Fabric of Our Land: Salish Weaving at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC as both an exhibitor and as a regular, active weaving demonstrator using a traditional loom from the museum collection.

Panelist: Special Event - A Focus on the Woolly Dog

Kirk French is an award-winning professor of anthropology and Emmy-nominated filmmaker at Penn State University. As a filmmaker, French attempts to prioritize the voices and perspectives of the Indigenous groups he collaborates with -- to facilitate documentaries that remain in the authentic voice of the community. French is also the director of the CORVA Studio Lab at Penn State University where community involvement is an essential ingredient to his holistic approach to filmmaking.