Research Advisory Council
The Research Advisory Council (RAC) is comprised of key stakeholders able to provide expertise on our scientific and training missions activities. The RAC is composed of representatives from government agencies and non-governmental organizations. Its functions include:
- Help with establishing the strategic direction and policies of the CAM
- Promoting research collaboration with their constituencies
- Providing a conduit for translation of CAM research into conservation policy and action
- Assisting with outreach activities
- Reviewing administrative and financial reports
- Assisting with the promotion of the CAM
- Facilitating donor fundraising
Members
Pete Davidson
Pete is interim vice president of Science and Monitoring at Birds Canada, overseeing >40 citizen science and conservation stewardship programs, the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, NatureCounts and the State of Canada’s Birds. He is a member of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Birds Specialist Subcommittee, and has a Masters in Ecology. Research interests include status and distribution of birds and mammals, anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems, conservation, and life cycle ecology of migratory species.
Greg Mitchell
Greg Mitchell is a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. He leads the Human Dominated Ecosystems Research Program and is based out of the National Wildlife Research Centre at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Greg’s research program focuses on understanding threats to migratory birds and Species-at-Risk in Canada. Greg’s research program utilizes movement ecology, landscape ecology, and physiology, among other disciplines, in order to provide an evidence base for conservation decisions making.
Suzanne Friemann
Executive Director, Pelee Island Bird Observatory. Suzanne holds degrees in anthropology, education and sociology from the University of Windsor. She joined the PIBO team in 2015, and as ED is responsible for administration, public relations, program coordination, education and fundraising programs. She writes the grants that sustain the organization and hires the part-time and volunteer staff that conduct the migration monitoring programs on Pelee Island and the outreach programs in the city of Windsor as part of the Bird Friendly Cities program.
Richard Evan Feldman
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Wildlife Landscape Ecologist Wildlife and Research and Monitoring Section. Richard studies how habitat conservation and restoration can benefit birds as they prepare for and recover from long-distance migration.
Mhairi McFarlane
Mhairi McFarlane is the Director of Science and Stewardship for Ontario Region of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. She oversees stewardship of NCC properties throughout Ontario, and landscape scale planning for property acquisition.