School of Environment and Sustainability Prof. Leslie King's life has been dedicated to environmental education and inspiring and empowering people to enter and excel in the environmental field, solving local to global environmental problems including climate change and biodiversity loss.
Her research and teaching interests are integrated environmental sciences and planning, Indigenous environmental perspectives, environmental justice, climate change and biodiversity, environmental governance and knowledge systems including local and traditional ecological knowledge.
Before coming to Royal Roads, King was faculty at the University of Vermont, the Founding Chair of Environment at the University of Northern British Columbia, Founding Dean of the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources at the University of Manitoba and Vice President Academic at Vancouver Island University. She has developed environmental programs in Canada, the U.S. and Africa and designed curriculum from undergraduate to PhD programs and environmental literacy and anti-racism across the curriculum.
Her research sites are primarily in Africa and the Arctic as well as in Indigenous and local communities in North America. She has supervised scores of graduate students and takes delight in involving her students in her applied research and bringing research findings into the classroom and community.
Recent research projects include Conflicting Knowledge Systems in the Pacific Northwest, Meeting the Climate Change Challenge (MC3) Co PI with Prof. Ann Dale; Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction in Africa and Canada; Arctic Climate Predictions: Pathways to Sustainable Resilient Societies (ARCPATH); Northern Knowledge for Resilience, Sustainable Environments and Adaptation in Coastal Communities in the Circumpolar Arctic (NORSEACC); and Clam Gardens in BC: Eco-cultural Restoration (with Prof. Audrey Dallimore).
Experience
2011 to Present: Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability, Director Canadian Centre for Environmental Education, Royal Roads University
2019 to Present: University of the Highlands and Islands, Visiting Professor
2013 to Present: Stefansson Arctic Institute, Senior Research Affiliate.
2010 to Present: Vancouver Island University, Honorary Research Fellow
2010 to Present: Adjunct Professor: University of Victoria, (Geography, Environment, Member Graduate College) University of Manitoba, (Natural Resources Institute, Faculty of Graduate Studies)Dartmouth College, (Environment) University of Vermont (Environment, Natural Resources)
2007 to 2010: Vancouver Island University, Vice President Academic
2003 to 2007: University of Manitoba, Professor and Founding Dean, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources
1999 to 2003: University of Northern British Columbia, Chair, Northwest Region, Professor, Environmental Studies
1995 to 1999: University of Northern British Columbia, Professor, Founding Chair, Environmental Studies, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
1995 to Present: Dartmouth College - Research Associate
1984 to 1998: University of Vermont, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies and Natural Resource Planning, Environmental Program and School of Natural Resources.
1991 to 1992: Fulbright Fellow - Visiting Professor, University of Zimbabwe, Centre for Applied Social Sciences, Masters in Tropical Resource Ecology.
1984 to 1990: University of Vermont, Assistant Professor, Environmental Program
1981 to 1984: St. Lawrence University - Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies
1980 to 1981: University of Pennsylvania - Visiting Lecturer, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning
1980 to 1981: Yale University – Visiting Fellow, Yale School of Forestry and Environment
1978 to 1979: University of Cape Town - Lecturer in Environmental Studies
1975 to 1979: Tavistock Institute of Human Relations - Applied Social Science Researcher, Institute for Organizational and Operational Research. London, UK.
Education
1983
PhD
London School of Economics and Political Science
1980
Master of Environmental Science
York University
1979
Master of Education (Adult Education and Community Development)
University of Toronto
1975
Civilisation Française
Sorbonne, France
1975
Quatrième Degré
Alliance Française, France
1970
Bachelor of Arts
University of British Columbia
Publications
King, L.A. and Ogilvie, A.E.J. (2020) The Challenge of Synthesis: Lessons from Arctic Climate Predictions: Pathways to Resilient, Sustainable Societies (ARCPATH). In (Douglas C. Nord, editor) Nordic Perspectives on the Responsible Development of the Arctic: Pathways to Action, Springer Nature, Switzerland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52324-4, 393-412.
Ogilvie, A.E.J., Gao, Y., Einarsson, N., Keenlyside, N., King, L. (2020) “The ARCPATH project: Assessing Risky Environments and Rapid Change: Research on Climate, Adaptation and Coastal Communities in the North Atlantic Arctic.” In (Douglas C. Nord, editor) Nordic Perspectives on the Responsible Development of the Arctic: Pathways to Action, Springer Nature, Switzerland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52324-4, 137-156.
Chambers, C., King, L.A., Cook, D., Malinauskaite, L., Willson, M., Ogilvie, A.E.J. and Einarsson, N. (2020) “ ‘Small Science’: Community Engagement and Local Research in an Era of Big Science Agendas.” In (Douglas Nord, editor) Nordic Perspectives on Responsible Development of the Arctic: Pathways to Action, Springer Nature, Switzerland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52324-4, 203-224.
Orozco, A., King, L. Canessa, R. (2020). “Interplay and Cooperation in Environmental Conservation: Building Capacity and Responsive Institutions within and beyond the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, Canada.” Sage Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020932683
King, Leslie A. (2019) Traditions, Traps and Trends: Transfer of Knowledge in Arctic Regions, edited by Jarich Oosten and Barbara Helen Miller. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. 2018. 318 pp. Journal of Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research. Book Review, Published online: 20 May 2019. PP 173-175. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2019.1609816
Dale, A., J. Robinson, L. King, S. Burch, R. Newell, A. Shaw, F. Jost. (2019). “Meeting the climate change challenge: local government climate action in British Columbia, Canada.” Climate Policy, 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2019.1651244.
Clermont, H., A. Dale, M. Reed, L. King . (2019) “Sense of Place as a Source of Tension in Canada’s West Coast Energy Conflicts.” Coastal Management, Vol 47:2.
Clermont, H., A. Dale, M. Reed, L. King . 2019. “Regional Ties with Nature in Resource Development Conflicts.” Coastal Management, March 2019.
Dale, A., King, L., Behan-Pelletier, V., Bazely, D., Beckel, M., Carr, D. …Vettese, S. M. (2019). Biodiversity conservation: A call for action for Canadian decision-makers. Victoria, BC: Royal Roads University. Retrieved from https://www.changingtheconversation.ca/biodiversity-action-agenda
Moore, A, L. King, R. Newell and A. Dale. (2018) “Toward an integrative framework for local development path analysis.” Ecology & Society, 23(2), 13. doi:10.5751/ES-10029-230213.
