Search Speaker Bureau
The Speakers Bureau is a directory of arctic researchers and experts that are available to visit organizations, communities or schools to give presentations. The directory contains names, addresses, science specialties, and presentation experience.
We encourage organizations and communities applying to the Arctic Visiting Speakers Series to use the Speakers Bureau to select a visiting speaker. If a particular subject or speaker is not listed, please contact Judy Fahnestock at avs [at] arcus [dot] org, for suggested speakers.
Chris Hannibal-Paci
About:
Dr. Christopher Darren James Paci works to improve the capacity of northern indigenous peoples to address environment and natural resource management issues. While mostly working at the community level, Paci has also been involved in raising awareness of various audiences about circumpolar environmental issues, climate change, and contaminants.
Paci started Deep Consulting Inc. to work with the Dene governments on natural resource management issues. He has advised the Chiefs of the Yellowknives Dene as their Executive Assistant and the Center for Indigenous Environment and Resources on their five-year organizational planning process. He has also advised the Arctic Athabaskan Council on sustainable development, governance, and policy issues. His work has included translation of science and the stewardship of indigenous concepts into action (scientific research and public policy).
Paci holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba. He is a member of the University of the Arctic, both as a Roving Faculty member and past member of the Indigenous Issues Standing Committee. Paci is an experienced speaker, having lectured at the University of Northern British Columbia, University of Manitoba, Athabasca University, Carleton University, and Umea University.
Paci is interested in speaking to all audiences and is generally available throughout the year.
Representative lecture titles include:
- Requisites for sustainable healthy northern communities
- There is no wilderness here: connectivity of northern communities to globalizing influences
- Water is more than two hydrogen and one oxygen: northern views on water management
- Knowledge engines: northern and southern comparisons
- Traditional Knowledge and the role of northern communities in environmental impact assessment
Sarah James
About:
Sarah James, as board chair, member and a spokesperson for the Gwich'in Steering Committee, has educated Alaskans, other Americans, Congress and peoples from around the world about the Gwich'in Nation, the Porcupine River Caribou Herd and the importance of protecting "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins" from oil exploration and drilling. The goal is to protect the caving and nursing grounds of the caribou in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Raised in Alaska's far north, she did not attend school until she was about 10. She lives in the small community of Arctic Village, south of the Brooks Range. Sarah has traveled widely, from Washington, D.C. to foreign countries, speaking out for the rights of indigenous peoples and grassroots activism. In recognition of her leadership, she has received many awards. In 2001, she received a Ford Foundation "Leadership for a Changing World" grant given to "outstanding but little known leaders." She, along with Jonathon Solomon and Norma Kassi, received the Goldman Environmental Prize for "grassroots environmentalists" in 2002. In 2004, she was the recipient of the 2004 "Ecotrust Award for Indigenous Leadership." In 2009 she was named to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame and was honored as one of 50 women who have made or are making significant contributions to the shaping of Alaska.
