In mathematics, a ‘random walk’ is a feature of probability theory: technically “a stochastic process that describes a path consisting of a succession of random movements in some mathematical space”. (Sometimes non-mathematicians refer to it as a ‘drunkard’s walk’). In biology it is used to describe the apparently random paths taken by animals over time as they react instantaneously to a variety of stimuli. For many people, it might also be applied as a description of their life. It certainly applied to mine. A number of years ago some students on board the SV Concordia asked me how I ended up at Acadia. In reflecting upon that I realized that there was no point in my life in which I could have forecast where I would be or what I would be doing five years later. As Robbie Burns once wrote: ”The best laid schemes o’ mice and men/Gang aft agley.” The path was a succession of failures, surprise opportunities, and the consequences of human frailty. I couldn’t be happier – I think.

 

Graham Daborn is Professor Emeritus at Acadia University. He received his BA in

English and Biology from the University of Keele (UK), and MSC and PhD degrees in

Zoology from the University of Alberta. He was Professor of Biology at Acadia from

1973 to 2004, the Founding Director of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research (1984-

2004), and Founding Director of the Arthur Irving Academy for the Environment (2004-

2007).

 

As a biologist with interests in estuarine and freshwaters, Graham has (co-) written or

(co-) edited 8 books, and more than 230 journal articles, technical reports, and

information bulletins. Since 1976 his research has focused on estuaries, particularly the Bay of Fundy. Studies of the Bay of Fundy ecosystem have included: tides and tidal

rhythms, sediment dynamics, fish and fisheries, plankton, benthic ecology and the

general environmental effects of tidal power. He contributed material for the two

Strategic Environmental Assessments of Marine Renewable Energy in the Bay of Fundy,

for the FORCE Information Centre in Parrsboro, and for an assessment of Potential

Marine Representative Areas in the Bay of Fundy for Parks Canada.

Daborn was Chair or Co-Chair of the Research Management Committee, and theme

leader for Policy and Governance research for the Canadian Water Network (2001 -

2012). He has been a member of the Experts Committee on Marine Renewable Energy

for the International Energy Agency, a volunteer member of the Environmental

Monitoring Advisory Committee (EMAC) for the Fundy Ocean Research Centre

(FORCE) since its establishment in 2009, and a member of the Research Advisory

Committee for the Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA - now Marine

Renewables Canada, or MRC). He recently served as a member of a 5-person committee conducting a Regional Assessment of Offshore Wind Development in Nova Scotia under the Impact assessment Agency, Canada.

 

For his work with communities and public dissemination of scientific information about

the Bay of Fundy, Daborn was awarded the Gulf of Maine Visionary Award in 1993 and

the Outstanding Science Champion Award of the Discovery Centre in 2000.