Fall Lecture Series 2025

Adam Shoalts is a National bestselling author and professional adventurer and a Westaway Explorer-in-Residence at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. His expeditions range from mapping rivers to archaeological projects, but Shoalts is best known for his long solo journeys, including crossing alone nearly 4,000 km of Canada’s Arctic.

Named one of the “greatest living explorers” by CBC and even declared “Canada’s Indiana Jones” by the Toronto Star, Shoalts’s national bestselling books include Where the Falcon Flies, Alone Against the North, A History of Canada in 10 Maps, Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada’s Arctic, and The Whisper on the Night Wind.

He has a PhD from McMaster University in history, and in his free time, enjoys long walks in the woods.

Debbie attained her PhD from McMaster University in Biochemistry in 1995. After a three-year stint in the biotech industry, she joined Brock in 1999 as an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences teaching in the oenology and viticulture program. She took on the directorship of the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) in 2008. She now holds the title of full professor, continues to be the director of CCOVI, and in 2023 took on the role of Advisor to the Vice President Research on Industry-Academia Partnerships.

Debbie’s research program first focused on issues of icewine fermentation, but has expanded over the years to other red and white wine styles along with biochemical issues in grapevine cold hardiness and more recently, diagnostics for grapevine diseases.

Debbie has been involved in the grape and wine industry her entire life as her family started growing grapes in 1970 in the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. She herself was a second-generation grape grower holding the title of Grape King in 2010 for Ontario. She knows first-hand the issues facing the industry and is happy to help solve them through research.

Since 2002, Neta has been a professor at Brock University, teaching in the Department of English Language and Literature.

Her publications include the monographs Catching the Torch: Contemporary Canadian Literary Responses to World War I (Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2014) and Bearers of Risk: Writing Masculinity in Contemporary English-Canadian Short Story Cycles (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2022).

Neta is also a General Editor of The Broadview Introduction to Literature, and is currently the primary investigator of a SSHRC-funded project on the work of Canadian writer Ann-Marie MacDonald.

Dr. Eric Kennedy is an Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management at York University. Kennedy serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Emergency Management, as well as Interim Director of York University’s Emergency Mitigation, Engagement, Governance, Response Institute (Y-EMERGE).

Kennedy’s work focuses on wildfire management and the human and social dimensions of fire. In particular, his lab works on decision-making and use-of-evidence for wildfire preparedness, response, and recovery. Current projects include supporting international research needs identification in wildfire science; supporting the enhancement of predictive services in wildfire management; and increasing uptake of wildfire mitigation by local governments.

He has also led a national COVID-19 monitoring project, tracking the public attitudes, risk perceptions, and knowledge related to the pandemic. In all his work, he focuses on producing research that addresses real-world needs, supports government decision-making, and helps create a safer and more equitable world.

Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia.

He has been working on Arctic sovereignty and security issues for more than two decades, advising successive Canadian governments, writing books and op-ed articles, and sailing the Northwest Passage four times.