City Trees Editorial Review
Committee member Dr. Adrina
Bardekjian did her Postdoctoral
Research Fellowship on the Role
of Women in Arboriculture at
UBC, with Cecil Konijnendijk
as academic supervisor. The
academic paper came out last
year—see citation below—and
Adrina produced a short inde-
pendent film in collaboration
with Fleming College in Ontario
celebrating women working in
the diverse urban tree industry.
Women Branching Out: A
Diversity of Careers in Urban
Forestry and Arboriculture
Bardekjian, A., Nesbitt, L.,
Konijnendijk, C., & Lötter, B. (2019).
Women in urban forestry and arbo-
riculture: Experiences, barriers and
strategies for leadership. Urban
Forestry and Urban Greening, (46).
are really engaging and come from all over the world; I
really enjoy working with them. UBC has a program called
GoGlobal that facilitates international exchange for students.
One aspect of this is that we frequently host interna-
tional students. Right now I have two visiting students in
my lab, one from Germany and one from China. They are
working on ex situ conservation of threatened species in
botanic gardens and arboreta, and the effects of land use
and development age on soil organic carbon in cities.
I am excited about the new course we have developed in
urban ecology—cities are creating all kinds of novel inter-
actions and it is exciting to see how science is beginning to
understand these. This is a real shift from viewing cities as
simply "disturbance" imposed on existing ecosystems.
My biggest vision for the undergraduate program is to
develop a rigorous program that provides common ground
for both future urban foresters as well as those who choose
to enter allied professions such as planning or landscape
architecture. We are hoping to teach students not just the
fundamental science and practice of urban forestry, but also
how to work effectively in the interdisciplinary space that
is urban forestry—engaging communities and other profes-
sionals effectively to work towards cities with phenomenal
urban forests and greenspaces for all inhabitants. >>
www.urban-forestry.com 25
