Dr. Danika van Proosdij

Professor, Geomorphologist, Saint Mary’s University

Dr. Danika van Proosdij is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Saint Mary’s University.  Over the last 25 years she has been engaged in understanding how the biophysical processes of coastal ecosystems respond to natural and anthropogenic drivers of change. She is the director of two Canadian Foundation for Innovation labs:  the Intertidal Coastal Sediment Transport Research Unit (In_CoAST) and Maritime Provinces Spatial Analysis Research Unit (MP_SpARC). As a coastal geomorphologist she merges field studies of sediment transport and hydrodynamics with GIS and geo-visualizing technologies to assess and enhance the resilience of these systems.

This includes coastal vulnerability assessment to climate change impacts and the use of ecosystem based adaptation to manage flooding and erosion hazards in Canada, the Caribbean and Indian Ocean. She has served as a scientific advisor for a wide range of provincial and federal governments In addition, she has received close to $5.3 M as Principle or Co-Investigator on research grants and contracts from provincial, federal and international sources and the private sector. In particular, for more than a decade she has been assisting the provincial Dept. of Agriculture critically assess the vulnerability of their dyke infrastructure to coastal erosion and flooding, and develop best practices for management of dykelands and foreshore marshes that protect them, in a changing climate. She has fostered a long term partnership with CBWES over the last 18 years, applying innovative and proven techniques to restore close to 320 Ha of tidal wetland habitat, and establishing the TransCoastal Adaptation Centre for Nature Based Solutions in 2019. She has been twice (2012 with CBWES) awarded the Gulf of Maine Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council for the Marine Environment in “recognition for innovation, creativity and commitment to research and protection of the marine environment”.