Dr. Gleb Raygorodetsky is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta and Director, Community-Based Monitoring & Knowledge, Alberta Environment & Parks. He is a key Advisor and collaborator on POLIS Biocultural Ethics initiatives.
Born and raised in a coastal village in Kamchatka, Russia, Gleb is a biocultural heritage expert, with over two decades of practical, research, and leadership experience in the areas of Indigenous community-based conservation, management, monitoring and research; climate change resilience; and philanthropy. He has worked for, collaborated with, and written about Indigenous peoples around the world.
His professional experience has ranged from developing and implementing knowledge coproduction, community-based research, and climate change resilience initiatives; to designing and implementing regional and global multi-million grant making programs to support community-based and community-led initiatives of Indigenous and local communities. In all these endeavors, he has worked hard to nurture the environment of equitable and respectful collaboration between Indigenous and local rights-holders, their allies, researchers, and decision makers.
Gleb is also an award-winning author, skilled at presenting complex issues in a clear and concise manner, making them relevant to the audience and decision-makers. His writing and photography have appeared in print in such magazines as in Earth Island Journal, Biodiversity, Mongabay, Cultural Survival, Alternatives, Scientific American, and National Geographic. In his latest book, The Archipelago of Hope: Wisdom and Resilience from the Edge of Climate Change, he documents how the inextricable relationship between Indigenous cultures and their territories forms the foundation for climate change resilience around the world.
Currently, Gleb serves as the Director of the Community Based Monitoring & Knowledge Section, Resource Stewardship Division in the Ministry of Alberta Environment and Parks. This Unit seeks to co-develop and support the systems, processes, tools, and networks in Alberta for community-based monitoring based on knowledge sharing and coproduction guided by respectful braiding of Indigenous, local, and scientific ways of knowing.
