Dr. Laura Loucks

For over 30 years, Dr. Loucks has focused on the social-ecological intersectionality between coastal communities, conservation and sustainable livelihoods. Laura is the former Research Director for the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust (CBT) and holds two university adjunct faculty positions in British Columbia, Canada: Royal Roads University (RRU) School for Environment and Sustainability; and Vancouver Island University (VIU) Faculty of Community Planning. Throughout her eight years with the CBT team, Dr. Loucks worked to align the CBT Vital Signs Report indicators with the UN Sustainable Development Goals to mobilize local knowledge for community sustainability. She also co-founded the West Coast Nature Education Sustainability Transformation (NEST) education tourism initiative, hosted by CBT.

Since 2012, Laura has been a member of the Community Conservation Research Network and over the last ten years she has co-authored several published reports, guidebooks, book chapters and journal articles on social-ecological system resilience and transformation.

Laura’s driving motivation for research, teaching and practice, is to engage and connect individuals and organizations through holistic collective learning, and collaborative values-based decision making. Since 2021, she has been an active member of the Pocket Project Community to support trauma informed living and leadership in individuals, organizations and communities. The Pocket Project seeks to provide opportunities for “transformative edge-work, providing opportunities for being, relating, witnessing, healing and restoring”.