Chris Darimont
 Science Director and Chair of Raincoast Applied Conservation Science Lab

Chris is a Professor, Provost’s Engaged Scholar, and the Raincoast Chair of Applied Conservation Science Lab in the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria.

Favouring an interdisciplinary approach, he has been – and continues to be – influenced by a broad network of mentors and collaborators. He earned a PhD in Ecology and Evolution from the Biology Department at the University of Victoria with Dr. Tom Reimchen. Postdoctoral opportunities took me to the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he worked with Dr. Chris Wilmers.

Chris’s long-term affiliation with the science-based Raincoast Conservation Foundation has also shaped him and the work in which he engages. He received mentorship and partnership with many Raincoasters. Dr. Paul Paquet in particular has influenced, taught and empowered me since he first met him at a pizza restaurant in Canmore in December 1998. Colleagues, friends, and Knowledge Holders among the Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk), Wuikinuxv, Kitasoo/Xai-xais, and Nuxalk Nations have also been enormously influential in guiding what he does, and how he does it.

Teaching and mentoring students, however, is his favourite form of outreach. Currently, he teaches GEOG 353 (Coastal and Marine Resource Management) during the spring term. He and Jessie Housty also teach a field course about integrating western science and Indigenous knowledge in the use, monitoring and study of resources (GEOG 453). This amazing course takes place in the village of Bella Bella and at the Koeye River.

darimont [at] uvic [dot] ca

Chris Dairmont smiles at the camera wearing a green flannel button-up shirt.

Recent articles

Some of the many booths and activities at the Ocean Week Victoria festival at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Celebrate World Ocean Day with Raincoast

Raincoast’s sailing research vessel Achiever will be joining World Ocean…

A grizzly bear is seen through vegetation.

Indigenous Roundtable gathering in Richmond, May 27-28

The Province of British Columbia has officially reinitiated its consultation…

A graphic showing smaller icons that represent the water samples of five different categories: source water, freshwater, urban runoff, tap water, and marine environment.

A watershed based approach to water sampling

Measuring pollutants in different water categories throughout the watersheds of…

Kristen stands in front of a podium with a microphone presenting a power-point that reads "Post wildfire logging"

Raincoast presents at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference

Raincoast biologists attended the 43rd gathering of the Public Interest…

Northern Resident killer whale A55 is captured from above, curiously lying on his side displaying a unique behaviour, surrounded by white-sided dolphins.

That time A55 Northern Resident killer whale rolled over, surrounded by Pacific white-sided dolphins

Drone footage captured during photogrammetry work shows unique behaviour from…

A stunning underwater closeup of a Chinook salmon, with a blue haze of light all around.

New film: Shared Water, Shared Crisis

New film shows Canadian scientists and First Nations leaders working…