Gund Institute Podcasts

During this presentation, Dr. Zent will offer an overview of several learning experiences acquired over 20 years of conducting research in the Amazon region. The challenges of articulating scientific and Indigenous peoples' epistemologies and ontologies have proven to be a complex and winding journey, filled with many trials and errors, but also insights and privileges. This trek between different worlds of understanding and being on the earth has allowed us to present a synthesis of teachings which, though not definitive in any sense, may have the potential to contribute to the development of more integrated (and hopefully effective) biocultural conservation strategies.

Eglee Zent is a current MacMillan Visiting Scholar at the Gund Institute at UVM. She is a Venezuelan scholar with expertise in Indigenous knowledge and biological and cultural conservation. Her eclectic academic background includes anthropology, conservation biology, botany, and art. Since 2000, she has worked at the Human Ecology Lab at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research. Her lab has conducted applied and theoretical research in two tropical ecological systems in Venezuela: the páramos of the high Andes among the Parameros, and lowland Amazonia among the Jotï, an Amerindian group. These projects are collaborative and participative and have been carried out emphasizing the collective construction of knowledge and the needs of the people involved like their human, health, and territorial rights. Zent’s work is transdisciplinary, with diverse epistemologies, drawing in material and ideological, quantitative and qualitative aspects. Her academic interests could be labelled as human ecology or ethnoecology/ethnobiology. An author of over 70 published texts, Zent is committed to the care and love of the Earth, human and non-human processes and dynamics.

Zent spoke at UVM on Oct. 1st, 2021. Read more about Eglee: https://globalenvironments.org/profile/eglee-zent/

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events ​​​​

What is changing, and what needs to change as sciences grapple with the increasing urgency of the moment?  Tewksbury will provide individual, institutional, and international perspectives on these questions, taken from the last 15 years of working around the world to support science organizations – universities, NGOs, funders, networks, and research institutes – to increase their reach, relevance, and impact on the major sustainability challenges we face today.  The talk will explore notions of strategic science, engaged science, and science in service, as well the  importance of both knowing your lane, and taking risks, to push science and action forward.

Josh Tewksbury, the Ira Rubinoff Director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, has worked in three continents to build more durable connections between research and decision communities. Josh will speak about the urgent need for engaged science, the critical force that science must play in the next 20 years, the importance of international science collaborations, and the connections between biodiversity, climate, and development. Read Josh’s full bio: https://futureearth.org/contacts/josh-tewksbury/

Tewksbury spoke with the Gund Institute over Zoom on November 12th, 2021.

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events

Interest in payments for ecosystem services (PES) has exploded over the past two decades around the globe, from China and Australia to Peru and Vermont. The lecture explores the ascent of PES, where it has worked, where it hasn't worked, and what we should expect going forward. James Salzman is one of the world's leading authorities on PES and has worked with governments worldwide to design their programs.

James (Jim) Salzman is the Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law with joint appointments at the UCLA School of Law and the Bren School of the Environment at UC Santa Barbara. An international expert on environmental policy, he frequently appears as a media commentator and has lectured on every continent. In a dozen books and more than 100 articles and book chapters, his broad-ranging scholarship has addressed topics ranging from water to wildlife, from climate change to creating markets for ecosystems. There have been over 100,000 downloads of his articles. Read Salzman's full bio: https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/james-salzman

Salzman spoke at UVM's Farrell Hall on November 5th, 2021.

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events

Cheryl Pinto, Global Head of Values Led Sourcing for Ben & Jerry’s, sits down with Alissa White, Gund Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Regenerative Agriculture, for an open conversation on a variety of topics spanning the opportunities and challenges of driving positive social impact while working with farmers at origin, all the way through the value chain to bakers and candy-makers. This fire-side chat conversation incorporates engagement and questions from the audience.

Pinto spoke at UVM’s Farrell Hall on October 29th, 2021. Read more about Cheryl Pinto: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/profiles/cheryl-pinto

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events ​​​​

Cheryl Morse reports on findings from a study titled “Who are the New Vermonters?” The research emerged from conversations with rural geographers across the Global North who began to see new in-migration streams to the countryside at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. This moment of new in-migration to Vermont, and other rural places, provides us an opportunity to learn what newcomers expect of rural places, and therefore to anticipate their impacts on social, cultural, and physical landscapes. Initial findings suggest Vermont may be experiencing a first wave of migration motivated by multiple forms of environmental displacement, and lessons we are learning now could inform efforts to prepare for future newcomers.

Cheryl Morse is Associate Professor of Geography, co-director of the Environmental Program, a Gund Institute affiliate, and a Food Systems Graduate Faculty member at the University of Vermont. She is a rural geographer who researches human-environment interactions. Broadly, her work is concerned with how people perceive, co-produce and experience rural places. Away from UVM, she spends as much time as possible outside at home in Underhill, Vermont, serves on the board of the Vermont Land Trust, and is involved with youth lacrosse. Read Morse’s full bio: https://www.uvm.edu/cas/geography/profiles/cheryl-morse

Morse spoke at UVM’s Farrell Hall on October 15th, 2021.

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events ​​​​

Molly Brown is a NASA scientist and Gund affiliate from the University of Maryland. She speaks on “Better Scientist-Stakeholder Relationships for Greater Research Impact” at the University of Vermont. Brown explains how NASA uses quantitative data to measure the effectiveness of various research programs. The talk emphasizes using quantitative data over qualitative data to determine program funding.

Brown spoke at UVM’s Farrell Hall on September 24th, 2021. Read more about Molly: https://geog.umd.edu/facultyprofile/brown/molly

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events ​​​​

Rock Beckford, UVM’s Extension leader, speaks on “The History and Future of The Land Grant University” at the Gund Institute. Beckford outlines how UVM research and extension programs affect Vermont farmers, decision-makers, and communities. Read more about Roy: https://www.uvm.edu/news/story/fitzroy-beckford-named-director-uvm-extension

Beckford spoke at UVM’s Farrell Hall on September 17th, 2021. The hybrid event kicked off the first in-person GundxChange for the Fall 2021 semester.

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events ​

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is a leader in integrating biodiversity conservation with global development priorities such as improving health, strengthening food security, promoting inclusive economic growth, and mitigating and adapting to climate change.

In this presentation, Anila Jacob discusses her experiences working with USAID on activities that integrate biodiversity conservation with development sectors such as food security, global health, and climate change adaptation. In particular, Anila highlights how USAID activities like Measuring Impact (MI), Biodiversity Results and Integrated Development Gains Enhanced (BRIDGE) and Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) support the operationalization of biodiversity conservation integration including strategic and technical approaches, challenges to integration, and successes.

Anila Jacob is the Food Security and Global Health Specialist for USAID's Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) activity, which supports the implementation of the Agency's Environmental and Natural Resource Framework and promotes biodiversity conservation integration in USAID programming. Anila has worked with USAID for the last decade where her focus has been on conducting research on linkages between biodiversity conservation and human well-being. She is also a practicing internal medicine physician with a MD from Penn State.

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund​​​​

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events​​​​

Learning from personal mistakes and mistakes of others to create new cultures and systems, moving from theory to practice in the world of community development. Exploring the intersections of applying nature's natural systems to issues that affect oppressed African American communities in DC. In this talk, Xavier Brown highlights and analyzes three initiatives: Soilful, SouthEats & Black Dirt Farm Collective and discusses how these practices are used in different ways.

Xavier Brown is a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective, Founder of Soilful and Co-founder of SouthEats. Alumni of RobertWood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leaders and Alumni of the UVM Masters in Leadership for Sustainability Program.

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund​​​​

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events​​​​

The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) leads equity-centered, transformative community-driven climate solutions and sustainability projects in the US, India, China, Bangladesh, and Southeast Asia. As the first African-American woman to lead a US-based international climate organization, president and CEO Deeohn Ferris is changing the landscape in a white male-led field. In this GundxChange talk, Ferris discusses equitable environmental, economic, social and health solutions in response to climate change driven natural disasters disproportionately affecting the prosperity and resiliency of low income and communities of color. To learn what's possible, visit www.sustain.org.

Deeohn Ferris, President at ISC, is an environmental lawyer, racial and social justice practitioner, and systems change thought leader. She began her career at US EPA and became the first Director of Special Litigation in the enforcement office. As CEO of the Sustainable Community Development Group, she promoted equity, health, land use, and community resiliency best practices. Prior to ISC, Deeohn was the VP for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the National Audubon Society, where she prompted organizational changes to broaden opportunities for people of color, women, youth, people with different abilities and of different cultures.

Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund​​​​​

Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events​​​​