On November 28, 2025, Dr. Philippe Cury will receive an honorary PhD degree from the University of British Columbia, in honour of his many years of exceptional research in marine ecology and fisheries.
This is your opportunity to hear from this extraordinary scholar
Speaker: Dr. Philippe Cury
Emeritus Senior Scientist, Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopement Durable, (IRD) France
Thursday, November 27, 2025
2:00 – 3:00 pm
CHEM 300
Understanding patterns and processes in marine life is key to ecological studies and fisheries management. The ecological patterns that Dr. Cury tackled throughout his career were quite straightforward as they can be formulated into soluble questions: why is the recruitment of fish sometimes positively and sometimes negatively correlated with wind intensity? Is an ecology of individuals possible? What is the impact of forage fish on ecosystem dynamics? How tipping points can be identified and implemented in fisheries management? How many forage fish should we leave in the ocean to maintain birds and large predator populations? The emergence of those scientific questions and how they were addressed will be presented. How to get involved in decision processes and considerations on structuring a scientific career will then be discussed by addressing the objectives of a Sustainability Science: an engaged science that is active, collaborative, and connected to the real-world needs of communities and ecosystems.