Join the Prairie Food System Vision Network in welcoming The Resilience Institute (TRI) to learn what resilience looks like when we connect people, place, biodiversity, culture and practical action.

Laura Lynes, LLM, President/CEO; Cassidy Grimes, Climate Analyst & Coordinator and Brooklyn Rushton, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow - Transformative Adaptation Living Lab will be joining us to share how The Resilience Institute’s work is helping communities build resilience across the Prairies.

The session will include:

• an overview of The Resilience Institute (TRI)

• examples of how TRI works with communities to understand risks, strengthen resilience, and identify locally grounded solutions

  • strengthening biodiversity and food security: through sweetgrass research in the Piikani Nation

  • putting risk assessment into action: strengthening community resilience in Hinton, Alberta through a home rainwater capture program

  • making risks visible and meaningful: using Signs of Change to help communities understand and respond to risk in Dehcho First Nations

• an overview of TRI’s Stories of Resilience program

  • showing how stories can help communities make sense of change, strengthen relationships, and carry knowledge and experiences forward through times of disruption

  • highlighting stories from Jasper, Alberta, and Indigenous women across the Prairies, demonstrating how storytelling can build connection and strengthen resilience before and after disasters.

To register click here.

Speaker Bios:

Laura S. Lynes, LLM - President/CEO
Laura has decades of leadership experience in the not-for- profit and post-secondary sectors. As TRI’s co-founder she is the lead architect on TRI’s vision and programming. She holds a Master of Law with distinction in Climate Change Law & Policy and a Master’s degree in Intercultural and International Communication and received a Jane Goodall Fellowship for her thesis work on perceptions on the inclusion of large carnivores in communities.

Cassidy Grimes - Climate Analyst & Coordinator
Cassidy holds a Master’s degree in Climate Change from the University of Waterloo, where she studied topics such as climate science, climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, and community planning for climate change. Cassidy is passionate about supporting communities in preparing for and adapting to climate change through education, community engagement, and applied research. Her work focuses on fostering climate resilience by connecting scientific knowledge with local experiences and community-driven solutions.

Brooklyn Rushton, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow - Transformative Adaptation Living Lab
Brooklyn Rushton is a dedicated sustainability professional, focused on discovering transformative, community-centered solutions to society’s most pressing sustainability challenges. With a diverse background in wildlife conservation, regenerative tourism, strategic planning, and climate change adaptation, she adeptly combines academic insight with practical application. She holds a Master’s degree in Climate Change from the University of Waterloo and a PhD from Wilfrid Laurier University, focused on regenerative tourism transformations in Canada’s mountain regions. With a specific passion for the mountains, Brooklyn is committed to reshaping how mountain communities connect with the natural world and envision a collective future impacted by climate change.