Career Goals

Career Goals

• Promote Community Economic Development through applied research, technical and vocational training and entrepreneurship
• Encourage the sustainable and culturally appropriate use of natural resources

I plan to achieve these career goals by building capacity in rural Canada through conceiving of and implementing relevant projects, liaising at the grass roots, regional, and provincial levels, writing and publishing, teaching, and conducting and/or facilitating relevant applied research. 

Resume

Resume - Keith J. Williams

Countries of experience: Canada, Qatar, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan

Address: Apt. 3 - 16 Brook Ave., Kentville, NS, B4N 2B3, Canada
Tel: +902.365.5697
email: keith.williams@corylusconsulting.ca (w), peziza@hotmail.com (h)

Education


09/2006-04/2007
Graduate Courses at Athabasca University (online)
MDDE 612 Experiential Learning (Adult Education)
MAIS 601 Making Sense of Theory in the Arts and Social Sciences
Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB

09/2001 - 05/2002
Bachelor of Education
Queen's University, Kingston, ON

09/1996- 05/1999
Master of Science (Biology - Forest Ecology)
University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC

09/1992- 05/1996
Bachelor of Science (Agriculture)
Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, NS

Work Experience

09/2007- 06/2009
TVET Instructor (Biology, Physical Science)
College of the North Atlantic - Qatar
Faculty of Language Studies and Academics, Doha, Qatar

09/2003- 06/2007
TVET Instructor (Biology and Chemistry)
North Island College
Faculty of Math and Science, Port Hardy, BC

09/2002- 06/2003
TVET Instructor (Biofoods and Nutraceuticals)
Loyalist College
School of Applied Science and Computing, Belleville, ON

01/2001- 05/2001
Teacher Training Instructor (part-time sessional position in conjunction with ABE work at Tl'azt'en Nation)
Simon Fraser University
Secwepemc Institute (Kamloops), Fort St. James, BC

09/1999- 06/2001
Adult Basic Education Instructor
Tl'azt'en First Nation
Tl'azt'en Education and Training Centre, Fort St. James, BC

Consulting Experience

04/2010 - 05/2010
Medicial and Aromatic Plant (MAP) Advisor
Zam Zam Women's Co-operative and Caritas Switzerland
Muminabad District, Tajikistan

04/2010
Consultant: Preparation of a Sustainable Housing Best Practices Document
Harker Associates Ltd
Sydney, NS

01/2010 - 04/2010
Consultant: Preparation of a Non-Timber Forest Products Labour Market Review
Harker Associates Ltd.
Sydney, NS

11/2009- 12/2009
Horticulture Specialist
ACCC for SLIATE - Ministry of Higher Education Sri Lanka
Colombo, Sri Lanka

04/2009
Flora Biodiversity Expert
Hima Kfar Zabad and SPNL
Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

11/2004
Gourment and Medicinal Mushroom Specialist - Workshop Facilitator
Bridging the Divides Project (SFU and NIC)
Port McNeill, BC

05/2004
Medicinal Plant Specialist - Workshop Facilitator
Bridging the Divides Project (SFU and NIC)
Port McNeill, BC

Professional Skills

Applied Research Management

• 2 years as Lead PI on 2 research projects at College of the North Atlantic-Qatar: full project cycle management of applied research projects related to sustainable land management in the Middle East - total # personnel supervised: 18, total budget managed (USD): 141,306
• Community ‘proponent’ on applied research projects while director of the Mount Waddington Innovation Centre Society (non-profit aimed at promoting Non-Timber Forest Products)
• Participated in research Letters of Interest evaluation for the British Columbia Forest Science Programme
• 1 year as Research Fellow at Cape Breton University (Institute for Integrated Science and Health): proposal writing and conducted research on medicinal plants in Tajikistan
• 2 years as ethnobotany research co-ordinator at Tl’azt’en Nation: position involved co-ordinating community-university research partnerships in the area of ethnobiology

Technical and Vocational Education and Training

• 7 years experience teaching in technical colleges in Canada and Qatar at the upgrading and technician levels
• 2 years experience teaching in First Nations community at the upgrading and technical levels (in-class and distance-ed) and working as ethnobotany research co-ordinator
• Short-term consultant on ACCC contract in Sri Lanka to upgrade national level TVET programmes

Teacher Training

• Developed and delivered 4 teacher training courses at Simon Fraser University and North Island College with a focus on local, aboriginal ethnobotany
• New teacher mentor at College of the North Atlantic-Qatar
• Developed and delivered teacher training workshop for School District #85 teachers (Vancouver Island) – integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into the public school classroom
• Developed and delivered teacher training workshop for TVET agriculture instructors in Sri Lanka

Relationship Building

• Organized stakeholders in Qatar to ‘build-bridges’ between government health-care providers, farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy makers relating to applied research projects at CNA-Q
• Co-ordinated conferences, symposia, and meetings while director of the MWICS board between government representatives, community members, and entrepreneurs in order to build capacity to develop the Non-Timber Forest Products industry on Vancouver Island
• Co-founded the TEK network, an online ‘meeting place’ for TEK specialists to share resources, opinions, and opportunities
• Built relationships between government,  industry, and First Nations while on the Fisheries Advisory Committee in Fort St James, BC

North Island College

I taught at the North Island College (Port Hardy campus) for 4 years (2003-2007).  I thoroughly enjoyed my time at NIC - the people were great and the landscape was amazing!

While teaching, I also had the opportunity to work on a number of Non-Timber Forest Product related initiatives.  I also developed and taught 3 ethnobotany-related teacher training courses. 

Here is a photo from one course, where we spent a class with a group of elementary school students at the Quatse River Trail...

Association of Canadian Community Colleges

This past November, I had the opportunity to join a team working on a technical education project in Sri Lanka - Education for Knowledge Society Project P1 (funded by the Asian Development Bank). 

Myself and one colleague, Laura Halfyard (MUN-Marine Institute) spent 1 month in Colombo.  Our work involved using the DACUM method to develop new, industry-relevant curricular materials.  We also conducted labour market reviews, visited farms and technical training institutes and more.  Our time was short, but it was totally enjoyable!

Here are some photos from my time in Sri Lanka:



Cymbidium orchid



a horticultural entrepreneur

oodiyal kool - a super spicy soup that I couldn't finish!

Caritas Switzerland and Zam Zam Women's Co-operative (VSO placement)

This past spring, I had the opportunity to go to southern Tajikistan for 6 weeks to work on a development project.  I went through CUSO-VSO and worked with Caritas Switzerland and Zam Zam Women's Co-operative.  My job involved the writing an implementation plan for the development of a medicinal plants based micro-industry.  The people were wonderful, as was the landscape.  I would love to go back!

While working with the women of Zam Zam, I did the following:

1. conducted a gap analysis on land, infrastructure, HR, distribution possibilities, and packaging availability
2. developed and conducted a series of semi-structured interviews to determine the role of medicinal plants in the rural household economy and the level of traditional use in rural Tajikistan
3. conducted market studies on medicinal plant products
4. provided training on value-added processing (see photo below)
5. developed suggestions for export
6. made recommendations for pilot products

My work was reported on CBC radio (although I'm not sure when it aired), and the podcast can be found at:

http://marianwhite-cuso-vso.mypodcastworld.com/

Scroll down about half-way to find my podcast!

College of the North Atlantic-Qatar

While working as a biology instructor at CNA-Q (Doha, Qatar) from 2007-2009, I was lucky to have the opportunity to conduct two applied research projects.  Both projects were funded by Qatar Foundation's Undergraduate Research Experience Programme (UREP).  Total funds amounted to 141, 306USD. 

The first project, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Sustainable Management of Desert Truffles in Qatar involved conducting a series of nation wide interviews about desert truffles.  We learned many interesting things, such as the fact that 71% of Qatar's national population hunts for truffles.  We also had the opportunity to travel to Finland to present our results at the Juva Truffle Centre. 

The second project, Bioprospecting Qatar's Plant Genetic Resources involved surveying Qatar's flora for plants to treat both environmental degradation and diseases of affluence.  We wrote a book through that project called From Acacia to Ziziphus: Arabian Plants to Nourish the Body and Earth. 


This exciting project involved 6 students and 2 faculty members and we also conducted a stakeholder's meeting to disseminate our results and presented at the Society for Ethnobiology's 32nd Annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Part of that project also involved setting up an online social network so that the students could collaborate with researchers online from other parts of the world (http://teknetwork.ning.com/).

I was also interviewed on CBC International ('The Link' with Mark Montgomery).  Here is the link to that audio file, please skip to minute 13:52

http://www.rcinet.ca/radio/index.php?language=en&type=program&media=audio2&id=401