Catherine M. Febria, PhD
Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) & Assistant Professor
Freshwater Restoration Ecology
Department of Integrative Biology & GLIER
Director, Healthy Headwaters Lab
Co-Director, GLIER Organic Analysis & Nutrient Facility
she/her/siya
Dr. Febria is a Pinay/Filipina immigrant settler to Turtle Island who conceptualized and launched the Healthy Headwaters Lab in 2019. Driven by the mission to restore freshwater ecosystems to full health for the benefit of future generations, she has brought together individuals with diverse gifts to work together in pursuit of research excellence, beneficial local to global impacts, in a de/anti-colonized, holistic, and partnership-focused approach. Since 2019 she has successfully received more than $6 million in research-based funding.
Dr. Febria is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair and Assistant Professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) & Dept. of Integrative Biology at the University of Windsor. Her research focuses on the ecology and restoration of small streams and wetlands in human-impacted landscapes, and the role of small waterways in supporting good ecosystem health in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In addition to leading the Healthy Headwaters Lab and research team, she currently she serves as: co-Director of the GLIER Organic Analysis & Nutrients Laboratory (a central research facility), the Associate Director of FishCAST (an NSERC CREATE graduate student training program), as an alumni Fellow with the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), as Co-Chair of the International Science Advisory Panel for New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge, and as Coordinating Editor with the journal Restoration Ecology . She previously held a postdoctoral role at the University of Maryland’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (2010-2013) and recently relocated her research back to the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America/Turtle Island from the University of Canterbury in Aotearoa New Zealand. From 2013-2018 she directed CAREX, an agricultural stream restoration research program. Her research has been published in the Science, Nature Geoscience, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Environmental Science & Technology, and Frontiers in Microbiology, Restoration Ecology, Proceedings of the Royal Society, to name a few. She is co-founder of the Kindness in Science global initiative, and contributes actively to actions, scholarship & mentorship to advance justice, equity, diversity & inclusion in academia. She received a PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, along with Certificates in Environmental Studies & Teaching & Learning from the University of Toronto, MSc in Geography from Simon Fraser University & HonBSc in Environmental Science from the University of Toronto Scarborough. Twitter: @ecofebria
Email: catherine.febria@uwindsor.ca
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
2020-2025: Co-Chair, International Science Advisory Panel, New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge - Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho (Aotearoa New Zealand)
2013-2018: Director & Scientist - Canterbury Waterway Rehabilitation Experiment, University of Canterbury (Aotearoa New Zealand)
2015-2018: IPBES Fellow (Asia-Pacific Regional Assessment)
2013-2018: Assistant Research Scientist, University of Maryland (USA)
EDUCATION:
PhD Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. University of Toronto
Collaborative certificates: Environmental Studies, and, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
MSc Geography, Simon Fraser University
BSc Environmental Science (Co-op), University of Toronto Scarborough