BC Nature Scholarships

Bert Brink Scholarship

The scholarship honours the memory of Dr. Bert Brink, a past president of BC Nature and strong advocate of nature stewardship and conservation.

This scholarship for $2500 is awarded to graduate students. Applicants should be registered in full-time studies towards a post-graduate degree at an accredited institution of higher learning, in a program which will lead to a Masters or Doctoral Degree in a discipline which contributes to an awareness, appreciation, improved management of flora and fauna, conservation, restoration, and understanding of our natural environment.
BERT BRINK 2026 FILLABLE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION – DEADLINE JUNE 15, 2026

This scholarship honours Dr. Vernon Cuthbert (Bert) Brink (1912-2007), a long-standing leader in the naturalist community, recognized for his expertise in plant ecology, applied conservation science and educational support. He contributed extensively to the protection of natural areas throughout British Columbia, with special interest in wetlands and grasslands. His knowledge of our province’s geography and habitats was wide and deep. He is fondly remembered for successfully negotiating the varied and twisted paths to achieve conservation goals, dealing with the many people and agencies involved, always with persistence, patience and diplomacy—most notably he set a respectful and cooperative tone.

Dr. Brink was a founding director of the Federation of BC Naturalists (now known as BC Nature) in 1969 and its president 1978-1981. He provided strategic leadership that strengthened the organization’s role in science-informed advocacy, collaboration with volunteer naturalists, and engagement on provincial conservation issues. He is widely respected for his ability to connect ecological research with practical action in support of Knowing Nature and Keeping it Worth Knowing.

Dr. Brink was a faculty member in UBC’s Plant Science Department, including its chair for 15 years. He contributed more than 200 papers to academic journals and developed the first Range Management course at UBC in 1939.

His volunteer activities contributed greatly to several organizations including: charter Director of the BC Naturalists’ Foundation, founding member of The Nature Trust, commissioner on the Agricultural Land Commission, Vancouver Natural History Society (Nature Vancouver), helped establish the Grasslands Conservation Council, Board of Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, and advocate for BC’s Ecological Reserves

Significant recognition that Dr. Brink received includes: Order of Canada, Order of British Columbia and Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for Conservation. Read more from the Celebration of his life at this LINK

Congratulations to Sunny Tseng

Sunny is currently a PhD student with University of Northern British Columbia focusing on monitoring bird biodiversity in the John Prince Research Forest in central British Columbia, utilizing innovative technology and advanced analysis methods. She deploys Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) to capture bird sounds and employ the BirdNET machine learning tool for species identification based on these recordings. By combining ARU recordings with BirdNET, Sunny is investigating ecological questions in the research forest across various scales: for example, using the unique vocal patterns of Barred Owls to identify individuals, enhancing monitoring efficiency for the study of populations, territories, and behavioural interactions.
Sunny has volunteered with Nature Vancouver since 2018, first participating at Colony Farm Regional Park bird counts and contributing articles to Discovery, Applying Statistics to Bird Listening, and Listening to the Whispers of the Wings, where she wrote about advanced recording systems for bird sound recording. Sunny has also participated in bird banding with WildResearch, specimen preparation at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, and volunteering with the Cascade Bird Box team..
Sunny instructed a graduate level statistics course, “Advanced Statistics for Natural Resources Science” at UNBC, where she could share her passion about data in nature science. As requested by wildlife researchers, Sunny has also created infographics, combining art and science; she developed an extension (package) for the R statistical programing language called “bbsTaiwan” that makes open source data more accessible to conservation researchers in Taiwan and regions outside North America.
Looking ahead, through infographic design, Sunny has found a powerful medium to communicate scientific concepts with clarity and accessibility, enhancing understanding among diverse audiences. As a data analyst, she transforms complex datasets into meaningful scientific insights. Sunny plans to channel her expertise and unwavering passion toward addressing critical environmental challenges and effecting positive change. ☼