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Isla Myers-Smith is a Professor and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Global Change Ecology of Northern Ecosystems in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship, at the University of British Columbia. She earned her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Alberta in 2011, with a thesis on shrub encroachment in Arctic and alpine tundra; her M.Sc. in Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2005, focusing on carbon exchange and permafrost; and her B.Sc. in Agroecology from the University of British Columbia in 2000. Her research investigates global change drivers and impacts on tundra ecosystems beyond the treeline, including Arctic greening through shrub expansion, shifts in plant growth timing, altered biodiversity, and responses to accelerating warming. She conducts fieldwork across the Canadian North, from Yukon to Nunavut, and performs data syntheses at tundra-biome and global scales, employing methods ranging from plot-based measurements and time-lapse photography to drones and satellite remote sensing. Myers-Smith emphasizes collaborative science with local communities and communicates findings to broad audiences.
Throughout her career, Myers-Smith held postdoctoral positions at the University of British Columbia in 2012 and Université de Sherbrooke in 2011-2012, followed by appointments at the University of Edinburgh as Chancellor’s Fellow (Lecturer, equivalent to assistant professor) from 2013-2016, Chancellor’s Fellow (Senior Lecturer, equivalent to associate professor) from 2016-2022, and Professor from 2022-present. She has received major awards including election to the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2025; Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2023; Philip Leverhulme Prize in Geography in 2022; Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution Early Career Award in 2016; and the Garfield Weston Ph.D. Award for Northern Research from 2009-2011. Her influential publications encompass 'Shrub expansion in tundra ecosystems: dynamics, impacts and research priorities' (Environmental Research Letters, 2011), 'Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome' (Nature Climate Change, 2015), 'Eighteen years of ecological monitoring reveals multiple lines of evidence for tundra vegetation change' (Ecological Monographs, 2019), and 'Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic' (Nature Climate Change, 2020). As a global leader in Arctic ecosystem ecology, her interdisciplinary work has advanced understanding of vegetation responses to climate change and shrubification processes.
Explore how University of British Columbia scientists are monitoring dramatic permafrost thaw slumps on Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk, uncovering 25-year vegetation recovery timelines and broader Arctic implications.
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