Mary O'Connor

External Professor




Mary I. O'Connor is a Professor in the Zoology Department and Director of the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. O'Connor is a leader in metabolic ecology research, using experiments, data synthesis and theoretical models to understand change in aquatic ecosystems, including causes and consequences of biodiversity change and climate change impacts. O’Connor is an External Core Member of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI), Affiliate of the Hakai Institute, and currently serves on the Secretariat of the Western Society of Naturalists. O'Connor lab researchers participate in research collaborations and networks worldwide, including the marine coastal Zostera Experimental Network (ZEN), Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONE2), the Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution (CIEE ), and iDiv Synthesis Centre. She is a winner of UBC’s Killam Research Prize and the International Professional Research Excellence prize in 2016. O'Connor earned a BS in Aquatic Ecology from Brown University (2000), and a PHD from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2008, followed by a postdoc at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS).


Primary Institution: University of British Columbia

Role/Title: Professor, Biodiversity Research Centre / Department of Zoology

Topics of Interest: Biology - Diversity - Environment/Climate Change - Evolution - Scaling - Time - Information Theory in Ecological Systems

Other Affiliations and Institutions: Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI), External Core Member; Hakai Beach Institute, Affiliate; Biodiversity Research Centre at UBC, Associate Director

When and how you first got involved with SFI: visit for a colloquium