Remembering Dr. Karen Bakker

Honouring unparalleled researcher, innovator, colleague, teacher, and mentor

Published On: September 14th, 2023

The POLIS team is deeply saddened to learn that the water community has lost one of its most formidable and leading thinkers. Dr. Karen Bakker died on August 14, 2023.

Dr. Karen Bakker was an unparalleled researcher, innovator, colleague, teacher, and mentor to so many in the freshwater field in B.C., Canada, and beyond. She arrived on the scene in Canada with her timely and extremely effective book Eau Canada: The Future of Canada’s Water (UBC Press, 2007), a high-calibre update and exploration of national water issues and solutions. From supporting the growth of the community of national water experts, to her work on water security, to founding the Program on Water Governance at the University of British Columbia, Karen drove major advances in the field of water governance.

She modelled excellence and critical thought in all aspects of her work, and inspired the same in her students and colleagues. Her influence and legacy will continue to live on—both in her extensive body of work that spanned research and public policy relevance, and in everyone who benefitted from Karen’s mentorship, partnership, focus, and sharp thinking.

Read tribute from the UBC Department of Geography, Remembering Dr. Karen Bakker (Sept 13, 2023).