What: Creating a Blue Dialogue Webinar
Date: October 6th, 2026
Time: 12:30pm to 2pm PT
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Join us at a webinar on the future of drought and drought management in B.C. We will be joined by the team of Rosie Simms (POLIS), Oliver M. Brandes (POLIS), Deana Machin (POLIS), Sacha Ruzzante (University of Victoria Engineering), and Tom Gleeson (University of Victoria Engineering) — co-authors of the new report Drought Ready: From Crisis Response to Community and Watershed Resilience in British Columbia.
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The speakers will share key insights from the last decade, with an eye to how drought is changing, how communities are responding, and how provincial government drought response is functioning in B.C.
Looking to the future, they will explore the fundamental shifts needed in our understanding and management of drought, including a provincial policy reform agenda to move from crisis response to drought preparation and resilience. They will end with their vision of a future in which British Columbians are “drought ready” — living well with drought and thriving in a climate-changed world.
A Q&A and panel discussion will follow, moderated by Laura Brandes (POLIS).
**We encourage you to submit your questions in advance when you register.**
Featuring
Rosie Simms is the lead author of “Drought Ready” and director of place-based projects at the POLIS Water Sustainability Project at the University of Victoria. Her work includes doing applied research and communicating new thinking on water governance, law, and policy. She also plays an active role supporting partners on strategic initiatives, convening B.C. water leaders and networks, and engaging with all levels of government and communities to help inform water programs and priorities.
Oliver M. Brandes is an economist and lawyer by training and an interdisciplinarian by design. He is co-director of the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies, where he leads the award-winning POLIS Water Sustainability Project and the POLIS Wildfire Resilience Project. His work focuses on water sustainability, watershed security, resource management, wildfire resilience, public policy development, and ecologically based legal and institutional reform.
Deana Machin is a member of the Syilx (Okanagan) Nation, a strategic advisor at POLIS, and senior Indigenous advisor at the Indigenous Watersheds Initiative. She has been active in the field of fisheries management and policy for over 20 years, specializing in strategic planning and Indigenous engagement in fisheries governance and management.
Tom Gleeson is an interdisciplinary scientist, engineer, and University of Victoria President’s Chair in civil engineering. He leads the Groundwater Science and Sustainability Research Group, where his research areas of focus include community-engaged groundwater science and art, groundwater systems and sustainability, and environment, health, and groundwater.
Sacha Ruzzante is a PhD candidate at the University of Victoria’s Groundwater Science and Sustainability Research Group. His research explores how climate change and historic droughts are affecting streams and salmon on the west coast.
