Dr. Dersch is the Principal of Moccasin Flower Consulting and has over 15 years of experience working with Indigenous communities in the fields of traditional land and resource use, archaeology, and community-based monitoring of traditional lands and resources.
Ave began working with Indigenous communities in 2002 while conducting ethno-archaeological research for her M.A. in northwestern Saskatchewan. In 2011, she completed her Ph.D. in archaeology and biological sciences from the University of Calgary documenting past and present traditional land and resource use with a First Nation in northcentral Alberta. Dr. Dersch has worked with First Nations in Alberta, B.C., New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia to complete traditional land and resource use studies in both terrestrial and marine settings; these studies are key components of regulatory environmental assessments and project-specific consultation. Dr. Dersch is also a contributor to technical peer reviews conducted on behalf of various Indigenous groups across Canada. She currently sits on Alberta’s Oil Sands Monitoring Indigenous Community-Based Monitoring and Science and Indigenous Knowledge Integration Committees as a representative for First Nations in the region. She is an adjunct professor in the department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta and part of the advisory circle for the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology.
Knowledge Co-Production/Integration of Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science as part of Collaborative Decision Making. |
Education
B.Sc. (Honours Archaeology) University of Calgary, 2002
M.A. (Archaeology) University of Calgary, 2005
Ph.D. (Archaeology and Biological Sciences) University of Calgary, 2011
M.A. (Archaeology) University of Calgary, 2005
Ph.D. (Archaeology and Biological Sciences) University of Calgary, 2011