The Society for Ethnobotany

Only Student Members may vote in this Student Committee election.

Please find below the candidate statements for this election.

When you are ready to vote, click here

Madeline Donald

Ethnobotany, a word I had never heard of just a few years ago, surprised me in the presentation of an opportunity to work with all of the elements of my education that have excited me over the years. My work now aims to bring theory from myriad other disciplines to ethnobotanical contexts and questions. My interactions with the SEB community to date have been overwhelmingly positive. With the variety in this filed the society opens doors to far away worlds, both conceptually and geographically, worlds that would otherwise remain opaque. This world opening is invaluable for us as academics, so often comfortable in the shadows of our respective lables. It is for this potential, to support and engage with it, that I would like very much to play a part in the society's student committee for the next two years.

Elspeth Mathau

As an ethnobotanist and environmental scientist, my passion for plants and ecology started during childhood growing up in coastal redwood forests of Northern California. My deep rooted conservation ethic and curiosity about plants lead me to pursue an MSc in Ethnobotany at the University of Kent in England, conducting research in Morocco on indigenous biocultural adaptation with plants with the Global Diversity Foundation. I am continuing this work as I prepare to embark on a PhD next year. While completing my Hons. BSc at the University of Toronto in Canada at the School of the Environment, I ran the Campus Agriculture Network, was Director of Technology for the U of T Environmental Resource Network. I was involved in multiple other societies during both my degrees. My diverse professional skills in graphic design, social media marketing, photography, and environmental education make me well suited to help with the interdisciplinary online content The Society for Economic Botany is creating. Connecting with SEB was one of the more enriching and fun opportunities I’ve had as a masters student and I want to engage others students who can benefit from all SEB has to offer.

Giulia Mattalia

I am an Italian PhD student in Environmental Sciences at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, (Italy). My Ph.D. focuses on the cross-border ethnobotany of the Hutsuls, indigenous communities living in the Carpathians, at the border of Romania and Ukraine. My work aims at exploring the role of the border in shaping traditional ecological knowledge regarding wild plants gathered for food and medicinal preparations. In addition, I am taking part to the project LICCI (Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) to investigate the role of borders in shaping Hutsuls’ perception of climate change impacts. During my master degree at Wageningen University, I worked with cocoa farmers to implement the utilization of the biodiversity of cocoa agroforestry systems in the Dominican Republic. Later, I joined a project on traditional ecological knowledge in Italian Sacred Natural Sites.

Last year I attended the Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany in Cincinnati. I really enjoyed the different international perspectives of the community and I would like to contribute to the Society and grow with other young ethnobotanists.

Cathryn Pugh

I’m interested in sustainable foraging and the human connection to local foods. My MS research at Penn State University consists of a market/trade study of wild ramps (Allium tricoccum), a wild onion also known as wild leeks, from the Appalachian Mountain region of the eastern United States. This research will help inform policy, highlight distribution patterns of ramps as a trending food item, and answer questions about personal interest in foraged foods.

The Society for Economic Botany holds opportunities to connect with active ethnobotanists in the field, share current research, and develop collaborative relationships that will build upon scientific knowledge. I aspire to a career in academia, and becoming a member of the student committee would give me inside perspective on how a successful organization functions as well as how to play an active role in our society, of which I intend to remain a member for the rest of my professional career.

Grace Ullman

I am a student at North Carolina State University in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, and my primary interest is medical ethnobotany. For my doctoral research I am studying the plants used in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico for treating infections. I am interested in learning about indigenous treatments for infections and infectious diseases as an avenue for diversifying research into treatments for antibiotic resistant bacteria, as well as for the purpose of recording important bio-cultural information from a globally rare ecosystem: tropical montane cloud forest.

I think many students in SEB can relate, but I'm looking to be able to communicate and interact with other ethnobotany students in a meaningful way. My university, like many others, only has a few students studying ethnobotany, so the academic environment can be more isolating than in other fields of study. I would like to help connect this international group of students in SEB by fostering engagement and interaction digitally.

Kim Walker

I would like to apply to become an SEB Student Rep. I work in the Economic Botany Collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where Mark Nesbitt is my PhD supervisor. My interest is in medicinal plants and am currently studying Cinchona aka the fever tree/gin and tonic tree. I also run a herbal medicine-based business reconnecting people with plant uses and have recently set up an academic medicinal plant research podcast. I am also the website/blog manager at Herbal History Research Network and am on the Committee of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy.

I would absolutely love to get involved on the student committee as you can see I have a lot of energy and time for creating spaces for and sharing ethnobotanical knowledge and working with others who share the same passion. I think I am an ideal candidate as I am able to liaise with Mark on behalf of the students as requested, have the skills to take responsibility for any social media platforms assigned, and become a dynamic part of the student team promoting the SEB.