Samantha Franks - 2005

Samantha discovered a passion for ornithology at the relatively late age of 21 while working on a project studying reproductive biology of passerines near Churchill, Manitoba.  Sam was first introduced to both shorebirds and Alaska after receiving the Schantz shorebird scholarship in 2005. This initial introduction has sparked a decade-long (sure to be life-long) obsession with both. Sam is now a Research Ecologist with the British Trust for Ornithology in the UK, after completing her PhD at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada on the migration patterns of Western Sandpipers, Sam spent several summers researching shorebirds and their breeding ecology on the Alaskan tundra in Nome and the Yukon Delta. She is now a Senior Research Ecologist with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in the UK, where she has the opportunity to apply her passion for shorebirds (waders in the UK) by leading the BTO’s breeding wader research program and several projects on Eurasian Curlew. In her spare time, she enjoys catching and ringing (banding) shorebirds with the Wash Wader Research Group.  To view a video on the work BTO (spoiler alert Samantha makes an appearance) see the YouTube link below.