Diana M. Allen, Ph.D., professor of Hydrogeology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University, is slated to be the keynote speaker. Her research program focuses on various aspects of water security, spanning the development of risk assessment methodologies for understanding and forecasting the potential impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors on groundwater resources. Allen, who holds a Ph.D. from Carleton University, has expertise in the hydrogeology of mountain and coastal regions, and conducts field- and modeling-based research that aims to link hydrological and hydrogeological processes in these dominantly bedrock regions. She’s president of the Canadian National Chapter of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, an expert member of UNESCO’s GRAPHIC Programme, and coeditor of the Canadian Water Resources Journal. In addition, Allen’s also served on the Province of British Columbia’s Ground Water Advisory Board.​