Ryan Planche is beginning a PhD in geography at Wilfrid Laurier University in September (2021). His research in this program will focus on investigating and supporting the creation of alternative Indigenous conservation economies. He is currently working with his supervisors Dr.s Alex Latta and Miguel Sioui as a research assistant on their Indigenous environmental stewardship initiative. This work is being conducted with Indigenous partners in the NWT and Northern Ontario. He most recently completed a Master of Economic Development and Innovation at the University of Waterloo where he focused his research on understanding how to decolonize and Indigenize development work in Canada, specifically focusing on an assessment of conservation-based economies. Before that, Ryan completed the Master of Environmental Studies program at York University.  His dissertation explored Inuit political ecology in the newly created Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area in Nunavut.