Mark Forbes obtained his education from Acadia University (B.ScH. 1983), University of Western Ontario (M.Sc., 1986), and University of Toronto (Ph.D., 1992). He did a short stint as a NSERC PDF (1993, Carleton University) and then as Assistant Professor (1993-1995) at University of Regina’s Dept. of Biology, before coming to Carleton University as Assistant Professor in 1996. He was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Ecological Parasitology/Wildlife Health in 2001 and became full Professor of Biology in 2004.
He has authored or co-authored >175 peer-reviewed papers and has invited speaking engagements at national and international conferences, almost yearly. He has hosted 10 PhD candidates and more than triple that number of M.Sc. candidates and undergraduates.
In 2004, he became Director of the Joint Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology, and then Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies (2008, Faculty of Science). In 2010, he took up his current post as Associate Vice-President Research, later expanding this post (in 2014) to Research & International.
Much of Dr. Forbes’ career has been spent in volunteer positions including co-chair of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s grant selection committee 18 (2005, Ecology and Evolution); panel member for Quality Assurance on Ontario Council of Graduate Studies (2005-2007); founding council member for the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution (2006-2008); science advisory board and subsequently management board for the Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution (2008-present); and, various Advisory Boards of not for profit and profit organizations (e.g., Partnership Group for Science and Engineering).
In the recent past, he was awarded the Robert Arnold Wardle Award from the Canadian Society of Zoologists, the Davidson Dunton Lectureship from Carleton University, and was earlier a short-term visiting researcher at ETH Zurich, Switzerland and University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ (which he returned to in 2013). He is currently interested in questions of host species range for parasitic and pathogenic organisms; environmental stress and parasitism; and, parasitism of important wildlife species.
Professional Honours
| 2014-2007 | Robert Arnold Wardle Award for ParasitologyCanada Research Professor
Davidson Dunton Research Lecturer Award |
| 2004 | Research Achievement Award Recipient, Carleton University |
| 2003 | Petro-Canada Young Innovator’s Award |
| 2002-2004 | Member, GSC-18 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council |
| 2001-2011 | Canada Research Chair (Tier II) Ecological Parasitology/Wildlife Health |
| 2000 | Visiting Researcher, ETH ZürichVisiting Researcher, ICAPB. University Edinburgh; Premier’s Research Excellence Award |
| 1999 | Research Achievement Award Recipient, Carleton University |
| 1998 | Carleton Faculty of Science Teaching Award |
| 1995 | Visiting Fellow, University of Otago, Dunedin NZ |
| 1992 | NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow (1 of 2 yrs accepted, Carleton University) |
| 1992 | Killam Postdoctoral Fellow (declined, University of British Columbia) |
Academic Background
- M.Sc. University of Western Ontario, 1986
- Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1992
- NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, Carleton University, 1992-93
- Assistant Professor, University of Regina, 1993-1995
- Assistant Professor, Carleton University, 1995-1998
- Associate Professor, Carleton University, 1998-2003
- Professor, Carleton University, 2004-present
Courses
- BIOL 4908 – Honours Research Thesis
- BIOL 4901 – Directed Special Studies
- ENSC 4906 – Honours Research Project