Kelsey Leonard

Dr. Kelsey Leonard is a water scientist, legal scholar, and policy expert whose work focuses on Indigenous rights, environmental law, and climate justice. An enrolled citizen of the Shinnecock Nation, Leonard has developed a career dedicated to integrating Indigenous knowledge into global water governance. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Waters, Climate and Sustainability and serves as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo. Leonard also founded and directs the Wampum Lab at the University of Waterloo, an Indigenous science lab focused on ocean, water, and climate justice.

Leonard earned an A.B. in sociology and anthropology with honors from Harvard University, an MSc in water science, policy and management from the University of Oxford, a JD from Duquesne University, and a PhD in political science from McMaster University. She was the first Native American woman to earn a science degree from the University of Oxford and the first member of the Shinnecock Nation to graduate from Harvard University. Her doctoral dissertation examined Indigenous water governance in the Great Lakes, and her research was recognized with the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, a leading postdoctoral award in Canada.

As a water scientist and legal scholar, Leonard works to establish Indigenous traditions of water conservation as a foundation for international water policy. In collaboration with a global team of water law scholars, she has published in Lewis and Clark Law Review on Indigenous water justice and the principle of self-determination under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Her research addresses climate adaptation, including her article "WAMPUM Adaptation Framework: Eastern coastal Tribal Nations and sea level rise impacts on water security," which proposes an Indigenist sea level rise adaptation framework using Indigenous knowledge to address water security issues from flooding, saltwater intrusion, storm surge, and erosion. In partnership with LICCI, a European Research Council-funded project, Leonard collaborates with global partners to bring Indigenous knowledge into policy-making and influence international climate change negotiations.

Leonard's influence extends beyond academia. Her TED Talk, "Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans," has received more than 3 million views and argues that water remains largely unprotected in law, advocating for granting lakes and rivers legal personhood as a step toward protecting water resources. She represents the Shinnecock Nation on the Mid-Atlantic Committee on the Ocean, which is responsible for protecting U.S. ocean ecosystems and coastlines, and serves as a member of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board of the International Joint Commission. Her regional ocean policy work in collaboration with Tribes, state, federal, and fishery management council entities was recognized with a Peter Benchley Ocean Award for Excellence in Solutions.

Leonard has been named a 30 Under 30 world environmental leader by the North American Association for Environmental Education and received a Native American 40 Under 40 award from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. She is a member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature Academic Hub and an affiliate of the Earth Law Center. Through her scholarship, advocacy, and public speaking, Leonard is recognized for her contributions to water rights, Indigenous sovereignty, and the reimagining of humanity's relationship with the natural world.