What To Expect
While the content is designed with the non-chemist in mind, chemistry professionals will gain valuable insights into Nature’s life-friendly chemistry principles and hands-on training using the biomimicry research methodology.
Throughout this workshop, our world-renowned biomimicry instructors will teach participants to:
- Recognize the roles chemistry plays in the natural world and their relevance to the roles chemistry plays in commerce and industry,
- Distinguish between biotic and abiotic chemistries in the natural world,
- Discover the principles underlying Nature’s elegant and sophisticated life-friendly chemistries,
- Understand the principles underlying Nature’s multifunctional, life-friendly chemistry-based materials,
- Use Biomimicry Thinking tools to abstract chemistry design principles and deep patterns from specific, function-based natural strategies, and
- Apply Biomimicry Thinking tools to solve a chemistry-related challenge.
Who Should Attend?
This workshop is open to professional and university-level participants from all backgrounds and levels of experience with biomimicry. The agenda is designed for:
- Innovators within commercial sectors touched by chemistry, such as chemicals, cosmetics, packaging, textiles, electronics, personal care, medical, and energy, who are interested in bringing Nature’s Chemistry and materials genius to their project work and innovation strategies through Biomimicry Thinking.
- Innovators without chemistry training who are interested in gaining the knowledge that would allow them to be productive partners alongside professional chemists as they work to bring Nature’s Chemistry and materials genius to their project work and innovation strategies.
- Sustainability champions who want to be inspired by the natural world at the molecular scale as they work to solve humanity’s toughest sustainability challenges.
- Educators who want to bring Nature’s Chemistry and materials genius into the classroom.
- Students enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Biomimicry program with Arizona State University interested in the Biomimicry Specialist Certification. This Immersion Workshop counts as one of two required in-person units. Learn more about the requirements for the Biomimicry Specialist Certification here.
PREVIEW AGENDA×Sample agenda subject to change. Here’s a preview of what each day will include:
Sunday: Meet the group mid-morning at the Victoria International Airport (YYJ) for a group shuttle to the Earthspring Sanctuary Retreat Center. Eat a lunch made from locally-sourced fresh food, then settle into your surroundings. Orient to the territory, meet the team, and get a taste of the key design principles across the chemistry of life. Fall asleep to the calming sounds of the forest.
Monday: Take on the roles of chemistry in Nature with career biomimic and chemist Mark Dorfman. See the roles play out as you hike through the ecotones from sky to sea. We will introduce the Biomimicry Design Thinking methodology and you will choose the focus of your design challenge as you explore traditional healing waters by kayak.
Tuesday: How does Nature make it happen with less than a quarter of the elements on the periodic table? This day is about tangible ways that Nature’s recipes and strategies are changing the game in our material world. Tackle the first step of Biomimicry Thinking with your interdisciplinary team and chosen challenge. Scope out key context considerations and collect inspiration in a grove of 500+ year-old Douglas Firs.
Wednesday: Discover natural models that solve your design challenge function. Drink in the mix of fast-moving currents along the wild west coast on a rocky outcropping between the currents. Follow the salmon upstream for a case study in life-friendly chemistry. Orient yourself with Life’s design principles as a compass and gauge to the path of least resistance.
Thursday: We now know about the chemistry of the trees talking and trading secrets; now we hear it from the source. First Nations artist and Chief Rande Cook will synthesize the teachings emerging through Awi’nakola: Tree of Life—a Foundation created by Indigenous knowledge keepers, scientific researchers (including Suzanne Simard), and the arts. Let your creative synapses fire and form designs aligned to Nature and your challenge. Evaluate and myelinate the emergence of the one that best meets the need. Venture into the city for a gallery walk and perhaps some bioluminescence. Sleep on it.
Friday: Track the learning journey through a collaborative installation of each team’s Biomimicry Thinking process. Formulate your questions. Synthesize key learnings. Bond beyond the experience. Crystallize the ways Biomimicry Thinking integrates with your practice. The workshop will close at 2:00 pm, in time for a group shuttle back to the YYJ Airport, or stay on Vancouver Island to continue traveling. Either way, your next biomimicry adventure awaits!
Pricing
The all-inclusive price for the workshop includes overnight accommodations for five nights; all activities during the week; delicious, when possible organic and locally-harvested breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks; tuition and course materials; transportation from the Victoria (YYJ) International Airport; and administration costs. A variety of accommodations are available to meet your needs and budget, from camping and bunk rooms to private en suite rooms. All rooming types are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Participants are responsible for the cost of travel to and from the Victoria (YYJ) International Airport and any needed lodging and transportation before and after the workshop.
The workshop will take place at the Earthspring Sanctuary Retreat Centre which is located within a large nature sanctuary in the Highlands near Victoria BC.
Reserve your spot for only $500.
All rooming types are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Camping | $2,375
Bring your own camping gear. Bathrooms and showers are available in a shared washhouse.
Shared dormitory | $2,925
A dormitory space provides six single beds. Guests share a private toilet and shower.
Shared room ensuite | $3,275
These shared rooms have two twin beds with an ensuite toilet and sink and share an adjacent washhouse with showers. You can request a roommate or we will assign you a roommate of the same gender.
Private room ensuite | $3,475
These rooms provide more privacy and contain a queen bed with an ensuite toilet and sink and share an adjacent washhouse with showers.
Discounts
All discounts have limited availability, are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis, and may not be combined.
- Student discount: Enrolled university students save $250
- ASU student discount: Enrolled ASU students save $500
Registration
Registration ends Monday, July 1, 2024.
All instructions and pricing information are included within the form. Late registration will be accepted pending availability. Late registrants will incur a $500 late fee. We expect this workshop to sell out so please register early to guarantee your seat in the workshop and preferred rooming choice!
Register
Cancellation Policy
Deposits are non-refundable. Cancellation 4-6 weeks prior to the workshop, a $500 cancellation fee plus incurred expenses will be deducted from your refund amount unless your seat is filled by someone else. Less than one month from the workshop start date, no refunds are permitted, but partial credit towards a future workshop will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
If the workshop is canceled for any reason by Biomimicry 3.8, workshop fees will be refunded in full.
Instructors & Guests
Mark Dorfman | Instructor
Mark is a biomimicry chemist and Senior Principal Emeritus with Biomimicry 3.8. His work centers on the premise that living organisms, by necessity, have developed sophisticated, highly effective, life-friendly chemistries that can inspire novel, provocative, high-performing, and sustainable technologies for modern society.
Mark applies the design principles of nature’s time-tested chemical strategies to develop innovative solutions to the toxic chemical and material challenges of the 21st Century. He couldn’t imagine a better way to spend the work week!
Mark has worked closely with clients such as Estee Lauder, Colgate, Ashland Chemical, Natura, Johnson and Johnson, WD-40, Coca-Cola, Canada Goose, Levi’s, Conoco-Philips, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, Patagonia, Mahindra&Mahindra, UC Berkeley’s Center for Green Chemistry, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a set of challenges as diverse as Nature herself.
Mark has given presentations on biomimicry and chemistry at the GreenBiz Forum, The Guardian’s Making Green Chemistry Mainstream event, the Greener Electronics Council summit, the Chemical Manufacturer’s Summit, the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, Outdoor Industry Association’s Sustainability Working Group meeting, the Textile Exchange conference, and the Green Chemistry and Commercial Council’s Innovation Roundtable.
Mark created and teaches the three-credit Biomimicry and Chemistry course as part of Arizona State University’s Masters in Biomimicry program. This immersion workshop is the week-long intensive version of that class.
Anne-Marie Daniel | Instructor
Anne-Marie’s creative bent, background in mediation, and drive to do something about our environmental crisis led her to the practice of biomimicry in 2006. The solution space she has found in Nature’s time tested, life-friendly recipes and strategies inspires her teaching, facilitation and innovation work. It only took one Biomimicry Immersion workshop in Costa Rica to put her on the path to becoming a Biomimicry Professional. In 2019 she and Anjan Prakash co-facilitated the world’s first Life-Friendly Chemistry Immersion in India’s largest tiger reserve with Biomimicry 3.8’s top chemist, Mark Dorfman. This event attracted India’s Green ChemisTree Foundation and biomimics from 8 countries. Anne-Marie continues her research and innovation through her company, NatuR&D, her community partnerships, and as a co-instructor of the ACS-CES award winning Industrial Symbiosis core course of the Masters in Industrial Ecology at the University of Victoria. Anne-Marie holds a BFA in Theatre Design, a Graduate Certificate in Mediation, a Masters in Biomimicry and is a Certified Biomimicry Professional.
Recent publications include:
- Shyam, V.; Eggermont, M.; Hepp, A. F. Biomimicry for Aerospace: Technologies and Applications; Elsevier, 2022.
- Cárdenas, C. R.; Daniel, A.-M. How Does Nature Regulate Atmospheric Composition?: Formaldehyde Removal from Air; SPIE, 2021; Vol. 11586, pp 12–31.
- Daniel, AM. Margaret Atwood’s – Practical Utopias: An Exploration of the Possible. NatuR&D. https://naturnd.com/updates/practical-utopias/ (accessed 2023-09-19).
Chief Rande Cook | Guest Speaker
Chief Rande Cook is a leader, artist and founder of Awi’nakola (Tree of Life) Foundation. As a West Coast Kwakwaka’wakw artist, he is known for his innovative methods in combining traditional and contemporary style. A prominent voice in the protection of old growth forests and Nature, Rande’s message incorporates science & cultural knowledge to create understanding about current world issues.
The Awi’nakola Foundation was founded by a group of Indigenous knowledge keepers, scientists (including Suzanne Simard) and artists brought together by a common commitment to create tangible solutions for the current climate crisis and educate others through the process. By sharing cross-disciplinary research practices, the group develops ways to heal the planet, heal the people, and change culture.
