Erin was born in England but was raised in Canada from a young age. She has always had an interest in animal behaviour, which led her to receive a bachelor’s degree in primatology from the University of Calgary. She took advantage of field courses offered by the program to study wild howler monkey populations in Belize. She also participated in field research in Kenya, conducted through the University of Minnesota, collecting fossil remains on Rusinga Island.

In 2018, Erin travelled to Iceland to earn her master’s degree in resource management at the University Centre of the Westfjords. Her studies focused on how to use a cross-disciplinary approach to address current and future issues faced by coastal and marine regions. For her thesis project, Erin spent two months interviewing whale-watchers in the town of Húsavík to examine how Iceland’s commercial whaling affects its whale-watching industry.

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Erin believes that development and sustainability efforts benefit most from a community-led approach, and that open communication and understanding lead to strong relationships.