Bilgi Basak Ozgun, PhD, MEd is a Club Ambassador for the Kamloops NatureKids Club.
She is an environmental educator, early childhood educator, and academic with a PhD in Science Education in Turkiye and a Master of Education from Thompson Rivers University, Canada. Her doctoral research focused on developing original scales to measure the ecological intelligence and eco-literacy levels of pre-service teachers. She also holds a BA in Child Development and currently works as an Early Childhood Educator-IT-SN in British Columbia.
In addition to her work in Canada, Bilgi also serves as a co-supervisor at Inonu University, where she continues to support academic research and mentor graduate students in the fields of science and environmental education.
She has received Australian-approved permaculture design training and completed Finland-approved Forest Kindergarten teacher training programs in outdoor education. Her academic work includes articles and book chapters on nature relatedness in early childhood education, holistic environmental education, ecopedagogy, ecopsychology, ecojustice, and ecological intelligence.
Bilgi is also an emotion and mindfulness coach and is deeply interested in exploring the emotional and psychological dimensions of strengthening human connections with nature. She loves spending time outdoors, practicing deep ecology, and creating meaningful nature-based learning experiences for children and families.
Through her work with NatureKids BC, she hopes to help grow the organization, celebrate the magnificent beauty of the Kamloops and Okanagan regions, and inspire people of all ages to build a deeper relationship with the natural world.