Kees Keizer, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Social Psychology department of the University of Groningen. His main research interests are social influence, the influence of the environment on social norms and rules. His research on norms received several awards and was published in Science magazine. He cooperates with many organizations outside the scientific domain and his research often focuses on behavior in real life settings.

Deborah Lamm Weisel has more than 20 years experience researching crime and public safety problems. She routinely collaborates with local police across the United States to develop effective responses to problems such as crime in public housing, street level drug markets, gangs, prostitution and graffiti.  Weisel has served as project director and principal investigator of two major studies funded by the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. One examined how police in San Diego and Indianapolis balanced their community policing efforts with gang control; the other examined the evolution of criminal youth gangs in Chicago and San Diego into more organized crime groups. Weisel has also collaborated with numerous jurisdictions to reliably benchmark gang problems, develop long-term strategies and measure their impact over time.  On the faculty of North Carolina State University, Weisel conducts research and teaches mid-career law enforcement officers. She was previously a Senior Research Associate of the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington DC. She holds a doctorate in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Illinois-Chicago and is the author of "Graffiti" – a publication in the popular series Problem-Oriented Guides for Police published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services in Washington D.C. The guide can be downloaded at http://www.popcenter.org/problems/graffiti/.

Lorne Fletcher is the Manager of Community Safely and Municipal Bylaw Enforcement at the City of Langford on Vancouver Island.  In this role, he has helped with some of the progressive changes over the past 17 years within that very promising community.  Lorne recently retired after six years as President of the License Inspectors' and Bylaw Officers' Association of British Columbia (LIBOA) and in that capacity he worked on projects with the Provincial Government lo bring about various legislative improvements especially In the area of Bylaw Courts. Additionally, he has volunteered over 3.800 hours in the past 21 years as an Auxiliary Constable with the RCMP 'E”-Division Provincial Auxiliary Constable Program. He presently sits on the Provincial and National Advisory Committees for the RCMP Auxiliary Constable Program and has chaired the Bylaw Subcommittee for the Greater Victoria Crystal Moth Task Force.  Lorne is currently working with LIBOA, the Justice Institute of BC and the BC Police Services Branch, to review and formalize professional standards for Bylaw Enforcement Officers working In British Columbia.  Recently the City of Langford’s Municipal Bylaw Enforcement Division has made national news headlines with its legal pursuits to address accountability of graffiti vandals and irresponsible parents.

Cynthia Nikitin has led numerous large-scale and complex projects during her nineteen years with Project for Public Spaces, as Vice President for Downtowns. With a portfolio of more than 200 projects, Cynthia's technical expertise stretches from the development of downtown master plans and transit facility and station area enhancement projects, to the creation of corridor-wide transportation and land use strategies for state highways, to the development of public art and park master plans for major cities, and the coalescing of civic buildings, like libraries and art institutions, into civic centers. Currently, she is spearheading a placemaking, public space, and quality of life initiative with UN HABITAT's Global Safer Cities and Sustainable Urban Development Network, a new initative which has resulted in the drafting by UN Habitat of the first ever Public Space resolution.  Cynthia presented at the UN Women Safer Cities for Women and Girls stakeholder planning meeting in Calro in July 2011 and at the Safe and Resilient Communities conference in Johannesburg South African in July 2010. This week she is facilitating a day long training session for the Waterloo Regions Crime Prevention Council on the connection and direct effect of public spaces on community safety, perceptions of safety and the fear (or non-fear) of crime.

Tom Ethans has been the Executive Director of Take Pride Winnipeg since 1997. The organization runs ten programs dealing with litter, graffiti, murals, plastic bags, environmental education, a front yard garden contest and a home painting program for senior citizens, Tom is a single father raising two children and he is an avid golfer.

Sharon Chapman was born and raised in Manitoba and has an education background in economics and political science at the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan.  She worked for 14 years in the communications field in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, serving for eight years as the Director of Communication for the Saskatchewan Children’s Advocate, an officer of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly with the authority to investigate complaints against the government concerning services for children and youth.  The vast majority of her career has been working within the both the public and non-profit sectors for health promotion and social development agencies.  Sharon joined the City of Edmonton, Capital City Clean Up program in 2008 as the City’s first Graffiti Project Manager and has been working since that time to develop and expand graffiti vandalism reduction and prevention programs in Edmonton.  

Ken Davis was one of the cofounders and field coordinators for the Yonkers Community Action Program’s “Off the Wall.” – a community-based graffiti art program that generated hip-hop canvases, pieces and production on HIV/AIDS awareness throughout the City of Yonkers, NY and parts of lower Westchester County (1990-2000).  During this same decade, as a Police Officer, he was one the graffiti/gang officers inside the Yonkers Police Department’s Community Affairs Division.  This unit apprehended numerous prolific graffiti vandals and participated in various city and community gang reduction programs.  Today, Ken Davis is a detective within the Yonkers Police Department’s Gang/Narcotics Unit.  He is the author of TAG 18.3; a photo-documentary exploring graffiti participants and gang members through the symbols they generated. He is a strong advocate in uniting apprehension, prosecuting, prevention, intervention, restorative justice, restoration, and information management services against graffiti vandalism. 

Sergeant Wendy Hawthorne has been investigating graffiti crimes for over 25 years in the Metro Vancouver region. In May 2009, Sgt Hawthorne initiated the creation of the Lower Mainland Graffiti Task Force for Metro Vancouver. The Task Force brought contacts together from the Metro Vancouver RCMP, Municipal and Railway Police to work in partnership toward effective enforcement and pro-active solutions to this ongoing blight on our communities. Sergeant Hawthorne’s passion for graffiti is to ensure that, from her more than quarter century commitment to policing and recognition as an expert across Canada, we as communities, law enforcement, volunteers, and all those affected by this senseless crime continue to work together. 

Constable Lee Jones has been Involved in Graffiti Criminal Investigations since 2001. He has developed and refined several proven techniques and provides ongoing assistance to other agencies through investigative techniques and style comparison analysis. He has lectured at the International level and is regarded as a Subject Matter Expert.

Constable Dave Ladic has been a member of the Calgary Police Service since 1998, and in 2005 began developing his understanding of how to investigate and understand graffiti vandalism. As a community liaison officer, Cst. Ladic saw first hand the impact that graffiti vandalism had on members of the community. Cst. Ladic began attending training relating to graffiti vandalism including TAGS in 2006. With most of Cst. Ladic's training coming from investigating graffiti vandalism including executing 30 search warrants and more than 100 interviews with graffiti vandals. Dave has presented at TAGS, the City of Edmonton graffiti workshop, AASRO (Alberta Association of School Resource Officers). Calgary Transit recruit training and numerous graffiti workshops for communities in Calgary.

Mark McKenney is the President of MGM Management. This BC baced consulting firm has performed over 20 major environmental audits for municipal and provincial clients. These include litter audits and more recently the commpany worked with the City of Edmonton to cooperatively develop a methodology to perform graffiti audits in major urban settings.

Dr. Brenda Morrison is Co-Director of the Centre for Restorative Justice and an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. She is a social psychologist with field experience in outdoor education, government administration and restorative justice. A particular focus of her work relates to school communities, and the institutions that serve these communities. Brenda enjoys the company and passion of a diverse range of local, national and international associations. New adventures with friends and family keep her spirit alive and well. 

Steven Phipps graduated from the University of Alberta Law School in 1988. After 10 years in private practice Mr. Phipps joined the City of Edmonton's legal department. For the next 13 years Mr. Phipps provided legal advice to various enforcement areas of the City as well as to Edmonton City Council on a number of municipal enforcement issues. Mr. Phipps was also involved in the preparation and drafting of many municipal bylaws having a regulatory or enforcement component. In 2011 Mr. Phipps joined the Edmonton office of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP. Mr. Phipps is a regular speaker at legal and other conferences

Dean Sydlowski is currently the Director of Corporate Security at the City of Edmonton. Dean is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) recognized by the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS). Dean is a graduate from the University of Alberta where he obtained his Security Management Certificate. His background includes 10 years in progressively responsible positions with Edmonton Transit Security and 3 years as a Security Advisor prior to becoming the Director of Corporate Security. In Dean's spare time he volunteers as the Vice Chair for the Edmonton and Northern Alberta ASIS Chapter and teaches in the Police and Security Program at Mac Ewan University.

Kristy Trinier is the Public Art Director of the Edmonton Arts Council, where she administrates the Percent for Art program and manages the Civic Art Collection on behalf of the City of Edmonton.   She has a Master’s degree in Public Art from the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) in The Netherlands and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Art from the University of Victoria. With a background in arts administration, she previously worked with The Banff Centre.  She is a practicing artist in the mediums of sound art, video, and sculpture installation, and has exhibited her artwork internationally, including the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art and photoMiami art fair.

Constable Shelby Murphy has been a member of the RCMP for the last eight years. She began her career in Coquitlam, British Columbia. In March 2011 she became a full time Anti-Graffiti Coordinator for the City of Burnaby where she works with her counterpart, Kathy Wipf. Shelby is responsible for investigating and enforcing the criminal aspect of graffiti vandalism and also enforcing the graffiti bylaw by issuing tickets to offenders caught in the act. Together, both Anti-Graffiti Coordinators work in partnership to prevent graffiti and educate the victims, offenders, and community as a whole.

Kathy has worked for the City of Burnaby for over 30 years and has been the Anti-Graffiti Coordinator for the last 4 years. In 2007, the Mayor's Task Force on Graffiti was established and members of the Community, RCMP, Burnaby Councilors and Business Organizations were brought together to address the issue of graffiti and develop creative solutions. Kathy is a bylaw officer who is responsible for enforcing the graffiti bylaw.  She works in partnership with Burnaby RCMP Anti-Graffiti Coordinator Shelby Murphy. Together, they are working on creating educational information for community members, the Graffiti sub-culture, educators and parents.

Underway since Fall 2009, the participatory research project High Risk Youth Uncensored: An Educational Exchange is a partnership between the not-for-profit community arts-based youth organization iHuman Youth Society (Outreach worker Wallis Kendal; www.ihuman.org), Edmonton and Area Child and Family Services High Risk Youth Unit (Casework Supervisor Peter Smyth), and the University of Alberta (Dr. Diane Conrad) with initial funding from REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities. Based on a need identified by the community, the project involves a number of iHuman youth as key collaborators working at developing a series of arts-based workshops to educate service providers about how to best meet the particular needs of the high risk youth populations they serve, Youth are involved in identifying issues, developing curriculum materials and presenting the workshops. As well as educating service providers (educators, social workers, law enforcement, health practitioners, etc,), the project benefits the youth involved and the community at large.

Pontus Agren
Student 
Simon Fraser University

Pontus Agren has a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) in criminology from Simon Fraser University. He has experience in hip-hop graffiti on both sides of the law. After 10 years of writing illegal graffiti, Pontus participated in a Restorative Justice Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP). That VORP experience led him to become the first anti-graffiti coordinator in the City of Surrey. Pontus now participates in RestART, a Restorative Justice based graffiti abatement project that works with graffiti writers to help them turn their illegal graffiti practices into legal, productive outlets for their art.  Pontus recently completed a university thesis on RestART entitled  “Vancouver’s Restorative Art (RESTART) Anti-graffiti Project:  An Exploration and Evaluation of the General and Specific Benefits and Challenges.”

Kristina is a Cultural Planner for the City of Vancouver's Great Beginnings Program and Celebrate Vancouver 125 Mural Program. This position involves outreach work within the 'Great Beginnings' area that includes Gastown, Japantown, Chinatown, and Strathcona which make up Vancouver's Downtown East Side. The work involves building partnerships with community organizations and individuals in order to develop graffiti abatement strategies through; community driven murals, education, prevention, restorative justice and social enterprise. These projects have produced 30 murals, nine transformer boxes hand painted in youth art, two RestART (Restorative Justice Art workshops), and have employed more than 100 artists and involved more that 300 volunteers. 

Daniel J Kirk is an emerging artist from Calgary, Alberta. He graduated from the University of Calgary in 2007 whereby he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in painting. His work is currently combining elements of performance, urban intervention, installation, mural painting and community-based creative projects. Daniel’s work tends to establish itself on the fringe of both a commercial and a conceptual practice and he thrives on blurring lines and questioning convention.  Daniel was a resident at the Vermont Studio Centre in January 2010 and at the Banff Centre in March 2010. He was awarded an Alberta Foundation for the Arts grant in early 2010 and continues to practice in Calgary. His work can now be found throughout Canada, the USA, Central America and Turkey. 

Scott is an abstract painter with roots in graffiti. His paintings are an exploration of spontaneity and intuition; a departure from his critically structured and designed letter based graffiti pieces. His process juxtaposes improvisation and strategy, layering dense shapes and bold colors over subtle tones and surfaces. The resulting narratives range from highly kinetic compositions to uniform geometrics.  Sueme currently works out of his studio in the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver. He continues to travel and showcase his work on an international level both outdoors and in galleries. He maintains to be a relevant figure in the graffiti culture, aspiring to openly converse on the art form and further its development through the discussion of technique and processes.