About
Tristan MacLean is the FREYJA Project Coordinator (Canada). He is a former molecular neuropathologist who developed prion disease diagnostics at the UK’s National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease surveillance unit, which highlighted the importance of public understanding of science and led him to pursue a postgraduate degree in science education. In 2009, he joined the Norwich BioScience Institutes and subsequently the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, where he ran the public engagement and education programs. Tristan has a wide range of science communication, public engagement and education experience in academia, museums, schools and the community, including producing a play about the history of women in science, which was performed at the Royal Institution in London, a citizen science project to track invasive slugs, as well as large national programs on bioenergy and Food Security. In 2014, he moved to the USA, where he consulted for Cornell University while establishing I’m a Scientist USA and the non-profit program Keep on Questioning. In 2017, he moved with his family to Ottawa, Ontario, and led a report on funding for climate science in Canada for the non-profit Evidence for Democracy before joining NSERC PermafrostNet in 2019. Tristan led the strategic Permafrost Partnership Network for Canada until its conclusion at the end of 2025.