about
hello
hello, i'm danielle alexandra burns.
i'm a woman in my late twenties, perpetually somewhere between canada, the united states, and wherever else the wind decides to take me.
i grew up by the sea in cape breton, nova scotia, which i suspect has left me a little mad and permanently afflicted with a longing for the ocean. there's something about growing up surrounded by salt air, grey skies, and the atlantic that makes being landlocked feel like a particularly cruel form of exile. no matter how far inland i wander, some part of me is always looking for the water.
by nature, i'm curious, sentimental, a little eccentric, and perhaps excessively introspective. my interests tend to occupy the peculiar intersection of science, technology, and the human condition. i'm particularly fascinated by artificial intelligence, neurotechnology, psychology, and the increasingly blurry boundaries between human consciousness and the machines we create. i like questions that don't have easy answers, especially those concerning what it means to be human in the first place.
i'm equally drawn to the darker corners of art and storytelling. horror, the macabre, the uncanny, and anything that manages to be both beautiful and deeply unsettling have always held a special place in my heart. i have a fondness for old-fashioned things, strange little curiosities, literature, philosophy, and the kind of melancholy that feels almost comforting.
of course, i'd hate to give the impression that all my time is spent contemplating existential dread. i'm also quite capable of spending an entire evening playing video games, watching truly terrible netflix reality television, or making an unnecessarily enthusiastic trip to dunkin' donuts. i contain multitudes, and apparently one of them is a woman who can spend hours reading about artificial consciousness before becoming completely invested in the romantic misfortunes of strangers on television.
i'm also perpetually trying to learn languages, with spanish, german, and russian currently occupying various corners of my brain. whether i'll ever become properly fluent in all three remains to be seen, but i find something lovely about the idea of being able to understand the world through more than one language.
i suppose i've always felt a little out of step with the world around me. i'm a romantic in the old-fashioned sense, an admirer of sincerity, and someone who believes that even the strangest, smallest things deserve to be appreciated. i find life endlessly fascinating, occasionally absurd, and often more beautiful in retrospect.
this website is my own little corner of the internet: a collection of thoughts, interests, projects, curiosities, and whatever else i happen to pick up along the way.
thank you for finding your way here. i'm glad you did.
support me
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writing
articles · columns · essays
articles
- neurotechnology is here, but canada lacks policy and a regulatory framework to manage it
- turning disruption into opportunity: why canada needs a new playbook for mid-career workers
- should we ban kids from ai chatbots? if not, what might actually work?
- who gets left at the gate? a younger generation's perspective on ai's promise
- the need to build governance rails for ai and neurotechnology
the short report
my weekly column for research money on north american tech and research funding trends.
2023
substack
a general work-in-progress and perpetual thorn in my side, on artificial intelligence, neurotechnology, and whatever else i'm chewing on. ganondorf.substack.com ↗
resume + mission statement
work experience
- Acting as primary liaison (next to the CEO) with government, academic, and industry stakeholders on national research and innovation initiatives.
- Directing editorial strategy across articles, newsletters, webinars, podcasts, and social media; authoring the "Short Report" column on North American tech and funding trends.
- Managing Research Money's online presence on Facebook, X, Instagram, Bluesky and LinkedIn using Canva and CRM tools, turning long-form articles into engaging digital content.
- Supporting successful grant proposals and providing executive assistant support, including calendar management and email correspondence.
- Before being promoted to Project Manager, conducted research and source validation to ensure the accuracy of editorial content and internal databases.
- Contributed to two long-term faculty projects:
- Community History and Reconciliation: conducted archival and oral history research on Ukrainian migration to Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia, alongside a community partnership with Membertou First Nation.
- Winter Sport Inclusion: performed in-depth literature reviews on sport participation, happiness, and inclusion for newcomers in Canada.
- Prepared research summaries, data sets, and literature syntheses supporting faculty publications, and collaborated with faculty through weekly progress meetings via Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
- Supported faculty and students in accessing online resources, and facilitated and moderated Microsoft Teams meetings for online and distance learning.
- Developed course and academic integrity materials for first-year students, managed attendance, and tracked participation during lectures.
education
- Dean's List (2018–2022).
- Honours Society, Political Science Society, Badminton Club, CBUSU Every Woman's Centre Volunteer.
certifications
Enterprise Design Thinking Co-Creator (IBM) · Search Engine Optimization 2 (HubSpot) · TCPS 2 CORE: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans · Introduction to Coding (SheCodes)
skills
Calendar Management · Conference Planning · Copywriting · Customer Relationship Management (HubSpot, Zoho) · Email Campaign Software · HTML · Graphic Design · Grant Writing · Google Workspace · Microsoft 365 Suite · Research · Social Media Management · WordPress
mission statement
growing up by the atlantic ocean in cape breton, nova scotia, i developed an early fascination with the extraordinary things that exist beyond the limits of ordinary human experience. i was particularly captivated by deep-sea creatures, their remarkable adaptations to hostile environments, and the technologies that allow us to explore places we were never naturally equipped to inhabit. what began as a childhood curiosity about greenland sharks, cephalopods, and the intricate networks of cables beneath the ocean eventually evolved into a broader fascination with the human brain, artificial intelligence, and the relationship between biology and technology.
today, my interests lie at the intersection of research, innovation, neurotechnology, and ethics. i'm particularly drawn to the ways emerging technologies can expand human capabilities while raising important questions about autonomy, privacy, identity, and what it fundamentally means to be human.
through my academic background in political science and philosophy, alongside my professional experience in research, communications, and project management, i've developed a strong appreciation for the importance of making complex ideas accessible, meaningful, and actionable. i believe that scientific advancement and technological innovation should be accompanied by thoughtful ethical consideration, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a genuine commitment to improving people's lives.
my professional mission is to contribute to initiatives that bridge the gap between research and society, encourage responsible innovation, and foster meaningful conversations about the technologies shaping our collective future. above all, i hope to remain as curious about the world as i was as a child, endlessly fascinated by what we have yet to discover and determined to play some small part in understanding it.
contact
say hello
music
personal things
i dabble in just about every genre. my favourite bands/artists at the moment are and one, cameo, and sabrina carpenter. at university i lived on brian eno, boards of canada, aphex twin and mike oldfield, so i'm always drifting back to atmospheric albums that carry a sense of longing.
playlists
- my and one favourites ↗
- for anton chigurh ↗a playlist for my dark muse.
soundtracks
- no, i'm not a human ↗the score to my favourite game. please take an hour and ten minutes out of your day and listen to the whole thing.
- the backrooms ↗
travel
personal things
places i've been so far.
- tahiti & mo'orea
- viti levu & vanua levunadi town and savusavu
- auckland
- santiago
- lima
- salinas
- cabo