Dr. Stirling is one of the world's leading authorities on polar bears. He has written and spoken extensively about the danger posed to polar bears by global warming, and was the first Canadian to be elected president of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. Dr. Stirling is a long-standing member of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group and currently acts as a scientific advisor to Polar Bears International. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2007), Dr. Stirling has been recognized with the Northern Science Award, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (2002), Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award (2013), and Weston Family Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Northern Research (2015).