Roland Hall

Dr. Roland Hall is a Professor of Aquatic Ecology in the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo who integrates contemporary measurements of hydrology and water and sediment quality across space with long temporal records of past environmental changes obtained from sediment cores to improve understanding of how natural processes and human affect freshwater resources.

Hall’s program focuses on water‑rich landscapes in Northern Canada where concern has grown for aquatic ecosystem degradation by climate change and natural resource development, and where data are critically needed to inform effective stewardship decisions. Research has targeted ecologically and culturally important deltas (Peace-Athabasca Delta in Alberta and Slave River Delta in Northwest Territories), and permafrost-rich landscapes (Old Crow Flats in Yukon; Hudson Bay Lowlands in northern Manitoba), where insufficient understanding of influential processes has fostered controversy or impeded development of effective stewardship. The research has spanned mining regions (bitumen mining in the Alberta Oil Sands Region; former gold mining in Yellowknife) and a pond rich landscape in southern Northwest Territories that provides critical nesting habitat for the only naturally reproducing population of the endangered Whooping Crane.

Hall’s research transforms how we understand and manage northern ecosystems. By developing innovative methods to read the ‘environmental history’ preserved in lake sediments, he reveals how landscapes functioned before large scale human disturbance and how they’ve changed since industrialization. His work provides evidence based insight into the impacts of climate change and industrial activities, and aims to inform environmental policy, conservation decisions and international deliberations, including those ongoing at the globally significant Wood Buffalo National Park UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Alberta.

• Northern freshwater landscape

• Applied aquatic ecology

• Paleolimnology

• Multiple stressors

• Contaminants

• Hydroecology

• 1993, PhD Biology, Queen's University, Canada

• 1986, BSc Biology, Queen's University, Canada

• 2012, Northwest Territories Government’s Premier’s Award for Collaboration – Team Category

• 2007, 2012, 2018 Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Science

• 2006, International Visiting Scientist Award, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research

• 2003 – 2007, Recipient of the Ontario Premier's Research Excellence Award (PREA) to support training of graduate students on the project: Ecological changes in the Mackenzie Basin Deltas: Assessing the roles of climate, hydrology and human activities on sensitive lakes and wetlands over the past thousand years

• 1996 – 1997, Postdoctoral fellowships, University of Regina

• 1994 – 1995, NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowships, Ontario Ministry of Environment's Dorset Environmental Research Centre

• 1987 – 1991, NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships

• 2023 – Present, Chair of UW's Faculty Grievance Council

• 2007 – 2012, Associate Dean of Science, Graduate Studies

• 2002 – 2007, Graduate Officer, Biology Department

• Associate Member, Wilfrid Laurier University Graduate Faculty. Chair of UW's Faculty Grievance Council

• Water Institute (Member)

• Waterloo Climate Institute (Member)

• BIOL 350 - Ecosystem Ecology
  • Taught in 2021, 2023, 2025
• BIOL 361 - Biostatistics and Experimental Design
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• For the full list of Roland Hall's publications, please see Google Scholar.

• Neary, L.K., C.R. Remmer, T.J. Owca, C.A.M. Girard, M.L. Kay, J.A. Wiklund, A. Imran, R.I. Hall, B.B. Wolfe (2024). A synthesis of hydrological, water chemistry and contaminants research in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (Canada) to inform long-term monitoring of shallow lakes. Environmental Reviews 00: 1-19: . https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2024-0041

• Kay, M.L., L.A. MacDonald, J.A. Wiklund, C.A.M. Girard, B.B. Wolfe, R.I. Hall. (2024). ‘Paleofloodscapes’: application of sediment source fingerprinting to track flood regime change over space and time at the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada. Science of the Total Environment 912: 169538. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169538

• Kay, M.L., I. Jasiak, W.H. Klemt, J.A. Wiklund, J.A. Faber, L.A. MacDonald, J.V.K. Telford, C.A. Cooke, B.B. Wolfe, R.I. Hall. (2023). Paleolimnological evaluation of metal(loid) enrichment from oil sands and gold mining operations in northwestern Canada. Environmental Research 26 (Part 1): 114439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114439.

• Klemt, W.H, R.B. Brua, J.M. Culp, K. Hicks, B.B. Wolfe, R.I. Hall. (2021). Evaluating Lower Athabasca River sediment metal concentrations from Alberta Oil Sands monitoring programs using pre-development baselines. Environmental Science & Technology 55: 8817-8828. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c01761.

• Imran, A., L.K. Neary, R.I. Hall, B.B. Wolfe. (2025). Overlooked and underrated: Influence of snowmelt runoff on lake-level rise rivals river floodwaters at a cold-region freshwater delta. Journal of Hydrology 663: 134036. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134036.

• February 17, 2026 - The Peace‑Athabasca Delta is at risk. Here’s what we can do to evaluate the threats
• Evaluating the Threats and Mitigative Actions: Lake Monitoring Approaches for the Peace-Athabasca Delta