News

Katie Plaisance, professor and chair of Knowledge Integration at the University of Waterloo, leads the university’s involvement in a $2.5 million SSHRC-funded research project aimed at equipping graduate students with the skills to address societal challenges through experiential learning. 

Fourth-year PhD student Burgess Langshaw Power from the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo has been awarded the prestigious Cadieux-Léger Fellowship by Global Affairs Canada. This Fellowship, awarded to one doctoral student annually, will enable Burgess to research the governance of climate-altering technologies and analyze Canada’s commitments under international agreements.

Students from the Faculty of Environment participated in the V2V Field School in Barkul, Chilika, India, joining a global delegation to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by coastal communities and small-scale fisheries. Co-directed by Dr. Prateep Nayak and Dr. Derek Armitage, the program focused on applying a commons approach to help these communities transition from vulnerability to viability. 

Stephanie Rose Cortinovis (MES, 2023) assesses the viability of carbon removal in Canada. The research, Scaling carbon removal systems: deploying direct air capture amidst Canada’s low-carbon transition, authored by Cortinovis and others from the Faculty of Environment and Engineering, was recently published in Frontiers in Climate.

Jessica Williamson, a doctoral student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, summarized the current and future state of the Niagara growing region under the context of climate change. Her research is now published in Canadian Journal of Plant Science.

An important aspect of graduate studies is the opportunity to present your research to an external audience. This allows for the exchange of ideas, industry partnerships, and the potential for future employment. For many graduate students focusing on the physical earth, the 2024 Canadian Geographical Union (CGU) Annual General Meeting (AGU) offered this valuable opportunity.

Introducing a new collaboration between the Rekhi Foundation for Happiness and the University of Waterloo, aimed at exploring the science of happiness. This partnership, represented by Waterloo's Faculty of Environment, seeks to integrate happiness research with sustainability efforts. This initiative reflects a shared vision of fostering well-being and sustainability through scientific understanding.

The inaugural Hub for Sustainability Integration Conference, held on March 22, 2024, marked a significant collaboration between the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) and the Faculty of Environment.

The University of Waterloo's Knowledge Integration (KI) program, celebrating its 15th anniversary, emphasizes solving complex global challenges like climate change and cybersecurity through interdisciplinary collaboration. The program aligns with Waterloo's future vision of integrating different disciplines to address global issues. At the 15th-anniversary event, projects from the Knowledge Integration exhibition (KIX), based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, were showcased.

Navya Vikraman Nair, a PhD candidate in the School of Environment, Enterprise, and Development, has been selected as a recipient for the 2023 International Doctoral Research Awards. Congratulations Navya!