SEED congratulates the first Master’s students in the school to be awarded the prestigious Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate scholarship distributed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for their research. Sandra Biskupovic, Leah Whittaker, Danielle Lebre and Gayathri Valappil are all Master’s students in the department’s Sustainability Management program.
This scholarship is awarded to high calibre scholars who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies. Each scholar receives $17,500 paid across three full-time academic terms.
Sandra Biskupovic’s research focuses on critical infrastructure resilience and flood risk management. Her research will advance a growing body of knowledge seeking to address the increasing threat of flooding to socially vulnerable communities and critical public infrastructure in Canada due to climate change.
Leah Whittaker is examining managed retreat as a strategy for flood risk management in Canada. Her research aims to identify the hallmarks of effective managed retreat policy and to use these criteria to inform the design of future programs.
Danielle Lebre’s research examines flood policy and governance, and the extent to which flood risk management is being discussed within the Canadian political sphere. This research aims to understand how Canadian policymakers are discussing and prioritizing flood risk management in light of increasingly frequent and severe flood events.
Gayathri Valappil’s thesis focuses on the life cycle assessment of Canadian aquaponics, which combines hydroponics and aquaculture to simultaneously produce crops and fish. Aquaponics systems are energy-intensive, especially in cold-regions, so her focus is on methods of improving both their environmental and economic performance.
Find out more about our Master's program in Sustainability Management.
