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Strategic Initiatives: Transformative Research
Geography students Tina and Aaron collect water samples in Laurel Creek, Waterloo, Ontario
- Professor Sarah Burch was awarded Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funding for the Sustainability Policy Research on Urban Transformations (SPROUT) Lab, which will demonstrate how environmentally sustainable building materials and communications technology can come together with multi-disciplinary research methods to foster innovative, action-oriented, scholarly work that deeply engages multiple stakeholders.
- Professor Brendon Larson co-authored a paper published in Science in May 2015 that presented four principles for ecological restoration to help guide programs on millions of acres around the globe.
- As global leaders grapple with the need to decarbonize the economy, an international research collaboration led by geographer Daniel Scott compares potential costs associated with different policy pathways to transform tourism. This research, published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism in November 2015, was also the focus of an invited keynote at the UNESCO World Summit on Sustainable Tourism in Spain.
- Professor Amelia Clarke, in collaboration with Professor Andy Crane from York University, co-hosted a four-day international conference in April 2016 on Cross-sector Partnerships for Systemic Change. This is the first time this annual meeting was held in Canada. Participants included 130 academics from North America, Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa.
- The Faculty of Environment received $4.25M funding from Intact Financial to launch the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (ICCA), with the mandate to help homeowners, communities, and businesses to reduce risks associated with climate change and extreme weather events.
- Professor Simron Singh, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, presented OPTamos – a free online decision support tool – to the European Parliament in October 2015. OPTamos, which stands for Options for Participatory Transformation and Management of Sustainable Land Use, was the result of a four-year research project funded by the European Commission.
- Professor Brad Fedy received a letter of recognition from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director for his contributions to the ongoing conservation of the greater sage-grouse and its sagebrush habitats.
- Professors Ellsworth LeDrew and Julie Friddell played pivotal roles in organizing national and international workshops on polar data in 2015/16. These workshops reflect the strong reputation of Waterloo’s cryosphere research community and their work to improve polar data stewardship and access in Canada.
- School of Planning Professor Luna Khirfan and undergraduate student Mandy Zhang had the winning entry in the ARCH+ International Design Competition on the theme “Planetary Urbanism – Critique in the Medium of Informational Design” announced September 2015. Their submission showcased options for community-based climate change adaptation in Tobago.
- Professor Prateep Nayak was invited to join the Human Dimensions Working Group of the internationally recognized Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research program. The group focuses on interactions between human and ocean systems, and the role of human institutions in mitigating anthropogenic perturbations of the ocean system, and in fostering adaptation to change.
- Professor Vanessa Schweizer of the Department of Knowledge Integration and Sarah Brown, the Associate Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change, coordinated English Canada’s contribution to World Wide Views on Climate & Energy, the largest global citizen consultation in history.
- Professors Richard Petrone and Derek Robinson of the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, in collaboration with Professor Rebecca Rooney in Biology, published guidelines for reclamation of megaprojects in the face of climate change in Nature Climate Change. Their recent grant success from Alberta Innovates (about $450K) adds to a combined intake of over $1.5M among the three on research related to wetland reclamation over the past four years.
- On behalf of the Republic of Costa Rica, Neil Craik provided an expert opinion on the international law of environmental impact assessment to the International Court of Justice in the Case Concerning the Construction of a Road along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica).
- Professor Jennifer Clapp participated in a series of expert consultations on the theme of trade and food security at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and was invited to write a background paper and technical note for the organization’s flagship report, State of Agricultural Commodities.
Strategic Initiatives: Academic Programming
- Undergraduate and graduate students from the Faculty of Environment participated as an accredited delegation at COP 21, the 21st Conference of the Parties to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Paris in December 2015.
- A newly created applied field studies course, Plants of Ontario, fulfills student demand from multiple programs for hands-on learning through intensive plant identification and field work.
- Waterloo's Geography department was ranked one of the top 50 in the world, and Environmental Sciences one of the top 100, according to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by subject in 2016.
- In the annual competition for the Jack Rosen Memorial Award for Environmental Innovation, students pitched ideas for products and services that could help to prevent, mitigate, or solve a pressing environmental problem. The grand prize was awarded to second-year Environment and Business student, Michelle Sin, whose idea for a coffee cup made from mycelium, grew from her participation in the Faculty’s Ecology Lab.
- Graduate student enrolment in the Water Institute’s Collaborative Water Program (CWP) course co-taught by Professor Simon Courtenay of the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, grew from 29 in 2015 to 48 in 2016.
- In July 2015, Professor Su-Yin Tan was elected to the position Academic Council Chair, International Space Applications Department in the Space Studies Program (SSP) at the International Space University (ISU). ISU develops the future leaders of the world space community by providing interdisciplinary educational programs to students.
- A team of creative fourth-year planning students scored a win with their entry in the international 2015 Urban Land Institute Urban Ideas Competition. Team Waterloo won first prize in the student category, and also won the People’s Choice award. This was an especially high honour, given that teams of professional consultants were also competing for this prize.
- Professor Katie Plaisance, who has been a valuable foundational member of the Knowledge Integration program since her appointment in 2009, was awarded the Distinguished Teacher Award for her outstanding contributions to students and to pedagogy on campus.
- In anticipation of Canada’s 150th anniversary and in consultation with the non-profit organization imagiNation 150, 14 Knowledge Integration undergraduate students developed the community engagement program Generation Eh to capture the stories of senior immigrants to Canada.
- The Department of Geography and Environmental Management is designing a series of online courses related to climate change that will be rolled out over the next two years.