A delegation consisting of two Environmental Law Professors from the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Dr. Niko Soininen and Dr. Antti Belinskij, Senior Research Scientist from the Finnish Environment Institute, Dr. Saija Koljonen, and Ph.D. student Ms. Suvi-Tuuli Puharinen, also in the department of Environmental Law at UEF, visited the Water Institute from May 9-19.
The main purpose of the visit was to meet and exchange experiences with Water Institute members working in the field of river and lake restoration and explore possible collaborations. Dr. Niko Soininen is Co-Director of the UEF Water Centre. As part of their visit, the Water Institute organized a mini-workshop, in which Stephen Murphy, Bill Annable, Bruce MacVicar and Roy Brouwer participated and they were taken into the field to visit local restoration sites with the incredible support of our members.
Bill Annable took the visitors to Red Hill Creek in Hamilton, Rebecca Rooney took them to the UW biocontrol site, and Nick Gollan from the City of Kitchener showed them various restoration projects in and around Kitchener. Bruce MacVicar spent a day with the visitors at the River Don restoration project in Toronto, where they were given a guided tour by staff of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Helen Jarvie and Merrin Macrae showed the visitors their monitoring sites across the Grand River watershed and discussed the watershed’s nutrient challenges, and bilateral meetings took place with Maria Strack and Philippe van Cappellen to discuss mutual interests in peatlands research.
Water Institute visitors toured local river restoration sites.
The visit follows an invitation UEF Water extended to Water Institute’s Executive Director Roy Brouwer last summer. Following Brouwer’s visit last year, several initiatives took place to explore closer collaboration, including an online meeting with various faculty members to discuss the development of smart water sensors and the writing of a joint research proposal. As part of his visit, Brouwer and Economics Ph.D. student Khusro Mir delivered a one-week water economics course at UEF, as shown in the pictures below. Based on this visit to the Water Institute, additional joint activities are foreseen in the near future. Canada and Finland share many similar water challenges in lakes and rivers.
