Sustainability in the City and Beyond

Student awards

To acknowledge the great work of our students, all student presenters were entered into the student award competition. Presentations were judged by a team of faculty experts in the field and poster presentations were voted on by conference participants through anonymous ballot.  Although we were impressed by the incredible work of all of our student presenters, the following were particularly distinguished:

Best Graduate Student Oral Presentation:

First Place: Benjamin Brunen, in collaboration with Caroline Daguet and Professor Jochen Jaeger​​: Are Drainage Culverts an Adequate Substitute for Designated Wildlife Structures for Small- and Medium-sized Mammals? Benjamin is completing his Masters’ degree under the supervision of Professor Jochen Jaeger. He is also a junior associate of the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre.

Second Place: Alexandre Pace, in collaboration with Duane Noel and Professor Jeannine Marie St-Jacques: Tree-ring based climate and streamflow reconstructions for the Chic-Choc and McGerrigle mountains of the Gaspésie interior. Alexander is completing his Masters’ degree under the supervision of Professor Jeannine-Marie St.-Jacques. He is also a junior associate of the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre.

Best Undergraduate Student Oral Presentation:

First Place: Hannah Brown: The Grass Isn’t Always Greener: A Study of Pollinator Diversity and Abundance Across Montreal Urban Green Spaces. This work formed the body of Hannah’s honours project under the supervision of Professor Sarah Turner.

Second Place: Mitchell Dickau, in collaboration with Donny Seto, and Etienne Guertin, and professor Damon Matthews: Daily Weather Variability and Ice Conditions: How Do Weather and Climate Affect Outdoor Skating and Hockey in Montréal?. This work formed the body of Mitchell’s honours project under the supervision of Professors Donny Seto and Damon Matthews.

Best Student Poster:

First Place: Miles Barette Duckworth: Which road to take? A look into energy generation from Canadian roadways. Miles is completing his Masters’ degree in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment.

Second Place: Antonia Macris: The role of human behaviour in sustainable marine resource management. Antonia is completing her Masters’ in Environmental Assessment in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment.

Second Place: Juliette Carman: Compostable in industrial facilities which may not exist in your area. Not suitable for home composting: “Often a part of the puzzle will be solved, but a piece will still be missing when we fail to think about the full cycle of an object we create.”

Third Place: Mikaela Kautzky: Zero Waste Project “Sustainability in a city is about gathering in person and exchanging ideas. The zero waste movement is about community and creativity. Making things yourself, buying from local makers, exchanging things, fixing things and having a junction where one person's trash becomes another person's treasure. ”

Honourable Mention: Bianca D'Ambrosio: Lund Central Station, Sweden: “Sustainability in the city is having access to public transportation. This photo is of Lund Central Station in Sweden. It is a parking lot for bikes located in the town square. This station has direct access to multiple train and bus lines just across the road. The buses and trains run at regular frequent intervals and there are more bikers in the city than cars.”  

Special thanks

Although this conference was hosted by the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability and the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, it was also made possible by the partnership with the Institute for Urban Futures and the contributions and support of the Office of the VP Research and Graduate Studies, the Faculty of Arts and Science, the Faculty of Fine Arts, and the Departments of Biology; Communication Studies; Economics; Geography, Planning and Environment; Management; Political Science; and Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. Special thanks go to all of our wonderful presenters and participants and especially to Shauna Janssen for her support and inspiration and for the beautiful photo of the milkweed that is featured above and on the conference posters; Alex Tigchelaar for organizing the artistic contributions; James Grant, Jeannine-Marie St.-Jacques, Sarah Turner, and Jochen Jaeger for judging student presentations; Kailin Mailly, Tamara Elias, and Jaime Malone for volunteering their time to run the registration table; Eric Daigle for photography; Payton Ashe for social media; Taylor Tower for Concordia media coverage; and Matthew Leddy, Raymond Paquin, and Rebecca Tittler for bringing it all together.

Catering was provided by Vert La Bouche.

We look forward to seeing how the discussions fostered during these three days will continue and bear fruit.

STAY TUNED FOR NEWS ON THE PUBLICATION OF THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS!