Over 200 people attend Sustainability Across Disciplines Conference

On March 8^th and 9^th, Concordia faculty, students, staff, and members of the larger community came out in force to attend the Sustainability Across Disciplines Conference hosted by the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability (LCDS) and the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre (LSRC). Chaired by LSRC Acting Director Raymond Paquin and organized by LSRC/LCDS coordinator Rebecca Tittler with the help of EHS Sustainability Coordinator Chantal Forgues and LCDS students Matthew Leddy and Kailin Mailly, the conference featured presentations on a diverse range of sustainability-related research topics, ranging from work on the Arctic Council (presented by LSRC Junior Associate Leif Schenstead-Harris) to research on roads, urban sprawl, and wildlife (from LSRC Junior Associate Benjamin Brunen and his colleagues Ariel Spanowicz, Jonathan Cole, and Mehrdokht Pourali from the lab of LSRC fellow Professor Jochen Jaeger). The conference opened in the Loyola Jesuit Hall and Conference Centre on Thursday with a keynote address from Professor Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques on historical variability in river flows and climate change, with the professor ending with an inspiring call for scientists to be actively engaged as agents for change. The day continued with research presentations from faculty, staff, and students from across the University, as well as presentations on sustainability internship from LCDS students.  Friday, the conference opened in the new conference centre on the 9^th floor of the MB building with a thought-provoking panel on the politics of sustainability, followed by a round-table discussion on definitions of sustainability across disciplines featuring LSCR fellows from Biology (Professors Pedro Peres-Neto,and James W. A. Grant), Political Science (Professor Amy Poteete), Philosophy (Professor Matthias Fritsch), and the INDI program (Cheryl Gladu). The afternoon round-table discussion on careers in sustainability featured Concordia’s own Chantal Forgues and Maude Lecourt,  as well as Colleen Thorpe (Director of Educational Programming at Equiterre) and Andrew Ross (manager at PwC Canada’s Sustainable Business Solutions) for a sneak peek into various options for careers in sustainability. The closing keynote address featured inspirational words of wisdom about sustainability and trans-disciplinary research from Dr. Kamal Bawa, Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Founder-President of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), one of India’s top-ranked environmental think tanks. The conference closed with prizes being awarded to Ashlee Prevost and LSRC Junior Associate Stefania Strantza for the best presentations in the graduate student category, and to LCDS students Chris Aitkens and the group made up of Cynthia Fozin-Kengni, Cléa Montanari, Eric Warner, and Margaret Webb for the best presentations in the undergraduate student category. All in all, it was an inspirational and thought-provoking two days of discussion.Thank you to all those who participated in and supported this event. We look forward to next year!

This year’s Sustainability Across Disciplines Conference was brought to you by the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability and the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, with the support of the Office of the Vice President of Research and Graduate Studies, the John Molson School of Business, the Departments of Applied Human Sciences; Biology; Communication Studies; Economics; Geography, Planning and Environment, and Sociology and Anthropology, and the Sustainability Team of Environmental Health and Safety at Concordia University.