Signature Research Areas

The University of Saskatchewan's "signature areas" all impact sustainability. They are:

Aboriginal Peoples: Engagement and Scholarship

By 2050, half of Saskatchewan's population may be of Aboriginal ancestry, a demographic shift that creates challenges and opportunities. Our shared journey will help advance Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing and prepare a new generation of Aboriginal youth for the global knowledge economy.

Agriculture: Food and Bioproducts for a Sustainable Future

Projections show that food production must double by 2050 to feed the world's growing population. We are working to strengthen Saskatchewan's agricultural leadership with new science, technology and policies to help feed a hungry world adequately, safely and sustainably.

Energy and Mineral Resources: Technology and Public Policy for a Sustainable Environment

Demand for energy and natural resources is starting to outpace supply. Clean energy solutions, sustainable resource development and sound policy development are vital to meet future demand while conserving ecosystems and sharing the benefits with all.

One Health: Solutions at the Animal-Human-Environment Interface

Health for all species is inextricably linked to challenges such as emerging diseases, water and food safety, and environmental degradation. We are working to develop scientific, public health and policy approaches that integrate human, animal and ecosystem health.

Synchrotron Sciences: Innovation in Health, Environment and Advanced Technologies

With Canada's only synchrotron and the largest number of synchrotron users of any university in Canada, we are harnessing powerful imaging and analytical techniques to solve challenges in health, environment, materials science and other areas of global social and economic importance.

Water Security: Stewardship of the World's Freshwater Resources

One in six people - 1.4 billion - live in water-stressed areas. Climate change, pollution and overuse are putting severe strain on quality and quantity of fresh water for drinking, sanitation and food production. We are developing new interdisciplinary science, technology and policy to address these urgent issues.

More information on the university's "signature areas" can be found at the website of the Vice-President Research.

School of Environment and Sustainability

The School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) seeks to bridge multiple disciplines across the natural, physical, social sciences, as well as the humanities and engineering to address the most challenging environmental and sustainability issues we face. Having been established in 2007 with over 100 alumni, our students benefit from innovative, forward-thinking mentorship of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners as they are guided through exploratory exercises that emphasize critical thinking and alternative ways of knowing.

Interdisciplinary research at the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) seeks to integrate different disciplines when approaching, investigating and/or identifying potential solutions to the challenging environmental and sustainability problems we face. The premise is that problems emerge from a variety of causes, and we need to embrace that complexity with the relevant disciplines to address them.

MJ Barrett Affiliations: Educational Foundations, International Centre for Northern Governance and Development
Research Interests: environmental education, human-nature relations, intuitive interspecies communications, ways of knowing, indigenous and decolonizing methodologies, discourse, ecopsychology, threshold concepts, animism, transformative sustainability learning
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Love for Okawimawaskiy (Mother Earth): A Collaborative Study in Human-Animal Communication
Helen Baulch Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: water quality, aquatic ecology, global change, biogeochemical cycles, greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophication, algal blooms, climate change
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Understanding lake metabolism and algal blooms: New tools for the management of potable water sources.  (with John Giesy, Peter Leavitt, Paul Jones, Karsten Liber, Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt)
Douglas Clark Affiliations: Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS), Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative
Research Interests: indigenous co-management of ecosystems and resources, polar bear-human conflicts, wildlife and protected area management, environmental governance and policy processes
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Chu äyì ätlʼet (The Water In Me): collaboratively developing a water strategy for the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations' Traditional Territory, Yukon
Markus Hecker Research Interests: biological effects of environmental stressors, environmental risk assessment, aquatic ecology, fish biology, bioanalytical techniques to assess environmental pollution
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Fisheries and Oceans Canada: “Assessing the Adverse Effects of Emerging Chemical Contaminants on Fishes of Commercial, Aboriginal and Recreational Value to Canadians (AECCO)”
Andrew Ireson Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS), Civil and Geological Engineering
Research Interests: modelling flow and transport in the hydrological cycle, collection, analsysis and interpretation methods of integrated hydrological data, hydrological change in northern latitudes, groundwater resource management, groundwater quality and sustainable development of natural resources, integrated hydrological-epidemiological research
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Ireson, A.M., Barr, A.G., Johnstone, J.F., Mamet, S.D., van der Kamp, G., Whitfield, C.J., Michel, N.L., North, R.L., Westbrook, C.J., DeBeer, C., Chun, K.P., Nazemi, A. and Sagin, J. 2015. The changing water cycle: the Boreal Plains ecozone of Western Canada. Wires Water. 10.1002/wat2.1098
Tim Jardine Research Interests: river deltas as complex social-ecological systems, contaminant biomagnification in aquatic ecosystems, land-water and river-ocean connectivity, tropical floodplain ecology and hydrology, freshwater food webs, stable isotope analysis in ecology
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Jardine, T.D., Baulch, H.M., Hobson, K.A., and Janz, D.M. 2013-2016. Identifying flood- and food-related limits to fish and wildlife production in the Saskatchewan River delta. NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grant.
Paul Jones Research Interests: analytical and environmental toxicology and chemistry, aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, aquatic and wildlife toxicology, ecological risk assessment, human impacts on northern ecosystems and subsistence food resources
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: 2014-2016 Canadian Water Network. SWEEP: The Slave Watershed Environmental Effects Program.
Vladimir Kricsfalusy Affiliations: Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage
Research Interests: conservation biology, population biology and ecology, community ecology, restoration ecology, taxonomy, education for sustainable development, experiential education, service-learning, community engagement
Example of Sustainability-Related Work:

Kricsfalusy V., George C., Reed M. G. 2016. Integrating problem- and project based opportunities: assessing outcomes of a field course in environment and sustainability. Environmental Education Research

Yanping Li Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: regional climate modelling, mesoscale dynamics, boundary layer meteorology, air-sea interaction
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Yanping Li, R. E. Carbone, 2015: Offshore propagation of coastal precipitation. Journal of Atmospheric Science.
Karsten Liber Affiliations: Toxicology Centre, Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: metal bioavailability and toxicity in aquatic ecosystems, mining impacts on aquatic ecosystems, water quality assessments, pesticide ecotoxicology
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: 2011-2014 - A paleolimnological assessment of Lake Diefenbaker sediment: A reconstruction of historical contaminant trends. Province of Saskatchewan via the U of S Global Institute for Water Security.
Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: surface water quality modelling, river ice processes, climate change and river morphology, flood and flood risk management
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program: “Geospatial models and isotope tracers to identify key fish and animal habitats along the Slave River.”
Philip Loring Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: food systems and security, fisheries, local food movements, environmental justice, climatic and environmental change, indigenous cultures
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: 2015-17. “Human Dimensions of Sustainability in Haida Gwaii.” Parks Canada / UC Santa Barbara. PI w/ P. Levin, M. Poe. 
Jeffrey McDonnell Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: watershed hydrology, runoff processes and modelling, isotope hydrology, hydrological theory
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Burt, T., N. Howden, J.J. McDonnell, J Jones and G. Hancock, 2015. Seeing the climate through the trees: observing climate and forestry impacts on streamflow using a 60-year record. Hydrological Processes, 29: 473-480.
Greg Poelzer Affiliations: International Centre for Northern Governance and Development, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School for Public Policy (JSGS)
Research Interests: comparative politics and policy of northern circumpolar regions and Aboriginal-state relations, sustainable development in the north, renewable energy
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Community Engagement in Environmental Assessment for Resource Development: Benefits, Enduring Concerns, Opportunities for Improvement
Saman Razavi Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: hydrologic models development and calibration, environmental and water resources systems planning and management, climate change and impacts on hydrology and water resources, reconstruction of paleo-hydrology, single and multi-objective optimization, sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Razavi, S., M. Asadzadeh, B. A. Tolson, D. Fay, S. Moin, J. Bruxer, Y. Fan (2013), Evaluation of new control structures for regulating the Great Lakes system: a multi-scenario, multi-reservoir optimization approach, Journal of Water Resources Planning Management, 10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000375.
Maureen Reed Affiliations: Sustainability Education Research Institute (SERI), Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: environmental governance, sustainability science, practices of conservation, sustainability of rural communities, feminist and gender-based analysis, social dimensions of climate change adaptation and resilience, model forests, biosphere reserves, national parks, practices of governance for resilience, enviromental and social sustainability (PROGRESS Lab)
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Reed, M.G., 2016. Conservation (In) Action: Renewing the Relevance of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. Conservation Letters. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12275/full
Toddi Steelman Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: environmental and natural resource governance, public and community decision-making, interface between science, policy and decision-making, climate change adaptation, disaster-resilient communities, risk and crisis communication, wildfire preparedness
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Delta Dialogue Network. SSHRC Partnership Development Grant. Steelman, Toddi, Jennifer Fresque-Baxter, Stéphane McLachlan, Lalita Bharadwaj, Lori Bradford, Tim Jardine, Paul Jones, Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt, Greg Poelzer, Maureen Reed, and Graham Strickert. 2014-2016.
Graham Strickert Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)
Research Interests: human dimensions of water security
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Strickert, G.E.H., Bradford, L.E.A. (2015) Of research pings and ping-pong balls: The use of forum theatre for engaged water security research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 14(5), 1-14
Howard Wheater Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS), Civil and Geological Engineering
Research Interests: hydrological processes and modelling, management of flood risk, water resources, water quality, wastes and climate change adapation, socio-hydrology
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Changing Cold Regions Network; MacKenzie and Saskatchewan River Basins - Regional Hydroclimate Project, Tobacco Creek Model Watershed
Colin Whitfield Affiliations: Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS), Geography & Planning, Centre for Hydrology
Research Interests: atmospheric pollution, hydrochemistry, catchment modelling, hydrology, biogeochemistry, climate change and landscape disturbance
Example of Sustainability-Related Work: Global Institute for Water Security BERMS group,  biogeochemical-vegetation model to understand response of forest ecosystem response to climate and atmospheric deposition; biogenic greenhouse gas exchange in Buffalo Pound Lake

Sustainability Education Research Institute

The Sustainability Education Research Institute (SERI) is a collaborative, innovative, and internationally-linked institute that houses faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, staff, and other partners conducting research on environment and sustainability in relation to education.  One of SERI’s major projects is the Sustainability Education and Policy Network (SEPN), an international research-based partnership focusing on the gap between sustainability policy and practice in education.

Sustainability Research Inventory

The Office of Sustainability's most up-to-date inventory of all sustainability research at the University of Saskatchewan can be found on its dedicated page.