Nov. 18, 2019

From climate change to food insecurity to human displacement, our society is struggling with many complex issues on a global scale. These are precisely the types of issues addressed by students and faculty in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.

On Thursday, Nov. 28, representatives from the department will share their work at an event called What the ??!! How Geographic Research Helps Explain the World Today. From 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., researchers and graduate students will present their recent findings and network with attendees who may be interested in studying Geography and Environmental Studies at Laurier. The event will be held at the Hawk’s Nest on Laurier’s Waterloo campus.

“We really want to showcase the wealth of research that goes on in our department to our Laurier peers and our broader community,” says Mary-Louise Byrne, professor and chair of Geography and Environmental Studies. “Undergrads from outside of our programs may discover that they’re interested in doing graduate work with our researchers, or perhaps may want to change majors.”

Laurier’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies offers a range of degree options, from a Bachelor of Science in Geography and Archaeology and Heritage Studies to the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography, the second-largest graduate geography program in Canada. The department also plays a leadership role in three of Laurier’s internationally recognized research institutes: the Cold Regions Research Centre, the International Migration Research Centre and the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems.

Presenters at What the ??!! will include:

9:45 a.m. Mary-Louise Byrne, professor, chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, with opening remarks

10 a.m. Christopher Lemieux, associate professor, John McMurry Research Chair in Environmental Geography, on Canada’s conservation challenges

10:45 a.m. Miguel Sioui, assistant professor, Environmental Studies and Geography, on Indigenous environmental knowledges and research in northern Canada

11:30 a.m. Alison Mountz, professor, Canada Research Chair in Global Migration, director of the International Migration Research Centre at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, on student projects at the International Migration Research Centre

12:45 p.m. Jonathan Crush, professor, director of the Hungry Cities Partnership at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, with Mary Caesar, postdoctoral fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, on the Hungry Cities project

1:30 p.m. Alison Blay-Palmer, professor, director of the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, on food systems and sustainability

2:15 p.m. Simon Dalby, professor, Balsillie School of International Affairs, on the Anthropocene Geopolitics from the Borders in Globalization and the Cultural Politics of Climate Change projects

3 p.m. William Quinton, professor, director of the Cold Regions Research Centre, with Homa Kheyrollah Pour, assistant professor, Canada Research Chair in Remote Sensing of Environmental Change, on the Dehcho Collaborative on Permafrost

3:45 p.m. Philip Marsh, professor, Canada Research Chair in Northern Climate Change, with Barun Majumder, postdoctoral fellow, on the Integrated Arctic Science Research Program

This event is open to all members of the public. A complimentary lunch will be served at 12:15 p.m. Please register if you would like to attend.