Cambridge, ON –The Ages Foundation Fellowship, in partnership with the rare Charitable Research Reserve have awarded over $100,000 in scholarships and bursaries to graduate school researchers since the scholarship and bursary program’s launch in 2009. This year, four graduate students from across southwestern Ontario received awards ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to cover environmental research projects to be run at rare.
Navjot Dhaliwal is one such recipient. The York University Department of Geography PhD student received a $5,000 fellowship for their research project entitled Co-Governance in Lake Nipigon: Braiding Western Science and Indigenous Knowledge. Navjot’s research encourages insights into collective resource management, between the First Nations communities of Lake Nipigon Basin and the federal and provincial governments, to identify guiding principles and best practices that promote Canadian reconciliation with Indigenous communities. Navjot says “collaborating on initiatives with the rare Charitable Research Reserve will allow exposures to integrated resource management between Western and Indigenous governance methodologies. There are distinct threads of correlation between rare and Navjot’s research project, both of which can be developed through a collaborative initiative.”
Danielle Green, an MSc student at the University of Waterloo Department of Earth and Environmental Science, also received a $5,000 bursary towards her project entitled Quantifying and characterizing dissolved organic matter (DOM) in aquatic ecosystems. Her project objective is to determine the chemical and biological characteristics of carbon in browning lakes and rivers and develop methods for these analyses. “I am honoured to have received the Ages Foundation bursary and am excited to expand my research project to study the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) composition of aquatic systems at rare.”
The fellowships and bursaries all pay for research projects that will take place in the coming months on rare lands. “This is part of our research mandate to advance our knowledge of the environment,” explains James Bow, Communications Officer at rare. “We believe these lands need to be protected, not just for our health, or the environment’s health, but for our understanding. When we better understand the importance our natural spaces have in our community, we will better understand the need for these spaces’ protection.”
Cameron Butler, a PhD student at York University Department of Social Anthropology, received a $1,000 bursary towards their project looking into the dynamics of fertilization in Southern Ontario. “My project follows phosphorus, an essential fertilizer component for industrial agricultural production, through agribusiness commodity chains in southern Ontario, Canada, to explore how their practices shape planetary mineral cycles,” Cameron explains. “I trace how value chain operations are changing in response to growing public scrutiny around the unethical, colonial sourcing of phosphate rock, the unsustainable depletion of phosphate reserves, and the worsening eutrophication caused by phosphorus-rich farm runoff polluting water systems.”
Lake Ellsworth, a MSc student at the University of Guelph Department of Integrative Biology, received a $1,000 bursary for their project entitled Factors driving the abundance of insectivorous bats over agricultural field margins – Mist-netting capture surveys and nocturnal insect sampling. “The only mammals capable of true flight, bats are unique and highly specialized animals. 8 species of bat can be found in Southern Ontario, and they all have a ravenous appetite for insects, capable of eating 70-100% of their body weight per night,”explains Lake.“I am excited and grateful to have the opportunity to conduct research at rare, which will allow for a comparison of bat activity across a gradient of landscapes, ranging from intensely managed agricultural fields to restored and protected conservation areas. I’m honoured to have received the rare Ages Foundation Scholarship and know it will help me in my research efforts!“
The rare Charitable Research Reserve is a charitable urban land-trust that protects over 1,200 acres of environmentally sensitive lands throughout Waterloo Region and Wellington County while engaging with the community to help build support for understanding and protecting these lands. The reserve maintains over 12 kilometres of trails and runs research and education programs to build an appreciation of these lands to everyone’s health and wellbeing in the minds of surrounding community and the generations to follow.
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