Features

After working as a biologist on the west coast for 10 years, Janean Sharkey, a graduate student in the School of Environmental Sciences, decided to return to Ontario and pursue research of native bees in prairie grasslands.

“I’m looking at native bee communities in tallgrass prairie and oak savanna, which is a rare habitat type in Southern Ontario and how habitat management influences bee communities there,” says Janean, who is a member of Dr. Nigel Raine’s lab.

Victoria Awad is a recent food science graduate. She landed her dream job right out of university and now works as a meat inspector for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).  We recently chatted with her to learn more about her role and experience at the University of Guelph.

Wearing gloves while shopping and wiping down food packaging at home may be unnecessary, as new University of Guelph research suggests the chances of getting infected with COVID-19 from grocery store surfaces are very low.

A team of U of G scientists, who swabbed hundreds of high-contact surfaces in grocery stores, found that none tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

No surface location harboured SARS-CoV-2, from a payment station and a deli counter to the refrigerated food section or the carts and baskets.

A guided “sound-walk” recording that can accompany you in the woods, the country or the city wherever you are in the world, Inose/Field Trip produced at the University of Guelph invites listeners to reflect deeply on the land we walk upon and the diverse living things we encounter.

Continue reading "U of G Supports Unique Sound Project With Indigenous Perspective" here.

About 20 University of Guelph students, many in the University’s new bachelor of Indigenous environmental science and practice program (BIESP), waded into the Eramosa River this week for a hands-on experience of the life of water.

Sue Chiblow, who will become a professor in the School of Environmental Sciences (SES) as of Nov.1, co-led the “Water Is Life” excursion. An Anishinaabe woman and raised in Garden River First Nation, Chiblow said the students are learning to think about the environment through land-based learning that combines Indigenous and Western science.

Plans are underway to build on the grounds of the University of Guelph’s Arboretum a unique Indigenous research facility that is expected to be one of the first of its kind in Canada.

The new facility will be called Nokom’s House, from the Ojibway word for grandmother, “nokomis.” It will be a land-based learning space to be used by three Indigenous researchers, their students and collaborating Indigenous community members for research, engagement and ceremony.

Long before the University of Guelph’s Arboretum came into being, Attawandaron, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous peoples lived on the land it occupies.

Now, numerous initiatives are under way to ensure that Indigenous knowledge systems are integral to the life of this significant green space in teaching, research and outreach.

Conflict between rich and poor over how to mitigate climate change can itself lead to more global warming – by as much as 0.7 degrees Celsius, according to a new study led by a University of Guelph scientist.

Using novel modelling, the research team identified some of the social processes that may increase polarization between these two income groups that leads to inaction when it comes to fighting climate change.

A project conceived by University of Guelph landscape architecture graduate students to install a single bench and tree on the grounds of Canadian hospitals as a respite for health-care workers continues to expand.

Since the inaugural One Bench One Tree project was unveiled in June 2021 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, where Canada’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed, the project has grown further.

Dillon Muldoon is an advocate for research and passionate about making a difference in agriculture and food systems. He works as the Research and Soil Health Program Coordinator at the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO), a non-profit organization based in Guelph, ON. We recently chatted with him about his role and the importance of farmer-led research.