About the research
CANSTOREnergy received a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Transformation grant worth $24 million over six years. It is one of six interdisciplinary projects to be awarded a grant in the 2022 competition, in recognition of its potential to make real and lasting change addressing a major challenge. The research team, which includes scientists and engineers, but also political and social scientists as well as economists and policy experts, is working directly with community partners in northern and southern Canada.
CANSTOREnergy will provide technological solutions to convert CO2 into the fuels and chemical feedstocks on which Canada relies, supporting community-led energy visions and plans. The network of partnerships allows the team to listen and learn from communities. This project will allow stakeholders to expand the deployment and usage renewables and provide a source of liquid or gaseous fuels, toward a circular carbon economy.
Team
Principal investigator
Co-Principal investigator
Co-applicant
About the research
The Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP) is a seven year program of work hosted by the IISAAK OLAM Foundation, the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and the University of Guelph toward the goal of supporting Indigenous-led conservation in Canada. It is a SSHRC Partnership Grant project in which Dr. Melanie Zurba is engaged as a co-applicant and working alongside a wide range of partners such as Indigenous thought leaders, organizations, youth and Elders; emerging and established scholars; prominent conservation agencies and organizations; Indigenous Peoples and Nations; and knowledge mobilization specialists. The objectives of the CRP include:
1) Creating a network for conservation through reconciliation
2) Ensuring ethical and collaborative research
3) Increasing capacity amongst Indigenous Nations and communities, the conservation sector and the general public.
Climate Learning and Adaptation for Northern Development (C-LAND)
About the research
Northern environments are faced with the rapid transformation of climate change while also navigating the rising global demand for renewable resources such as forests and energy. There is thus a need to address sector specific assessments of adaptive capacity and the creation of information and tools to guide adaptation strategies. Adaptive capacity refers here to the capacity to adjust to climate change, moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities and/or to cope with consequences.
This research is focused on Northern regions to explore how to improve the adaptive capacity in Canadas renewable resource sector. Funded through the SSHRC Insight Grant, the project will examine learning as a core process for adaptation, where multiple actors come together and possibly arrive at shared and unique evaluations of climate challenges. The projects central objectives are;
1. Assess awareness and multi-scale learning (i.e., cognitive, normative, behavioural, relational and organizational changes) about climate change adaptation;
2. Gain insights into how learning occurs (i.e., learning process conditions and how learning outcomes influence adaptations and inform policy) in innovative organizational models; and;
3. Explain how learning can support adaptive capacity in complex governance settings.
Principal Investigators
University of Winnipeg
Co-Applicants
Dalhousie University
University of Winnipeg
A First Nation-University Partnership for Capacity Enhancement in Forest Land Governance
About the research
This community initiated partnership, funded through the SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, focuses on how First Nations are to be engaged in forest land governance that is constructive, practicable and mutually beneficial with regard to development opportunities. Conventional natural resource governance systems often exclude meaningful participation of forest communities in decision-making, by operating through a top-down governance structure. Communities are seeking influence through various types of collaborations to increase decision making power, and thus effect community wellbeing and land sustainability. This partnership operates through community-based research to support First Nation community capacity building toward these collaborations. Specifically, the partnership will;
1) analyze how First Nations and settler Canadian relations can be reconciled through forest governance models that produce sustainable benefits and support economic, cultural and ecological multi-party priorities;
2) develop First Nation-university capacity building initiatives, benefits, and participation needed to respond to shifting sectoral and societal demands in forestry;
3) mobilize different knowledges among forestry professionals, youth, Elders and university researchers and students.
