Brock University Sustainability graduate students have taken their work beyond the classroom in hopes of making a difference in the local community.

Since January, PhD and master’s students from Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) have been working with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) on a consultancy project through their respective courses, Engaging with Community in Sustainability Science (SSCI 7P02) and Problem Solving in the Environment (SSAS 5P03).

Each year, SSAS 5P03, which exposes students to contemporary applied approaches to address environmental sustainability issues, invites an organization to act as a client and prepare a request for proposals for an environmental challenge or initiative they’re looking for support on.

As a result, students form a consulting firm and experience the entire project life cycle in 12 weeks, said Professor Ryan Plummer, instructor for both courses.

Meanwhile, students in SSCI 7P02, which is anchored in sustainability science, focus on actively solving societal challenges with a community partner, he said.

Working with the NPCA this year, PhD students Shannon Fernandes and Norie España conducted a needs assessment for the conservation authority and worked to determine the best way for the organization to improve its corporate sustainability practices and behaviours.

The master’s students that formed the consulting firm, named the ‘EcoBadgers’ for the project, were tasked with creating an assessment framework and implementation tool to evaluate the NPCA’s corporate sustainability practices based on the research findings by Fernandes and España.

Months of hard work culminated in a trip to the NPCA main office on April 4, when students had the opportunity to present the results of the project to the organization’s staff and representatives who worked with the students throughout the term.

“Collaborating with Brock ESRC on these class projects provided an excellent opportunity for students to apply their expertise to a real-world challenge while advancing meaningful work in our community,” said Natalie Green, the NPCA’s Manager of Climate Change and Special Programs. “Their research will be an important component of our Climate Change Action Plan that we are developing and the sustainability framework they created will be applied to assess and improve our team’s corporate sustainability practices.”

Anmol Burmy, project manager for the EcoBadgers, said the group, which also included Evan Rodenburg, Kassie Burns, Erin Isaac, Sydney McIntyre and Zeal Pandya, “created an end product that I know we are very proud of.”

“The entire experience was amazing, and it provided me and the team with a skill set that will be extremely helpful in our future endeavours,” Burmy said. “It also allowed us to experience a real-life work environment to learn about project management and all the little details involved within it.”

Burmy also expressed thanks on behalf of the team to NPCA staff for their confidence, and Dr. Plummer for his support throughout the project.

España said working on the project with the NPCA “strengthened her appreciation for the value of collaboration, effective communication, and embracing diverse perspectives.”

“Witnessing our hard work contribute to the NPCA’s climate change action plan and ultimately serve our community partners brought me an immense sense of fulfilment and reinforced the importance of building strong relationships and working towards common goals,” she said.

Plummer said students in this year’s courses exceeded his expectations.

“They demonstrated a deep commitment to sustainability science, embodied professionalism and actively engaged in reflection which is necessary for problem-based and experiential learning,” he said. “As the Director of the ESRC, I was incredibly proud to see them present to a standing-room only audience at the NPCA.”