Master of Sustainability students present reports to the Town of Lincoln

Sunday, February 26, 2017 | By

Published on January 10 2017

By: Lydia Collas

On December 5th, 2016, a group of Brock’s Master of Sustainability candidates presented the culmination of the semester’s work at the Council Meeting of the Town of Lincoln.

Students enrolled in the Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Management course (SSAS 5P13) had the opportunity to delve into real-life sustainability issues and come up with potential solutions. Under the direction of Professor Liette Vasseur, the students met with Mr. Michael Kirkopoulos, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Lincoln, in September to discuss where sustainability could be improved in the Town. This gave rise to three separate ideas for projects and so the class divided accordingly.

The three projects focused on different opportunities for improving sustainability within Lincoln, including:

  • overcoming the urban-rural divide,
  • fostering community engagement through increasing landscape connectivity, and
  • investigating opportunities for making the new Prudhommes development sustainable.

The students went on a field trip to see the area for themselves before beginning to consider how to address their issue in question.

Professor Vasseur emphasised the importance of students conducting projects such as these, “Involving graduate students in community projects is a great experience. What we see in theory can be quite different than what is happening in communities. Such experiential learning can really help student discover what they can do.”

The students’ ideas were expressed in a written report as well as the presentations to the Town Council. These presentations generated many questions and great praise.

Mayor Sandra Easton expressed her gratitude for the students’ work after they finished their presentation, “Thank you all. It was all very relevant to our community and it was very unique to have such fresh ideas that are not encumbered by all kinds of barriers and thinking.”

CAO Mike Kirkopoulos closed the session by saying, “I just want to thank the class, they’ve been great. Today is a great example of learning for students, and for us, on theoretical issues and the practical solutions that go with these issues.”

For anyone who is interested to hear more about the projects and see the students presenting for themselves, a video of the council meeting is now available online. The students’ presentations run between 00:34:16 – 01:36:30.

The presentation slides are also available online: