Mayor: partnership will help guide policy development, decision-making
Town of Lincoln CAO Michael Kirkopoulos and Mayor Sandra Easton sign documents with Brock University president Gervan Fearon and Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre director Ryan Plummer to formally launch the Brock-Lincoln Living Lab partnership. The Living Lab will focus on addressing specific local needs around community sustainability and wellbeing and will assist with guiding policy development nad decision making, said Easton. – Courtesy Photo
LINCOLN — The Town of Lincoln and Brock University have formally launched a partnership that will help guide the town with future policy development and decision-making.
On Oct. 3, Brock and town officials celebrated the launch of the Brock-Lincoln Living Lab at an event at Vineland Estates Winery. The goal of the initiative is to have university students, through Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, contribute to the Living Lab’s work through their research and the partnership offers a conduit for experiential education that extends curriculum into the community.
Ryan Plummer, director of Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, says efforts will focus on addressing specific local needs around sustainable municipal planning and advancing areas such as economic, social and community development.
“It’s a platform to interact and bring together community leaders, policy-makers, researchers and students who all have a shared commitment to explore and investigate issues vital to the community and its well-being,” Plummer said. “It’s working together to figure out what the issues and questions are and then developing on that, with students embedding their research, our course projects and coop experiences in the community.”
Specific outcomes, he said, will be the result, meaning it doesn’t end up being a study that sits on shelf for years.
“That’s exactly why it’s so important. It’s not a one-off study. It’s a systematic partnership over a five-year time frame that will actively engage people on issues that address community challenges and opportunities,” he said.
Specific targets over that five-year time frame include a needs assessment to help get the project started, community engagement sessions, research projects, exploring mutually beneficial opportunities such as grant proposals and community forms.
Plummer said it’s a great example of an opportunity to extend Brock’s educational reach with students into the real world on issues ranging from urban planning and development pressures to biodiversity to climate change to water resources, and more.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn experientially on a first-hand basis on the situation communities are experiencing,” he said. “We can’t create that in our institution, so that is a rich learning experience we’re excited about.”
Lincoln officials are also excited about the potential.
“The benefits of this co-operative venture are vast. With access to research specific to our community, we are better able to guide policy development and decision-making,” said Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton.
Lincoln chief administrative officer Michael Kirkopoulos said partnerships with post-secondary educations like Brock has been a focus for council this term, noting there are great benefits for both the students and the residents of Lincoln.
“Complete, dynamic and evolving communities try to always work with schools at all levels to ensure the community sees benefits. In this case, having a Brock presence, the Living Lab, that incubator for ideas and learning in Lincoln will be significant for us as we evolve, prosper and change,” he said. “This is not only for the well-being of the community, but conversely for students and researches to take back what they hear and learn on the ground and bring it back to their labs and classrooms. It benefits both of us.”
The launch formalizes the memorandum of understanding Brock and the town signed back in February, but an example of the type of hands-on learning that will come out of the Living Lab started this summer when Brock master of sustainability co-op student Meghan Birbeck worked at the Town of Lincoln on initiatives such as sustainable development of the town’s future transit system and other community programs.
“The relationship between Brock and the Town of Lincoln is blossoming and represents a wonderful example of how collaboration can benefit everyone,” said Brock University president Gervan Fearon. “Brock is a comprehensive university with a clear mission to serve local communities and the announcement today directly speaks to this mission.”
Story from Niagara This Week
