Media releases

• Media invited to launch of Brock University Indigenous Strategic Plan

  Thursday, September 24, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA ADVISORY – Sept. 24, 2026 — R0088

  Media are invited to the launch of Brock’s inaugural Indigenous Strategic Plan — a roadmap that will guide the University’s ongoing commitment to advancing truth and reconciliation and fostering a more inclusive and equitable future.

  Interim Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement Sheila Cote-Meek will lead the introduction of the plan to the Brock community on Thursday, Oct. 1 at noon in the University’s Goodman Atrium.

  The Indigenous Strategic Plan was developed through consultations with Indigenous students, faculty, staff and community representatives, who shared their experiences and thoughts on opportunities such as Indigenous learner success, the representation of Indigenous cultures, community engagement, curriculum, evaluation and accountability. This feedback informed the priorities illustrated in the plan.

  At Brock, Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners work together to build a University where Indigenous learners, faculty and staff thrive, and relationships with Indigenous communities are strengthened through shared responsibility and care. The Indigenous Strategic Plan translates this commitment to a clear vision for advancing Indigenous education and building and nurturing relationships into the future.

  What: Launch of the Brock University Indigenous Strategic Plan

  When: Thursday, Oct. 1 from noon to 2 p.m.

  Where: Goodman Atrium, Brock University

  Interview opportunities will be available following the ceremony. Media are asked to contact Communications Specialist Melinda Cheevers at [email protected] to arrange parking.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Melinda Cheevers, Communications Specialist, Brock University, [email protected] or 289-241-5855

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  Categories: Media releases

• Augmented reality research brings climate futures to life

  Thursday, September 24, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE – Sept. 24, 2026 — R0087

  Visitors to St. Catharines’ Lakeside Park are getting a glimpse of possible climate futures thanks to the fieldwork of Julia Baird’s Empathy for Sustainability research team.

  Anyone over the age of 18 is invited to participate in data collection for Virtual Water Futures, a 15-minute experience that allows viewers to observe the park as it is today and then, using augmented reality (AR), see what the area might look like in the future as climate change causes rising lake levels and more frequent storm surges.

  Baird, Professor and Director of Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), says the goal is to understand whether AR can encourage climate action now by “bringing the future to the present.”

  “Climate impacts happen in the future, but we need to take action now, and that’s a really challenging space for people to be in psychologically. Most of us know things are going to happen that will be deeply unpleasant and really challenge the places we love in ways that are not desirable,” she says. “We focused this AR work on Lakeside Park specifically because it’s such an iconic place in St. Catharines, on the shore of Lake Ontario.”

  In addition to ESRC researchers, students and affiliates, the team also includes hydroclimatologist Scott Steinschneider from Cornell University and collaborators from several community partners, including the City of St. Catharines.

  Olivia Groff, Climate Change Adaptation Co-ordinator with the City of St. Catharines, is among those working with the team and says she is eager to see the results of the study.

  “The use of augmented reality to help demonstrate possible climate scenarios and associated impacts to our own Lakeside Park here in St. Catharines is quite unique,” Groff says. “Flooding events have occurred in the park before, which may be familiar to survey participants, while the added layers and highlighted features of the AR future scenarios hopefully resonate with them.”

  Master of Sustainability student Alicia Rauth (BA ’25) will be using the data to support her thesis research into how people recognize changes in their local environment and whether those insights inspire them to become more involved in community-based natural resource management.

  She says research participants acknowledged that their perspectives on flooding scenarios had likely changed following the severe storms and significant flooding that led the City of St. Catharines to declare a State of Emergency in August.

  “We had already been out collecting data about a month prior to the flooding,” Rauth says. “We had a lot of participants verbally express that had they answered our survey before the flooding, their answers would not be the same.”

  While the AR scenarios developed for the study are more focused on the longer-term impacts of repeated flooding events from lake storm surge than on extreme rainfall events like those of the past summer, Baird says it will be interesting to analyze the data collected before and after the events that had such a serious impact on participants, as well as their friends and neighbours.

  Baird, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience, also looks forward to seeing AR’s potential as a tool in support of sustainability measures.

  “We’re hoping that this is a starting point for something much larger,” she says. “And we hope that augmented reality, if we show that it’s effective, can be implemented in other situations and applied more broadly for the same purpose in various locations.”

  People are invited to visit Lakeside Park before the end of September to take part in the research.

  The project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, which is funded by the Government of Canada, as part of Baird’s 2025 Insight Grant “Building Empathy for Sustainable Water Futures.”

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Melinda Cheevers, Communications Specialist, Brock University, [email protected] or 289-241-5855

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  Categories: Media releases