Each year, the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (EUC) awards up to four Environmental and Urban Change Undergraduate Research Awards (EUCURA) to EUC students. The EUCURA provides students with hands-on experience and one-on-one mentoring in the research process through a focused research project with faculty members. Each EUCURA is valued at $6,000 and the awardees work on independent research with their faculty supervisors over four months during the summer. This year, the awardees are Emily Ghaemmaghami, Mereille James, Kira Jordun, and Colin Maitland.

Emily Ghaemmaghami is a BES Honours student in Environmental Arts and Justice program at EUC. Supervised by Andil Gosine, her EUCURA involved completing a research project on Visual Arts after Indentureship (VAAI). The project involved identification of artwork and artists outside the existing database of VAAI in relationship to a defined area (for example, queer arts and artists, or women artists) or geographic location (e.g., Guyana, Mauritius, etc.). The work involved research, organizing and documenting and organizing materials as well as technical training in database management and WordPress. To elaborate, VAAI characterizes the bodies of visual artistic practices that emerged in the aftermath of the colonial labour system through which Asian workers, primarily Indians, replaced formerly enslaved Africans to perform plantation labor in the Caribbean, Mauritius, Fiji and elsewhere. Initial efforts in the field sought to address the under-representation and invisibilization of this heritage of the descendants of indentured workers in both historical and contemporary visual arts archives and projects. Asked about receiving the EUCURA: Overall, receiving the award deepened my understanding of the importance of representation in artistic spaces and the role that art plays in community resistance–giving me the confidence to pursue work that advocates for cultural representation in contemporary spaces. I am grateful to EUCURA, to Professor Gosine, and his assistant Andrew Carenza, for supporting me in this journey!  – Emily

Mereille James is a BSc Honours student in the Environmental Science program at EUC. Supervised by Adeyemi Olusola, James’ research project on Enhancing Hydraulic Geometry Measurements Using Salt-Dilution Gauging and Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry within the Black Creek River Basin, Toronto, Canada, aimed to integrate remote sensing with modern and traditional hydrometric techniques to develop a more accurate and reliable approach to measuring river hydraulics. The project included a combination of remote sensing and field-based methods. The focus of this project was to improve the measurement of river flow and velocity to better understand hydraulic geometry, which describes the relationship between a river’s physical characteristics, including its width, depth, velocity and its discharge. Asked about her research work: “I am grateful for the opportunity to work on this research project, which combines remote sensing with established field techniques to deepen our understanding of river dynamics and flow! Supported by the EUCURA, I am excited to contribute to advancing sustainable water resource management by developing more accurate and non-invasive methods for monitoring rivers. This experience is invaluable to me, as it is helping me build practical skills in hydrology and environmental science while allowing me to make a meaningful contribution to flood risk assessment and river basin management.” – Mereille

Kira Jordun is a BA Honours student in the Global Geography program at EUC. Supervised by Joshua Thienpont, Jordun carried out a laboratory analysis of sediment cores extracted from nearshore areas of Lake Nipigon to reconstruct how the aquatic ecosystem has changed over time. This included assessments of lake production through elemental and stable isotope analyses, and measurements of the concentrations of metals in sediment intervals. Overall, these analyses will provide a broad-scale view of Lake Nipigon’s recent environmental changes under the influence of anthropogenic climate warming, particularly in its southern bays. The findings will be incorporated into a multi-proxy paleolimnological study that integrates sediment geochemistry with ecological indicators, offering comprehensive insights, from a Western scientific perspective, into the history of Canada’s “forgotten Great Lake.” Asked about her EUCURA project: “In exploring Lake Nipigon’s environmental history through this EUCURA project, I am privileged to take part in a collaborative scientific effort to illuminate the cumulative impacts of climate change and human activities on this understudied ecosystem, while gaining invaluable training and mentorship in environmental research practices. Through this process, I have strengthened my technical skills and developed a profound respect for the meticulous processes that drive scientific discovery. I am especially grateful to the members of the Limnology and Paleoenvironmental Research Group, whose guidance and support have enriched this learning experience.” – Kira

Colin Maitland is a BES student in the Cities, Regions, Planning program at EUC. Supervised by Sarah Flicker and Shira Taylor, Maitland conducted qualitative research and reported on TMI, a SExT production that focuses on educating youth in high school on sexual and mental health through theatre and peer education. Maitland interviewed 17 peer mentors from five high schools and eight peer educators who were previous participants in the production and are still contributing to the group. The interviews focused on their experiences, what they have learned and how it has shaped their perspectives. Maitland will be transcribed, tagged, encoded and analyzed the qualitative data to uncover common themes and delivered a report. The aim of this project is to expand and improve the program to scale. Asked about his research work on the project: “Gaining hands-on experience has profoundly deepened my understanding of the qualitative research process. The mentorship that I received over the summer in conducting qualitative research from start to finish was eye-opening. Even with minimal knowledge and a hands-off understanding of qualitative research, they were willing to take a chance on my involvement and provided immeasurable guidance in understanding the qualitative process. I am especially grateful to Prof. Flicker and Taylor for their invaluable guidance throughout this academic journey.” – Colin

Acknowledgement: Many thanks to the awardees and to Gurneet Singh, EUC Special Projects Assistant in the Research Office and EUCSA President, for compiling the article. Read more about earlier EUCURA spotlights.