New research projects for Sentinel North

Published on 28 Jan 2021

Sentinel North begins 2021 with the funding of 14 new projects that will enrich its collaborative research program aimed at improving our understanding of the northern environment and its impact on humans and their health.

Launched in the winter of 2020, the objective of Sentinel North’s second major call for proposals was to fund initiatives that promote innovative interdisciplinary approaches to address the challenges associated with the program’s three priority research axes. With a total budget of $9.5 million, the funded teams bring together 89 researchers from 33 departments and 9 faculties at Université Laval. They will work closely with northern organizations, public and private sector organizations, and other universities and research institutes in Canada and abroad.

Several of the selected projects are led by emerging researchers, reflecting Sentinel North’s efforts to encourage the recruitment and establishment of young, high-level scientists at Université Laval (See the ULaval Nouvelles article, available in French).

 

Axis 1. Impact of environmental change on northern ecosystems and infrastructure

• BOND2.0 — Deploying light-based sensing technologies to monitor climate active gases in a mutating Arctic
  Martin Bernier (Physics, physical engineering and optics), Daniel Nadeau (Civil and water engineering)


• Development of resilient municipal wastewater treatment infrastructure targeting water reuse in Nunavik
  Céline Vaneeckhaute (Chemical engineering)


• Ecogenomics of mining areas for sustainable Canadian North (GENOSCAN)
  Véronic Landry (Wood and forest sciences), Damase Khasa (Wood and forest sciences)


• Last ice microbiomes and Arctic ecosystem health
  Alexander Culley (Biochemistry, microbiology and bio-informatics), Warwick Vincent (Biology)


• Interdisciplinary research to understand changing food-web dynamics and threats to food security in the northern boreal forest
  Daniel Fortin (Biology), Jérôme Cimon-Morin (Wood and forest sciences)


• A network of automated sensors to monitor arctic animals and environmental changes through advanced computational approaches
  Pierre Legagneux (Biology), Audrey Durand (Computer science and software engineering)

Axis 2: Environment-Health Interactions in the North

• Biophilic design in the Arctic: Immersive community co-creation to reconcile well-being and energy performance in Ikaluktutiak architecture
  Claude MH Demers (Architecture), Marc Hébert (Ophtalmology), Jean-François Lalonde (Electrical and computer engineering)


• Sustainable and resilient country food systems for future generations of Nunavimmiut - promoting food security while adapting to changing northern environments
  Frédéric Maps (Biology), Mélanie Lemire (Social and preventive medicine)


• Interactions between the northern environment and chronobiotics: Impact on cardiometabolic and neurometabolic health
  Alexandre Caron (Pharmacy), Andréanne Michaud (Nutrition)


• The exposome-microbiota-brain axis under the microscope to tackle environment-health interactions in the North
  Paul De Koninck (Biochemistry, microbiology and bio-informatics), Pierre Ayotte (Social and preventive medicine)


• Biological signatures of stress responses and potentiality of a diet enriched in n-3 fatty acids to promote positive mental health status despite adversity
  Caroline Ménard (Psychiatry and neuroscience)


• Tininnimiutait: Assessing the potential of local marine foods accessible from the shore to increase food security and sovereignty in Nunavik
  Lucie Beaulieu (Food sciences), Ladd Johnson (Biology)


• Extreme zooming on intestinal permeability and the western-style diet
  Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal (Psychiatry and neuroscience), Denis Boudreau (Chemistry)

Axis 3: Data Analysis, Predictive Modelling and Knowledge Transfer

• Mobilizing and transferring knowledge between northern communities and Sentinel North
  Holly Witteman (Family and Emergency Medicine), Jacynthe Roberge (Design)

 

A high-impact strategy

Since 2017, Sentinel North’s research strategy has enabled more than 70 projects, chairs, and joint international research units to develop interdisciplinary initiatives aimed at sustainable health and development in the North. Our community continues to grow and diversify, with more than 700 members from 40 Université Laval departments working in a spirit of convergence and innovation with more than 350 collaborators and partners from 20 countries. The teams have already delivered more than 1,300 scientific papers and publications, including more than 225 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, most of which are highly interdisciplinary and available in open access.

 

See program results and highlights