The ambitious Sentinel North research program is articulated within priority research axes and several partnerships with key collaborators from Université Laval and beyond.

With more than 55 research projects completed or underway, Sentinel North has achieved its goal of mobilizing a dynamic research community and generating dozens of new and innovative transdisciplinary collaborations between world-class researchers and recognized research centers from our institution and from the international.

 

Sentinel North research projects

Call for proposals 2020-2024
 

• A network of automated sensors to monitor arctic animals and environmental changes through advanced computational approaches

• Interdisciplinary research to understand changing food-web dynamics and threats to food security in the northern boreal forest

• Ecogenomics of mining areas for sustainable Canadian North (GENOSCAN)

• Last ice microbiomes and Arctic ecosystem health

• Development of resilient municipal wastewater treatment infrastructure targeting water reuse in Nunavik, Québec

• BOND2.0 — Deploying light-based sensing technologies to monitor climate active gases in a mutating Arctic

• Tininnimiutait: Assessing the potential of local marine foods accessible from the shore to increase food security and sovereignty in Nunavik

• Interactions between the northern environment and chronobiotics: Impact on cardiometabolic and neurometabolic health

• The exposome-microbiota-brain axis under the microscope to tackle 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

• Extreme zooming on intestinal permeability and the western-style diet

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

• Sustainable and resilient country food systems for future generations of Nunavimmiut - promoting food security while adapting to changing northern environments

• Mobilizing and transferring knowledge between northern communities and Sentinel North

Targeted call for proposals
 

• QAUJIKKAUT: an on-line advanced foresight tool of extreme meteorological events and natural hazards in Nunavik using real-time access to the SILA network of climate and environmental observatories

• Participatory Action for an Inuit-Led Research on Food Production and Nutrition in Inuit Nunangat

• NUNARISK: Early warning system for drinking water management and monitoring through the analysis of online and continuous environmental data

• Doing things differently: An atlas of best practices and opportunities for culturally acceptable and sustainable living environments in Nunavik

Thematic project 1 : Complex systems: structure, function and interrelationships in the North
 

• 1.1 Network analysis of umbrella and indicator species: Assessing the integrity of northern ecosystems

• 1.2 The resilience of complex networks: Identifying critical indicators for efficient targeted interventions

• 1.3 Characterization and modelling of the key interrelationships of northern water systems under climatic, geosystemic, and societal pressures

• 1.4 Photonic ultimate sensing (pulse) and monitoring of permafrost environments

• 1.5 Pitutsimaniq, networked sensor sentinels for real-time surveillance of infrastructures and ecosystems

Thematic project 2 : Light as a driver, environment, and information carrier
in natural environments and human health
 

• 2.1 Optimizing biophilia in extreme climates through architecture

• 2.2 Innovative optical systems to track winter life in the cryosphere

• 2.3 The use of diatom microalgae for improving the treatment of the light-driven dysfunctions of the biological clock in Arctic human populations

• 2.4 A better understanding of light-matter interactions

• 2.5 Printed solar cells for small remote instruments

• 2.6 Beacons Of Northern Dynamics (BOND) – Developing light-based sensing technologies to monitor climate active gases in a mutating Arctic

• 2.7 Observing Arctic substrates: Unveiling ice, water column, and benthic physical and biological properties using laser remote sensing from autonomous underwater vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles

• 2.8 Development, implementation, and use of miniature portable technologies for the prevention, assessment, and treatment of chronic diseases in northern areas

Thematic project 3 : Microbiomes: sentinels of the northern environment and human health
 

• 3.1 Sentinel microbiomes for Arctic ecosystem health

• 3.2 Comprehensive environmental monitoring in the North: From molecules to microorganisms

• 3.3 BriGHT (Bridging Global change, Inuit Health and the Transforming Arctic Ocean)

• 3.4 Enabling Tools for the Monitoring of Food Quality in the Northern Environment

• 3.5 Impact of environmental conditions on airway microbiota and respiratory health in the North

• 3.6 The gut microbiome: Sentinel of the northern environment and Inuit mental health

• 3.7 Optogenetics investigation of microbiota influence on brain development and epigenetics

• 3.8 Deciphering host–microbial interactions for cardiometabolic and mental health disorders with novel multimodal light-based sensing tools

Partnership research projects

Université Laval / Université Côte d’Azur Partnership
 

• Pinealocyte-derived melatonin: a chronobiotic hormone that modulates the effects of photoperiod on energy homeostasis and metabolic dysfunctions

• Artificial intelligence application to the identification of functional traits of zooplankton from high-resolution images (ARTIFACTZ)

• Development of compact laser sources operating in the mid-infrared spectral region for remote gas sensing systems

• Characterization of essential oils from northern environments

• Frame shift mutation-induced ATI influence on the microbiome

Université Laval / University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) Partnership
 

• CalAct: The impact of light and temperature on Calanus activity patterns in the Arctic

• Calanus redness index from artificial intelligence applications to image analysis (CARDINAL)

• Characterization of underneath sea-ice light field variability in the Arctic Ocean using underwater and aerial autonomous vehicles

• Can we envision net-zero energy buildings in the high north?

• Screening for Emerging Arctic health Risks to Circumpolar Human populations (SEARCH)

• The role of circadian clocks in seasonal synchrony in the Arctic

Building a Sustainable North Partnership Research Program (INQ / SN)
 

• Solutions technico-sociales pour étendre, de Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik, l’utilisation des énergies renouvelables vers d’autres régions du Nunavik

• Élucider les liens entre l’environnement marin et les qualités nutritives du béluga et des bivalves à Quaqtaq

• Dynamics of the Innu ancestral territory (Nitassinan) through the morpho-sedimentary and sociocultural study of Lake Manicouagan (Reservoir)

• Housing and energy transition in Nunavuk: A better understanding of human, tecnical and enironmental issues

• Impacts of climate change and browning on Salmonid oxythermal habitat and green house gas emissions in Arctic regions

• Nunatsiavut Coastal Interactions Project (NCIP): Climate, Environment and Labrador Inuit subsistence strategies

• UVILUQ :The use of liquid biopsies for monitoring the health of coastal marine ecosystems