RBC Queen’s Water Initiative

2012-11-12 John Smol, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change, will give a talk on November 15 as part of the RBC Queen's Water Initiative Speaker Series.

Queen’s is promoting a deeper appreciation for water protection issues through a speaker series that launches this week.

“We often take for granted how heavily we rely on watersheds. They are vital for everything from drinking water to many of our recreational activities,” says Geof Hall, Associate Director, Queen’s Water Research Centre, and a co-organizer of the RBC Queen’s Water Initiative Speaker Series. “These talks are designed to bring water issues home to people and engage them in thinking about ways they can protect the water sources around them.”

The speaker series is a key outreach component of the $2-million RBC Queen’s University Water Initiative established earlier this year. The multi-disciplinary initiative brings together university researchers and community partners over the next 10 years to expand knowledge of watershed resources. The speaker series, geared for the general public, will feature researchers as well as people outside the academic world working on these issues.

Queen’s professor John Smol (Biology), Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change, will give the inaugural talk on November 15. He will explain how he uses lake sediments to study water quality issues and how that information is important for protecting water resources in the future.

The second talk scheduled for January 23 will combine a guest speaker and a symposium where Queen’s and Royal Military College graduate students will present their water- and watershed-related research. The third talk will occur early in April.