We are a national program with an international team of scholars

Local research program? Nope.

We represent over half the world’s continents

Within five months of its first year, CREATE-CSS has already brought together students and researchers from around the world. Between our first 12 students, we have representation from North America, Africa, and Asia. If you include our lead investigator, Dr. Claudia Wagner-Riddle, we see South America too!

This year, CREATE-CSS students are spread across the country at five different universities – Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Guelph, McGill, and Dalhousie. So far, there is at least one student from a different province or country at each university. In fact, only the University of Guelph and University of Manitoba are attended by at least one student whose home province is Ontario or Manitoba respectively.

Check out the map below to see where this year’s CREATE-CSS students are studying, and which countries, states, and provinces they are from originally.

We held our first offering of the CREATE-CSS Core Course, ‘Principles and Assessment of Climate-Smart Soils,’ at the University of Guelph this past September, and it was the first time we had all 12 scholars representing six different countries in one room (and hopefully not the last time – it was too much fun). Each student comes from a different field of study, mostly relating to agriculture, environmental science, or social studies, and each offers perspectives that reflect their unique academic and cultural backgrounds. During the core course, this was fascinating in all aspects of discussion, whether the topic was agricultural practices, economics, or equity, diversity and inclusion. All 12 students were keen to soak up everything new perspectives have to offer – what better way to broaden your knowledge than by hearing experiences of others? – while also becoming a great group of friends in the process.

Since September, students have continued to learn from each others’ diverse backgrounds by working on a handful of different group assignments. Everyone has had a chance to work together at some point along the way which, in addition to being a neat learning opportunity, has been an exercise in making the most of technology to stay in touch and on track. They’ve also maintained their network as both friends and emerging professionals, regardless of how many provinces lie between them.

We’ll be accepting students into the second year of the CREATE Climate-Smart Soils program soon, and we are excited about the the opportunity to meet new people, learn about different cultures, and hear more about agriculture and climate-smart soils from a new group of scholars.