Welcome!
Information will be updated as it becomes available. Please check back regularly.
PLEASE NOTE: If you plan on attending the symposium, you must register through Eventbrite using this link.
Welcome to the Graduate Student Symposium! This event is a chance for SENS students to present their work using short presentations. Following the opening of the symposium, there will be a morning session of student presentations, followed by lunch (provided). The afternoon session includes a keynote address, four longer student showcase talks, and a panel discussion celebrating the Redberry Lake Biosphere Region, followed by a mixer event with light refreshments.
Student presentations are judged on their quality and clarity by SENS faculty, staff, students, and guests, and the top choices are awarded a small prize (and bragging rights). We encourage all viewers to rate the presentations using the online judging form that will be provided in each symposium sesison.
The symposium will be a hybrid event, held in-person in the Agriculture building (see map of 2nd floor), located at 51 Campus Drive in Saskatoon (view map), and via Zoom. There is paid parking available in the parkade underneath the Agriculture building (view map), and there is direct access to the building directly from the parkade.
General Schedule
August 27, 2026
| Time | Activity |
| 8–9 am | Registration |
| 9–9:05 am |
Welcome from SENS (Room 2C61) Dr. Markus Brinkmann, Assistant Director Academic (External) |
| 9:05–9:40 am |
Opening of the Symposium (Room 2C61) Elder Julie Pitzel |
| 9:40–9:45 am |
SENS Executive Director's Message (Room 2C61) Dr. Karsten Liber |
| 9:45–9:50 am | How to navigate breakout rooms (*online participants only*) |
| 9:45 - 10 am | Break |
| 10–11 am | Concurrent Sessions (Rooms 2C61 & 2C71): Student presentations (in-person and online; see above for Zoom link) Please use the online judging form provided in the session chats to score the presentations. |
| 11–11:15 am | Break |
| 11:30 am– 12:30 pm |
Concurrent Sessions (continued; Rooms 2C61 & 2C71): Student presentations (in-person and online; see above for Zoom link) Please use the online judging form provided in the session chats to score the presentations. |
| 12:30–1:30 pm | Catered lunch (complimentary for all; Room 2D77) |
| 1:30–2:15 pm |
Keynote Address (Room 2C61) "Turning Ideas into Action" Shannon Dyck, Sustainability Specialist, City of Saskatoon |
| 2:15–3:15 pm | SENS Showcase Presentations (Room 2C61) |
| 3:15–3:30 pm | Break |
| 3:30–4:15 pm |
Special Moderated Panel Discussion (Room 2C61): Celebrating Redberry Lake Biosphere Region |
| 4:15–4:30 pm |
Awards and wrap up (Room 2C61) Dr. Markus Brinkmann, Assistant Director Academic (External) |
| 4:30–6 pm | Celebration mixer (refreshments will be served; Room 2C61) |
Concurrent sessions
Session A: Room 2C61 (Moderators: Markus Brinkmann & Elaina Guilmette) (NOTE: The session schedule listed below is TENTATIVE)
|
Time |
Student |
Program |
Academic advisor |
Partner organization(s) |
Presentation title |
|
10:00 |
Roberto Carlos Sanchez Ambrosio |
MES |
Tim Jardine and Christy Morrissey |
N/A |
Understanding the impacts of agricultural land use on aquatic insect populations in the Prairie Pothole Region |
|
10:10 |
Belinda Opoku |
MWS |
Karl Lindenschmidt |
Global Institute for Water Security and Government of Northwest Territories |
Shifts in ice jam flood due to climate change at Tsiigehtchic |
|
10:20 |
Daniel Oyekunle |
MWS |
John-Mark Davies |
Water Security Agency |
Comparison of water quality in the Saskatchewan River watershed between the upstream border with Alberta and the downstream border with Manitoba |
|
10:30 |
Pravini Shashikala Navarathne Mudiyanselage | MSs-Regenerative Sustainability | Oscar Zapata and Karsten Liber | North Saskatchwean Business Association (Aneela Salman) | Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Accounting and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Gap Analysis in SMEs: A Case Study in Northern Strands, Saskatoon |
|
10:40 |
Deepasika Weragodathenna |
MWS |
Ryan Brook |
City of Saskatoon, Urban Species at Risk (Michael Hill and Shannon Dyck) |
Identifying Urban Species at Risk in Saskatoon - A GIS-Based Approach for Urban Conservation Planning |
|
10:50 |
Joseph Gator Attila |
MWS |
Markus Brinkman and Kerry McPhedran |
City of Saskatoon |
Chemical Inventory and Risk Profiling of Saskatoon Wastewater Using Non-Target Analysis |
|
11:00 - 11:15 BREAK |
|
|
|
||
|
11:15 |
Aklima Haque |
MWS |
Andrew Ireson |
Global Institute for Water Security |
Permafrost Thaw Dynamics |
|
11:25 |
Jessica Litman |
MSs-Regenerative Sustainability |
Rachel Engler-Stringer |
Saskatoon Foodbank |
SFBLC Food Waste Audit |
| 11:35 | Brenda Wallace | PhD | Maureen Reed | N/A | Regenerative Organizing to Transcend Trade-Offs: Biosphere Region Initiatives Across Canada |
Session B: Room 2C71 (Moderators: Varuni Jayasooriya and Edmond Sanganyado) (NOTE: The session schedule listed below is TENTATIVE)
|
Time |
Student |
Program |
Academic advisor |
Partner organization(s) |
Presentation title |
|
10:00 |
Brittany Moore (online) |
MWS |
Karl Lindenschmidt |
Global Institute for Water Security and Government of Northwest Territories |
Shifts in Ice-Jam Flood Hazards Due to Climate Change: A Case Study on the Slave River at Fitzgerald |
|
10:10 |
Ferdous Wahid Arnob |
MSs-Regenerative Sustainability |
Vladimir Kricsfalusy |
Flora Sasakatchewan under Andrew Fosa and Beth Dolmage |
Geospatial Analysis of Diversity, Distribution, and Habitat Affinities of Willows (Salix L.) in Saskatchewan |
|
10:20 |
Morgan Cote |
MWS |
Graham Strickert |
Redberry Lake Biosphere Region (Terry Gange) |
Establishing a bathymetric baseline for Redberry Lake, Saskatchewan
|
|
10:30 |
Hillary Lansfield (online) | MWS | Saman Razavi | Global Institute for Water Security and BC Hydro | The Role of Glacier Inflows in The Cheakamus Watershed |
|
10:40 |
Arezou Abyaneh |
MWS |
Jeff McDonnell |
MOST, Global Institute for Water Security, and City of Saskatoon (Cody Millar) |
Event‑Scale Green Roof Modelling: From Runoff-Rainfall Response to Source Water Contributions |
|
10:50 |
Nischal Lamichhane |
MWS |
Jeff McDonnell |
MOST, Global Institute for Water Security, and City of Saskatoon (Cody Millar) |
SWMM Modeling of Green Roof Retention and Detention Performance Under High-Intensity Simulated Rainfall |
|
11:00 - 11:15 BREAK |
|
|
|
||
|
11:15 |
Chamathka Naiyandikarige |
MES |
Varuni Jayasooriya |
N/A |
Towards Climate-Informed Urban Crime Prediction: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Seasonal and Urban Environmental Influences on Violent Crime in Saskatoon (2011–2025) |
|
11:25 |
Lina Marcela Idrobo | MES | James Robson | N/A | Campesino-Led Environmental Protection and Territorial Peacebuilding: Lessons from an Armed Conflict-affected Zone in Colombia |
|
11:35 |
Manizhe Zarei | MES | Saman Razavi | N/A | Real-time flood inundation mapping Using Height Above Nearest Drainage model |
| 11:45 | Dardy Vixamar | MWS | James Robson | Redberry Lake Biosphere Region (Terry Gange) | Sensing the Heart of a Biosphere Region: The State of Water Quality at Redberry Lake |
SENS Showcase session (Room 2C61)
|
Time |
Student |
Academic advisor |
Presentation title |
|
2:15 |
Gregory Frie |
Markus Brinkmann |
Exploring Mussel Ecology in the Lower Qu'Appelle River Using Molecular Tools |
|
2:30 |
Arooba Khan | Elaina Guilmette |
Co-creating opportunities within SENS and in the Energy Sector |
|
2:45 |
Alana Muenchrath |
Andrew Ireson |
More than Meets the Ice: Understanding Permafrost Thaw in the Taiga Shield |
|
3:00 |
Ryan Sojnocki (online) | Doug Clark | Rethinking Conservation: What Happens When Different Ways of Knowing Meet |