Vale Living With Lakes Centre – “Laurentian’s Unique Environmental Research Centre”
VLWLC is a world class environmental research centre on the shores of Ramsey Lake, where early career scientists (BSc, MSc, PhD, PDF), and faculty (shown below) address the big environmental issues of our day (e.g. climate change, aquatic biodiversity and habitat loss, need for effective restoration techniques).
This globally awarded “green” building (LED platinum) is home to the Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit, a senate approved research centre established at Laurentian in 1989 through a partnership with the Ontario government (OMNRF, MECP) as a unique collaborative model, where students work directly with government, industry and university scientists, including with top scientists from 6 collaborating university, to address both basic and applied research question- key to significant public policy and resource management issues.
Living with Lakes Laboratory Facilities
The upper floor mainly consists of a large, open concept lab where researchers and students from all facets of the Co-op Unit work closely together.
“To be all together in this inspiring space gives a great sense of cohesion and purpose to the work we do,” says Dr.Gunn
-Meerna Homayed, The Key: Laurentian University's Research Magazine
Graduate Program in Science Communication
The “Lake Centre” is a beautiful and very special place that supports LU’s mission statement of “Clean water Now and Forever” but is also home to the Graduate Program in Science Communication. The proximities and synergies with Sci Comm allows students to develop elite skills in both science and communication, a powerful tool kit for career development!
The Key: Laurentian University's Research Magazine
The 2019 Key magazine highlights how Laurentian University is celebrating 30 of partnership with the Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit (CFEU) which is a "unique multidisciplinary research partnership with far-reaching global impacts". They are now housed in the Vale Living with Lakes centre following the end of construction in 2011.
Awards
Our monitoring and research findings contributed significantly to the revisions of the NA Clean Air Act, affected a number of important forest, watershed and fisheries management policies, and more recently, is designed to assist with climate adaptation planning for local municipalities and northern First Nations communities.
International recognition of the Holcim Awards
Project authors John Gunn, Scientist, Laurentian University and Jeff Laberge, Architect, J L Richards & Associates, explain how the international recognition of the Holcim Awards generated momentum and broader support for completing the Living with Lakes project.