McGill University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Bieler Undergraduate Research Awards (BURA)
The Bieler School of Environment annually incentivizes students to engage in sustainability research through the BURA program. BURAs are designed for McGill students majoring in the Bieler School of Environment’s undergraduate program and for Sustainability, Science & Society Majors to engage in 16 weeks of full-time research and development activity for the summer term under the supervision of a McGill faculty member, to gain research experience in an exciting academic setting while receiving financial support of $8,300.

In FY2022, 10 students each received $7,500 in research funding. Project summaries can be found here: https://www.mcgill.ca/environment/undergraduate-studies/undergraduate-research/bura-project-summaries/summer-2021

https://www.mcgill.ca/environment/student-funding/bura
-------
McGill Sustainable Systems Initiative
The McGill Sustainable Systems Initiative (MSSI) brings together experts from across McGill’s faculties (including students) providing support and seed funding for transdisciplinary teams to tackle some of the most complex and challenging issues in sustainability. The MSSI provides support for McGill researchers from both the sciences and humanities to work together to develop significant, impactful and socially acceptable advances that move society towards a sustainable model of existence. The funds below are only open to faculty applicants; however, faculty members often use these funds to hire students to contribute to their projects.

Funding programs:
Ideas Fund: the MSSI Ideas Fund provides small amounts of seed funding to explore bold projects and novel ideas which, if successful, could make a significant impact on a sustainability-related challenge. The Fund allows recipients to explore the feasibility of ideas before dedicating significant resources to flesh them out. Its aim is to enable development of projects to a stage where they can attract other funding. $40,000 per award; 5 awards available.

Innovation Fund: The Innovation Fund accelerates the development of an idea or a technology toward widespread societal adoption. Up to $50,000 per award; $100,000 available in total.

Social Sciences and Humanities Ideas Fund: This award provides seed funding to explore bold projects and novel ideas drawn specifically from humanities, arts, and social sciences research with the potential to illuminate or solve sustainability-related challenges. The ultimate result of a successful proposal will contribute positively to society’s shift towards sustainability. $10 000 per award; $20 000 available in total.

https://www.mcgill.ca/mssi/funding-opportunities

McGill Sustainable Systems Initiative
The McGill Sustainable Systems Initiative (MSSI) brings together experts from across McGill’s faculties (including students) providing support and seed funding for transdisciplinary teams to tackle some of the most complex and challenging issues in sustainability. The MSSI provides support for McGill researchers from both the sciences and humanities to work together to develop significant, impactful and socially acceptable advances that move society towards a sustainable model of existence.

Funding programs:
Ideas Fund: the MSSI Ideas Fund provides small amounts of seed funding to explore bold projects and novel ideas which, if successful, could make a significant impact on a sustainability-related challenge. The Fund allows recipients to explore the feasibility of ideas before dedicating significant resources to flesh them out. Its aim is to enable development of projects to a stage where they can attract other funding. $40,000 per award; 5 awards available.

Innovation Fund: The Innovation Fund accelerates the development of an idea or a technology toward widespread societal adoption. Up to $50,000 per award; $100,000 available in total.

Social Sciences and Humanities Ideas Fund: This award provides seed funding to explore bold projects and novel ideas drawn specifically from humanities, arts, and social sciences research with the potential to illuminate or solve sustainability-related challenges. The ultimate result of a successful proposal will contribute positively to society’s shift towards sustainability. $10 000 per award; $20 000 available in total.

https://www.mcgill.ca/mssi/funding-opportunities
-------
Bieler School of Environment Spark Grants
Sparks are small ($7,500 max) grants intended to spark new ideas and collaborations among Bieler School Jointly Appointed Faculty (JAF), Faculty Lecturers and Bieler School Associate members in one or more of the four Bieler School Research Thematic areas.
- human-nature-technology relationships;
- biodiversity and human interactions with other species;
- resilience of social-ecological landscapes;
- the aesthetics, metaphors, science, and politics of addressing climate change
Funding is available for up to four spark grants annually.

Applications are open from teams of JAF, Faculty Lecturers or Bieler Associate members. The intent is to develop projects that create or advance coalitions drawing substantially on the research paths of Bieler JAF or Associates, rather than projects that are simply the extension of a single faculty member’s research program.

Bieler School of Environment Ignite Grants
Ignites are mid-sized ($25,000 per year for up to two years) grants intended to help teams consisting of one or two Bieler School Jointly Appointed Faculty (JAF) and Associate Members to take projects to the next level. The goal of this grant is to create collaboration among our JAF and Associate Members to further develop the Bieler School thematic research areas. This unique grants allow a team or project at McGill to hire MSc or PhD students for two years.
One new project will be funded annually.

https://www.mcgill.ca/environment/research-funding

In the Regulations Relating to the Employment of Tenure Track and Tenured Academic Staff, under Appendix B "Guidelines for Developing a Research Portfolio" professors seeking tenure should list as part of their research accomplishments the following:

"Any research efforts that exemplify innovative, new directions in scholarship or methodologies, such as those involving extensive interdisciplinarity or that may have required extensive 'start-up' resources to acquire data prior to publication and research dissemination.

"This section may also speak to the professor’s commitment to open science and research accessibility through efforts to render scholarly information (e.g., research data and findings, software code, experimental methods) publicly available and transparent."

Thus, professors are encouraged to conduct extensive interdisciplinary research and to ensure their research is publicly accessible.

McGill Librarians support the teaching, research, and learning activities of the various faculties of McGill University. A subject librarian is assigned to support the environmental research activities of the Bieler School of Environment (downtown campus) and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (Macdonald campus). In addition, as sustainability research is multidisciplinary in nature, librarians across many specialties may contribute in the provision of this service.

McGill Librarians compile subject guides in their areas of expertise, helping students & faculty navigate the library’s online and physical collections and resources. Library subject guides of particular interest to sustainability research include the Sustainable Development Goals guide (https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/entrepreneurship/sustainability) and the Environmental Studies guide (http://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/environmental-studies), as well as guides for Natural Resource Sciences, Geography, Urban Planning, and Global Food Security. Many other guides will also contain resources of relevance; for example, the Business guides will help direct users towards resources for finding research on sustainable companies.

In terms of collections, the McGill Library has a number of specialized and multidisciplinary resources (databases, journals, books, etc.) of relevance to sustainability research. Examples of resources of interest include:
- Proquest Agricultural and Environmental Science Collection: Aims to provide comprehensive coverage of the literature relating to environmental sciences. Coverage ranges from 1967-present, and includes scholarly material, as well as a variety of grey literature publications
- GreenFILE (EBSCO): Multidisciplinary coverage of literature relating to the human impact on the environment. Topics covered include green issues, global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.

EDI in Library Research Guides
In the past few years, McGill Library has committed to aligning its initiatives with those outlined in McGill’s Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism, McGill’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Strategic Plan (2020-2025). As a result, the Library has created a research guide on anti-Black racism, continued to publish related research guides, and added EDI content to existing guides in adjacent subject areas (e.g., Black Canadian Studies, Indigenous Studies, LGTBQ+ Studies, etc.)

https://www.mcgill.ca/library/about/edi