Lecture Series
The Sustainability Council’s Lecture Series explores local and global perspectives on sustainability, equity and climate action. Hear researchers and practitioners from the University of Alberta and beyond in fields ranging from engineering to ecology, public health to poetry, native studies to nanotechnology.
The Lecture Series is delivered to you on a monthly basis. We aim to highlight sustainability research, teaching and innovation over a range of topics with the goal of generating conversation on sustainability across disciplines.
Contact Us
Ishaan Sachdeva
Project Planner - SDG Engagement
isachde1@ualberta.ca
Fall 2026 Lectures
Browse Past talks
Revisit thought-provoking talks and dive into a variety of topics shared by our experts. The tables below show an overview of the speakers, talk titles, and access to recordings (if available):
| Speakers | Talk Title |
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Monica Gruezmacher & Kristof Van Assche |
Leadership for Sustainability Transitions | Watch Recording | |
| Speakers | Talk Title |
|---|---|
| Anna Zivarts | Community Session: Transportation and Disability Advocate Visit |
| Dr. Matt Labbe | How Batteries Will Save the World (Kind Of) |
| Mercedes Morin | Canada’s Path to 2030: Government and Youth in Action |
| Dr. Omid Ardakanian | Using AI for Control of Sustainable Energy Systems |
| Dr. Sherilee Harper, Haemin Park, Dr. Breanne Aylward, Dr. Marsha Hinds Myrie, Dr. Andria Jones | Mental Health, Resilience, and Justice in a Warming World |
| Dr. Kisha Supernant | Caring for our Relations: Sustainable Approaches to Indigenous Cultural Heritage Preservation |
| Michelle Kim | Global Citizens Lab: UN Simulation for Local SDG Action |
| Sustainable Development Goals Student Alliance (SDGSA) | SDGSA Lip Balm Making Workshop |
| Dr. Elizabeth Halpenny | Connecting Alberta Consumers to Local Agritourism |
| Speakers | Talk Title |
|---|---|
| Breanne Aylward, Hannah Bayne, Tony Yuen | Climate Change and our Health |
| Sustainable Development Goals Students' Alliance | Climate Cafe, Book Swap + Crafts |
| Wajed El-Halabi, ACGC (+ Hope Salim) | Global Citizens not Global Robbers: In Classrooms, Internships, Travel, and Beyond |
| Sarah DeLano | Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Stewardship |
| Huong Le | Economic Expectation and Support for Renewable Energy in Alberta’s Power Grid |
| Vada Antonakis and Sydney Gross | Retrofitting the Narrative Around Climate Resilience and Heritage |
| Brenda Heelan Powell, Adebayo Majekolagbe, Andrew Leach | An (Un) Sustainable Constitution |
| Rae Madge | Two spirit/Indigiqueer Pasts/Presents/Futures |
| Breanne Aylward, Stephanie Olsen | Grief, Worry, Hopelessness: Navigating Youth Mental Health in an Era of Climate Change |
| Dr. Shegelski | Biology RE Peter Sustainability Keynote Speaker |
| Chantel Akinneah, Fatima Dhooma, Sofiyah Shariff | Exploring Perspectives on Intersectional Environmentalism |
| Robert Summers, Lisa Glock, Saad Iqbal, Emma-Leigh Snow | Homeownership: What Is It but a Dream? Generational Fairness and the Millennial and Gen Z Housing Crisis |
| Speakers | Talk Title | Other info |
|---|---|---|
| Jemimah Njuki | Re-imagining solutions for gender equality in a time of crisis | N/A |
| Runa Das |
Canada’s households and the zero carbon transition |
Watch Recording |
| Kristof Van Assche, Monica Gruezmacher |
Strategy for Sustainable Transitions |
Watch Recording |
| Vicente Carabias |
Innovation for Sustainable Smart Cities & Regions |
Watch Recording |
| Stephen Wong | Tackling Critical Evacuation Challenges with Human-Centered Approaches | Watch Recording |
| Jennifer Jacquet, Tushar Mehta, Jason Hannan, Kenny Torrella, Howard Nye, Karen Levenson | Selling Sustainability: Animal Agriculture's Disinformation Tactics | Watch Recording |
| Arne Andres | Crowdsensing-based Near-Real-Time Monitoring of Accessibility Status | Watch Recording |
| Odile Cisneros | The Poetry of Garbage in Contemporary Brazilian Culture | Watch Recording |
| Colleen Reid | Carbon in Spatial Design: Embodied and Operational | Watch Recording |
| Maria D'Orsgona | Saving Italy from Big Oil | N/A |
| Agnes Förster | REVIERa – a platform approach for regional sustainability transitions | Watch Recording |
| Karen Lee | Opportunities to Synergize Health and Sustainability Outcomes through the Healthy Community Guidelines | Watch Recording |
| Sandeep Agrawal | What does Sustainability mean in High-Latitude Cities? | N/A |
| Bastian Lehrheuer (Aachen) | Fuel Science: Sustainable Mobility Based on Renewable Resources | Watch Recording |
| Josephine Godwyll | Sustainability and Spatial Justice: A focus on recreational sites and facilities | Watch Recording |
| Sven Anders | Public Acceptance of Carbon Capture and Storage in Canada. |
N/A |
| Feng Qiu | Low Carbon Energy Transition | Watch Recording |
| Jen Rae | The Role of Culture and the Arts in the Climate Emergency | Watch Recording |
| Lana Whiskeyjack | "nîya ayisiyiniw ôma ohci asiskiy" I am a human-being of this earth. | Watch Recording |
| Speakers | Talk Title | Other info |
|---|---|---|
| Jason Syxivay | Building Equity in Planning Practice | Watch Recording |
| John Robinson | Normalizing Sustainability: beyond behaviour change | Watch Recording |
| Paul Galpern | Precision agriculture meets precision sustainability: the merits of making fields messy | Watch Recording |
| Greg King | The Stories That Trees Tell: Insights into urban environments and beyond from tree-rings | Watch Recording |
| Aamir Jamal | The Gate Keepers: Engaging Men in Gender Justice and Girls Education in Northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan | Watch Recording |
| Daniel Rainham | Healthcare in a Climate Crisis: The Need for Sustainable Health Systems | |
| Madiha Nawaz David Crosby |
Does Coffee have a future? | N/A |
| Sean Stepchuk | Municipal Grassroots Environmental Activism with Waste Free Edmonton | Watch Recording |
| Gopal Dayaneni | Beyond Counting Carbon: Universities, communities and the climate crisis | Watch Recording |
| Andrew Leach Kathryn Harrison |
Watch Recording | |
| Speakers | Talk Title | Other info |
|---|---|---|
| Ashlee Cunsolo | Hidden Waste: Lean construction for sustainability | Watch Recording |
| Jude Kong | Estimating and predicting greenhouse gas emissions from tailing ponds | Watch Recording |
| Sherilee Harper |
Climate Change and Public Health (new IPCC report)
|
Watch Recording |
| Stephanie Chute - Ibsen | Dishing the Dirt on Soil Invertebrates and Sustainability | Watch Recording |
| Theresa May (not former UK PM) | ------- | N/A |
| Stephanie Kelton | How can we afford the future we must build together? | Watch Recording |
| Val Napoleon | Indigenous Law and Public Legal Education | Watch Recording |
| Kate Raworth | Doughnut Economics for Thriving Communities with Ben Geselbrecht | N/A |
| Climate Change Theatre Action | Climate Change Theatre Action - UAlberta | N/A |
| Peter Victor | Managing without Growth: Slower by Design, not Disaster | Watch Recording |
| Aditi Mayer | Decolonial Approaches to Land, Labor, & Fashion with Aditi Mayer | N/A |
| Steven Hoffman Sherilee Harper |
Intersections of COVID-19 and the climate emergency | Watch Recording
|
| Jessica Vandenberghe Ginger Gibson | Engineering community benefits: local engagement in practice | Watch Recording |
| Edmonton Mayoral Candidate Climate Debate | ------- | Watch Recording |
| Catherine Potvin | Visit an ancient tropical forest | Watch Recording |
| Speakers | Talk Title | Other info |
|---|---|---|
| Carrie Armstrong | Indigenous Healing Plants | Watch Recording |
| Fahrook Hamzeh | Hidden Waste: Lean construction for sustainability | N/A |
| Kira Hunt | Biomimicry: Design inspired by nature | Watch Recording |
| Tanya Kalmanovitch | Tar Sands Songbook | Watch Recording |
| Michael Robidoux | Land-based Food Security in Northern Indigenous Communities | Watch Recording |
| Geeta Belas | Bridging the Gender Gap with Design | Watch Recording |
| Kari Marie Norgaard | Salmon and Acorns Feed Our People | N/A |
| PearlAnn Reichwein | The Banff School of Fine Arts and the Public University | Watch Recording |
| Ashley Dawson | Green Capitalist Realism, CO2lonialism, and the Urban Climate Insurgency | Watch Recording |
| Kristof Van Assche | The Route to Reinvention | Watch Recording |
| Joëlle Saey-Volckrick Nick von Andrian | Degrowth in the Time of COVID-19 | Watch Recording |
| Corey Trepanier | Into the Arctic | N/A |
| Soorayan Mookerjea Malaika Collette | COP Hack: Student Engagement | |
| Tang Lee | Synergy and Creativity in a Pandemic World | Watch Recording |
| Chelsea Miya Oliver Rossier Geoffrey Rockwell |
Right Research book launch | N/A |
| Aneri Garg Justine Karst |
Ecosystem restoration in coral reefs and boreal forests | Watch Recording |
| Speaker | Talk Title | Other info |
|---|---|---|
| Mél Hogan | Genomic Media / Sustainable DNA | N/A |
| Sheikh Abdul Aziz | The Green Sheikh | N/A |
| Patrick Mahon | Perilous Voyages: Art, environment and the search for a global commons | N/A |
| Debra Marquart | Beautiful Trouble: Imagining sustainable energy futures | N/A |
| Selena Couture Stefano Muneroni |
Climate Change Theatre Action | N/A |
| Lars Hallstrom | No Canary, No Coal Mine: Understanding sustainability for rural communities in Alberta | N/A |
| Tiffany Higgins | Infrastructure, Fish and Indigenous & Traditional Peoples in Brazil's Amazon | N/A |
| Victor Lieffers | Forest Sustainability: Policy, social values and climate change | Watch Recording |
| Dwayne Donald | Homo Economics and Forgetful Curriculum | Watch Recording |
| Mary Beckie | Moving Beyond Organic? Ecological farming and local food trends in Alberta | Watch Recording |
| Diana Leong | Anchoring the Climate Commons - Slave Ship Earth | N/A |
| Brent Swallow Juanita Gnanapragasam Aaron Paquette |
Green Drinks: Food and Climate Change | N/A |
| Sourayan Mookerjea Kerry Constabile Angele Alook Carrie Karsgaard Mike Bonanno |
COP 101: Understanding the UN Climate Talks | N/A |
| Sheena Wilson Natalie Loveless Kirby Calvert |
Energy In/Out of Place | N/A |
Sustainability Keynote Speakers
"An innovative speaker can revolutionize how we see the world." The Sustainability Keynote Speakers bring renowned leaders from all over the world to speak on sustainability issues such as climate change, just development, clean tech and pollution.
Lectures are free and open to the public, including alumni and community members.
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