Each year the School organizes a series of public talks on the “north” broadly defined. Building on Trent’s established role as a centre of innovation on northern research (and in combination with the Roberta Bondar Fellowship in Northern Studies) these lectures are a key feature of academic life at Trent.
North at Trent 2025-2026 Lecture Series
Climate Change Impacts on Freshwater Resources in the Arctic
Dr. Andrew Medeiros, Associate Professor, School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University
Tuesday 18 November 2025
11:30 am
Enwayaang room 112, Symons Campus
*please note revised time & location
About the speaker:
Dr. Andrew Medeiros, an associate professor at the School for Resource and Environmental Studies (SRES) at Dalhousie University, is at the forefront of freshwater ecology research. With a career deeply rooted in both the historical and contemporary aspects of environmental science, Dr. Medeiros's work is integral to understanding and predicting the impacts of climate change on freshwater resources.
Dr. Medeiros's research revolves around two main avenues: the historical influence of climate change over the past 10,000 years and predicting future ecosystem changes under contemporary climate conditions. As a freshwater ecologist, he employs methodologies like limnology, paleolimnology, and bioassessment to study lakes, lake sediments, and biological indicators, respectively. This interdisciplinary approach allows Dr. Medeiros to bridge the gap between ecological systems and human interactions, providing insights into how environmental and anthropogenic factors affect freshwater security.
A significant portion of Dr. Medeiros's recent work focuses on municipal water supply sustainability in Arctic communities. These communities often rely on a single reservoir, making them vulnerable to climate variability. Dr. Medeiros has conducted extensive environmental impact assessments and bioindicator analyses to understand how pollution and climate change affect these water resources.
About the talk:
Anthropogenic stressors to freshwater environments have perpetuated water quality and quantity challenges for communities across Arctic Canada, making drinking water resources a primary concern for northern peoples. The ability to collect and synthesize long-term environmental monitoring data is essential for the effective management of freshwater ecosystems; yet, our knowledge of Arctic systems is rarely sufficient for even short-term planning for municipal freshwater provisioning. Progress has been made in assessment and monitoring approaches that have integrated routine monitoring programs into more holistic watershed-scale vulnerability assessments. While the concept of vulnerability assessment is well-defined for ecosystems, complementary and sometimes competing concepts of adaptive management, ecological integrity, and ecological condition complicate the communication of results to a broader audience. Likewise, we often do not have enough monitoring data to be able to effectively plan for future needs. Here, I discuss progress in freshwater assessments for Arctic communities that can contribute to the identification and communication of freshwater vulnerability. We review novel methods that address common challenges associated with: 1) a lack of baseline information behind ecosystem services, 2) variability associated with a spatial context of how climate change manifests in the Arctic, and 3) the ability of biological indicators that enable us to make inferences about ecological condition. Innovation in methods and communication are discussed as a means to highlight meaningful cost-effective results that target policy towards heuristic ecosystem-management of freshwater resources geared towards Arctic regions.
All Eyes on the Arctic: Where Geopolitics and Security Intersect
Friday 28 November 2025
1:00 pm
The Pit, Lady Eaton College, Symons Campus
Greenland Foreign Policy in the Midst of Geopolitical Tensions
with Rasmus Leander Nielson
and
The Nature of Grey Zone Arctic Threats: Lessons from Norway
with Marc Lanteigne
About the lectures:
The world is in flux, with powerful, connected trends reshaping global geopolitics: climate change, autocracies and disruptive states (particularly China and Russia) challenging the rules-based international order, and new and disruptive technologies that “are rapidly redefining conflict and what it takes to be safe and secure.”
Canada highlights the Arctic as a region of particular concern and priority. Reflective of this new world, Greenland and Norway have announced new foreign policy strategies focused on the changing threat environment and the connection of local, national, and international security issues
About the speakers:
Dr. Nielsen is Head of Nasiffik (Centre for Foreign & Security Policy) and Associate Professor at the Department of Arctic Social Science and Economics, Ilisimatusarfik (University of Greenland). He holds a PhD from the University of Southern Denmark and has previously worked as editor-in-chief at an online magazine and as assistant lecturer at the University of Copenhagen. His main research interests include Greenlandic foreign policy, Arctic security and cooperation, and International Relations and EU-studies. Dr. Nielsen is a widely used expert and commentator on Greenlandic and Arctic Affairs.
Dr. Lanteigne is a Professor of Political Science at UiT: The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, specialising in Chinese and East Asian politics and international relations, as well as Asia-Pacific security and cooperation. He also specialises in the politics and security of the Polar Regions, including Chinese and East Asian diplomacy in the Arctic and via the Antarctic Treaty System.
This event is co-sponsored by the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN)