Graduate Student and Post-Doc Training

Graduate work and research assistantships with SERI are an exceptional opportunity to gain experience working with an active, vibrant group of graduate students, researchers, and community-based organizations at a national and international scale.

  • Graduate student researcher stipends are $15,000 (Master’s) and $18,000 (PhD), plus benefits (or as negotiated in terms of contract)
  • Casual research assistantships
  • Links with collaborative research opportunities with community organizations
  • Publication opportunities
  • Bi-monthly collaboration and colloquia series

Current Post Doctoral Fellows

 

Andrew Bieler is a scholar of environmental communication and education. His research draws on cultural studies, social theory, mobile and arts-based methodologies to interrogate processes of public engagement and learning in art galleries, museums, and community-based settings. His Doctoral research examined the cultural and political thresholds of arts-sciences collaborations in the context of the development of public pedagogy about a sustainable response to climate change. Currently, he is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Sustainability and Education Policy Network at the College of Education, University of Saskatchewan.

Current Graduate Students

Kathleen Aikens is a PhD Candidate in the School of Environment and Sustainability. She is interested in the intersections of environment, education, and community, and is currently working with the Sustainability and Education Policy Network to better understand the relationship between policy and practice in Environmental and Sustainability Education. Kathleen completed a Masters in Nature Resource Sciences from McGill University and then spent several years working with community-based organizations in Atlantic Canada and Bhutan. She currently volunteers as Vice-Chair of the Saskatoon Environmental Advisory Committee, committee member of Student Action for a Sustainable Future (Education Program), and council member of the School of Environment and Sustainability Students’ Association.

Kristen is a PhD student in the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research interests include investigating the socially manifested constructs that encourage a culture of over consumption, especially where they inhibit the implementation of sustainable policy into practice. 

Jada Koushik is a PhD student in the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan. She received her MSc in Conservation Biology and Environmental Justice from the University of Michigan along with a MSPH in Environmental Health and Natural Resource Management from Tulane University. Her dissertation focuses on the Sustainability and Education Policy Network's Theme 2 Site Analyses.

Heather is working to complete an Integrated Master of Education through the Department of Educational Foundations.  Her research interests include decolonisation of education and critical place based learning.  Heather is a band and arts educator in Saskatoon.

Originally from Kenya, Naomi Mumbi Maina is a doctoral student at the University of Saskatchewan in the School of Environment and Sustainability, and also works with the Sustainability and Education Policy Network (SEPN). Her research interest is in the engagement of different actors within sustainability in higher education policy and practice. She earned her Masters degrees from St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Mass Communications and Social Responsibility. 

Jaylene is a master’s student in the Educational Foundations program at the University of Saskatchewan. Her background in outdoor education and sustainable tourism research shapes her interest in sustainable education. She is currently interested in investigating students’ perspective of sustainability at Canadian post-secondary institutions. She is interested in how students perceive sustainability at their schools, what they identify as facilitators and barriers to sustainability uptake in their local context, and their opinions to improve sustainability at their institution. 

Rachel Regier is a M.Ed student with SEPN at the University of Saskatchewan. She also earned her B.Sc in Kinesiology and B.Ed at the University of Saskatchewan. Rachel’s first 4 years as a professional teacher were with the Earthkeepers program, fostering an alternative learning community and creating authentic learning opportunities for students. She has invested the past two years into developing the Seed program which combines Wellness, Food Studies, and Horticulture curricula for grade 10 students, and focuses on personal, community, and global health. Rachel also helps her husband run Chain Reaction Urban Farm, growing produce on available land in Saskatoon. Currently, Rachel is interested in investigating how schools across the country engage with ideas of sustainability, and the significance of alternative teaching and learning strategies to work toward a more sustainable future.

The Supervisor-Student Relationship

According to the University of Saskatchewan's College of Graduate Studies and Research, "The relationship between a supervisor and a student should be a productive working relationship that, in its culmination, transforms into a relationship between colleagues.  While the student is not employed by the supervisor, the relationship between a student and supervisor is unique and potentially complicated by the obligations of a student to achieve the research objectives of their program and the financial dependency of the student on the supervisor."

CGSR has compiled a list of common issues and questions that should be resolved early in the student-supervisor relationship.