For Dr. Kris Poduska, being a scientist is a lot like being a detective.
You ask a lot of questions and analyze a lot of data to try and solve complex problems.
So it was natural that she took on a leadership role as associate scientific director with the Transforming Climate Action: Addressing the Missing Ocean research program.
Led by Dalhousie University, Transforming Climate Action brings together more than 170 researchers, staff, post-doctoral research fellows and students from Memorial University, Université du Québec à Rimouski and Université Laval.
Together, they are leading one of the most intensive investigations ever undertaken to study the ocean’s role in climate change.
“I want to make a difference,” said Dr. Poduska, who is a professor in the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography in the Faculty of Science at Memorial. “I see more and more students — and other members of our university community — who want to use their academic skills and experiences to make meaningful change in the world.
“Climate action is something that I am passionate about, and this global challenge really resonates with many students, as well,” she added.
Multi-unit connections
The program is supported in large part through a prestigious $154 million grant from the federal government’s Canada First Research Excellence Fund, which was awarded in 2023.
Dr. Poduska says she is looking to leverage her expertise as a researcher and her past administrative experience to help the program run as smoothly as possible.
“It’s a fast-paced research program with many moving parts and the fluidity of the research work and goals keeps me very engaged,” she said. “I connect with people across many disciplines and institutions, generating ideas and trying different ways to facilitate impactful research.”
At Memorial, she’s working closely with researchers based at the St. John’s, Grenfell and Marine Institute campuses, as well as teams from the vice-president (research) portfolio such as the Research Innovation Office, Major Research Partnerships, which is a unit within Research Initiatives and Services, and the associate vice-president (Indigenous research), as well as the Office of the Vice-Provost, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism; Memorial University Libraries; and the faculties of Science, Humanities and Social Sciences and Engineering and Applied Science.
“Climate action needs this kind of dramatic and lasting influence, and it needs broad thinkers like this program is designed to attract.”
The end goal is to grow and manage the massive program.
The scientific strategy for Transforming Climate Action has three interconnected research themes: reducing international uncertainty about ocean carbon sequestration; making Canada a global leader in the mitigation of carbon emissions; and promoting just and equitable adaptation.
All of this means research is happening on ships, in laboratories and with communities.
“The program goals go beyond specific research themes to integrate research findings and expertise in outward-facing ways, such as policy, open data, entrepreneurship and commercialization,” Dr. Poduska explained. “We also place high value on dialogues and relationship-building with Indigenous communities.
Mitigating and adapting to climate change is a “momentous challenge” that calls for creative, diverse and well-trained researchers working together to find solutions, she says.
“This is a global problem, yet the impacts are felt locally in different ways, which means that effective mitigation and adaptation strategies also need to be tailored to local and regional realities.”
The Canada First Research Excellence Fund program provides critical funding to encourage research that bridges among sciences, engineering, humanities and social sciences; the work challenges teams to make “truly transformative changes” that go beyond the program.
Climate action needs dramatic and lasting influence, and it needs broad thinkers like the program is designed to attract, Dr. Poduska adds.
Ocean strengths
Memorial’s strong international reputation in ocean research elevates the work of Transforming Climate Action in many ways.
The program evolved out of the 2016 Canada First Research Excellence Funded Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), which was a partnership between Dalhousie University (lead academic institution), Memorial University (main founding partner) and UPEI (institutional partner) that co-ordinated ocean research and increased collaboration focused on the north Atlantic Ocean.
Dalhousie transformed OFI into an umbrella organization to house the institute’s research program, now known as Safe and Sustainable Development of the Ocean Frontier, as well as Tranforming Climate Action.
Here at Memorial, researchers are involved in both federally funded programs.
“We have a critical mass of ocean researchers who have developed a vibrant institutional culture that celebrates ocean research, and we can continue to leverage this at an international level through Transforming Climate Action,” Dr. Poduska said.
Learn more about research at Memorial and check out Research Strategy 2023-28 to learn how we’re moving ideas forward.
