Here's how to start...
There are a number of ways that students can complete a Trent CBR research project. You either need to be enrolled in a Trent University or Fleming course that offers CBR. Current courses at Trent include but are not limited to: ERST 3080Y, ERST 3130H, ERSC 1010Y, ERSC 3160H, ERSC 3840H, ERST 4250H, BIOL 3890, FRSC 4890Y, GEOG 3820H, GEOG 4830Y, IDST 4220Y, and SUST 5901H.
There are a number of ways that students can complete a Trent CBR research project. You either need to be enrolled in a Trent University or Fleming course that offers CBR. Current courses at Trent include but are not limited to: ERST 3080Y, ERST 3130H, ERSC 1010Y, ERSC 3160H, ERSC 3840H, ERST 4250H, BIOL 3890, FRSC 4890Y, GEOG 3820H, GEOG 4830Y, IDST 4220Y, and SUST 5901H.
OR…
You can apply to do an independent project under the supervision of a faculty member. Most of our independent projects commence at the beginning of each semester, but opportunities may be available at any time throughout the year. Click here for an "Independent Student Application form for a CBR project"
OR…
You can complete a CBR project as your master’s thesis. A number of community-based projects are broad in scope, require a high level of academic skill and more time for completion. Review the project descriptions for proposals that suggest group work or graduate level work. If a project interests you, contact us directly to discuss. CBR is a unique opportunity to apply your research skills while also gaining valuable professional experience!
Available 2020 - 2021 U-Links Projects
#4480 "The Missing Element": Stories of the Mountain Street Red Cross Outpost Canoe FM (local radio station) and Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (environmental conservation organization) are non-profit organizations working out of a historic building on Mountain Street in Haliburton that was once a Red Cross outpost. A small 1983 book by Martha Perkins,“A Hospital of our Own” was written about its history. The purpose of this project, hosted by Canoe FM, is to discover more about the building and the health professionals who worked there in order to develop a better understanding of the hospital’s connection to history and its contributions to the local community. Existing data will be augmented through oral history interviews with local community members and a visual media display intended for the office. This project is ideal for a small group of senior undergraduate students with a combination of graphic design and interviewing skills. 
#4813 Places for People Process Mapping
Places for People (P4P) provides tenants with long-term affordable rental housing in Haliburton County; to date it has rented single-family homes and duplexes to families. The non-profit organization sets aside in a trust fund a small amount of the rent paid for future use by tenants, and supports tenants to use secure housing as an opportunity to make and achieve personal or family goals. The volunteer run organization recently hired part-time administrative support as a precursor to pivoting to building multi-unit properties for mixed (age, socio-economic status) populations, including offering community bonds to fund the projects and strengthen community engagement around housing need. A functional understanding of the various processes of the organization will facilitate the future development of consistent procedures to ensure the continued viability of the organization, and be useful to other communities who wish to borrow from the model. Selected research questions include: What are the current decision-making processes in place for P4P? What new or modified roles/structures/procedures will be needed to support the emerging focus? What should be included in a procedures manual for P4P? For the purposes of this project it is anticipated that there would be process maps (decision trees) developed for various functions of the organization: financial; property acquisition / management; fundraising/promotion; tenant support, governance. In addition, recommendations would be made for the outline of a procedures manual to be developed in a follow-up project. This CBR project would be ideal for business students. 
#4818 Sustaining a Movement: Performing a Situational Analysis for the Community of Making
The Community of Making is a partnership between multiple organizations in Haliburton County that is dedicated to digital literacy through education and creation in STEAM (science, technology, education, arts, and math). The project is approaching its final year of funding, but ideally will continue. This research project involves conducting a situational analysis or the purposes of creating a strategic plan for Community of Making. This may include a situation audit, environmental scan, or other research that will help us gain some perspective on the sustainability and growth of the Community of Making. 
# 4868 Financial Impacts of Gull River Flooding
Major flooding events in Minden Hills in 2013 and 2017 resulted in significant financial impacts for residents and business owners. These flooding events have negatively impacted housing values, increased costs to homeowners and disrupted small businesses.The floods have also had significant social and psychological impacts on residents living along the floodplain. The purpose of this project is to conduct a case study on the financial impacts of the flooding in order to better inform current and potential residents and business owners of the financial impacts of continued flooding. The study will provide a foundation for potential remedial action (that includes multi-level government, watersheds,citizens, etc.) The case study report that includes a focused literature review, analysis and discussion from interviews, and recommendations for next steps. This project is ideal for a single undergraduate or group of undergraduate students. 
#4899 QEII Cultural Summary – Park Fire History
NOTE: This project is available for the Fall 2020 semester. Ontario Parks' mandate is to protect significant natural and cultural resources in a system of parks and protected areas that are sustainable and provide opportunities for inspiration/ enjoyment and education now and for future generations. The objective of this project is to develop a deep understanding of Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Park’s forest fire history from the late 1800s onwards and their mitigation efforts. By investigating this history via literature reviews and interviewing historians, the student’s comprehensive summary will provide key information for the park users and stakeholders, giving them a better understanding of the park's fire ecology. This project may open the door for future research and help aid in the protection of this area natural environment. This project is ideal for a single undergraduate student or small group of students. 
#4910 Public Attitudes Towards Climate Change in Haliburton County
Established in 2003, Environment Haliburton (EH!) takes a comprehensive view of environmental issues in Haliburton County and provides a strong voice to encourage positive initiatives and oppose those that could have an adverse impact on the environment. This project will involve creating, distributing, and analyzing results of a climate change opinion survey aimed at community organizations and the public. Interviews with community organizations and/or municipal government representatives may also be included. This project will assist EH! and Planet Haliburton with understanding current public and community attitudes towards climate change and the health-climate change relationship. Results will also assist EH! and Planet Haliburton to frame their climate change programming, as well as assisting environmentally-mandated organizations in focusing their resources on activities most likely to help generate action across the community. It will help EH! and Planet Haliburton in making recommendations to local municipalities and stakeholders. This project will also build on past work that EH! has done to increase public awareness of climate change and its impacts. 
#4939 Understanding the Levels and Opportunities for Environmental Protection at the Municipal Level, in The Land Between Bioregion - Southern Ontario’s Last Intact Wilderness Landscape
Understanding the levels and opportunities for environmental protection at the municipal level, in The Land between bioregion- southern Ontario’s last intact wilderness landscape The Land Between region extends from the Georgian Bay Coast to the Ottawa Valley. The Land Between charity is a grassroots non-government organization. It’s the first and only organization to represent this unique and significant ecological region in Ontario. The charity also focuses on 7 program areas: bioregionalism, landscape and natural systems conservation, water and fisheries, society and economics, cultural heritage, education and awareness, and future leaders. The purpose of this project is to research municipal- and county-level bylaws related to maintaining ecological biodiversity and natural capital/nature in the land between region. This will inform a summary of the current state of local policy and a gap analysis of bylaws and policy in the region. The report will provide The Land Between with a summary of protections in place for local biodiversity, as well as gaps in policy that need to be addressed. Questions will be answered through a Literature review of policies and programs; website searches of municipal plans and bylaws; comparison of policies to plans; listing of bylaws in each jurisdiction and against varying types of ecological focal areas (lighting, shorelines, set-backs, tree cutting, site alterations); surveys/questionnaires and interviews (with Land Between staff and public employees and general public) and data collection with Land Between staff and municipal staffers regarding adherence to plans, rates of minor variance approvals, enforcement capacity etc. Note: this project is ideal for a small group of undergraduate students, with the project split into two parts/terms (one for data collection, and one for analysis) or for a graduate student as a single project. |
Long-Term Monitoring of Terrestrial Biodiversity: Haliburton Highlands Land Trust
Habitat loss and degradation are the greatest threats to biodiversity in Canada today. To mitigate this process in the Haliburton Highlands the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) is acquiring lands of ecological and cultural significance for conservation purposes. It works to select only those properties which clearly have long-term benefit to the public and can be maintained by the land trust in perpetuity. Permanent Sample Plots (PSPs) will provide the HHLT with the ability to monitor changes in vegetation biodiversity and land use on its various properties on a long term basis. For the 2018 – 2019 academic year the HHLT would like to continue the work of monitoring PSPs in different Ecosites on Norah’s Island, the Fred and Pearly Barry Wetland Reserve, the Barnum Creek Nature Reserve, and the Dahl Forest. The intent is to be able to begin and complete the field program by the end of October before winter arrives. Click here to see available projects associated with this program.
Habitat loss and degradation are the greatest threats to biodiversity in Canada today. To mitigate this process in the Haliburton Highlands the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) is acquiring lands of ecological and cultural significance for conservation purposes. It works to select only those properties which clearly have long-term benefit to the public and can be maintained by the land trust in perpetuity. Permanent Sample Plots (PSPs) will provide the HHLT with the ability to monitor changes in vegetation biodiversity and land use on its various properties on a long term basis. For the 2018 – 2019 academic year the HHLT would like to continue the work of monitoring PSPs in different Ecosites on Norah’s Island, the Fred and Pearly Barry Wetland Reserve, the Barnum Creek Nature Reserve, and the Dahl Forest. The intent is to be able to begin and complete the field program by the end of October before winter arrives. Click here to see available projects associated with this program.
Long-Term Monitoring of Terrestrial Biodiversity: Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve
Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve is committed to maintaining the ecological integrity of the lands that it oversees. In order to ensure that ecological integrity is maintained Haliburton Forest is looking to perform vegetation monitoring within a number of Permanent Sampling Plots (PSPs) on their property in order to inform their decision making. A number of students will be able to work together on these projects with each group sampling between 2 and 4 PSPs. The intent is to be able to begin and complete the field program by the end of October before winter arrives. Click here to see available projects associated with this program.
Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve is committed to maintaining the ecological integrity of the lands that it oversees. In order to ensure that ecological integrity is maintained Haliburton Forest is looking to perform vegetation monitoring within a number of Permanent Sampling Plots (PSPs) on their property in order to inform their decision making. A number of students will be able to work together on these projects with each group sampling between 2 and 4 PSPs. The intent is to be able to begin and complete the field program by the end of October before winter arrives. Click here to see available projects associated with this program.
Long-Term Monitoring of Benthic Macroinvertebrates
Benthic macro-invertebrates, colloquially referred to as “benthics” or “benthos”, are aquatic, spineless organisms that live on the bottom of water bodies. Since the late 1980’s they have been used as biological indicators for common aquatic pollutants as they spend part or the entirety of their lives in the water. Due to this long-term contact with the water around them, certain groups of benthics are more sensitive to stressors such as organic pollution (including excess phosphorus and nitrogen). This makes the presence or absence of certain groupings of benthics indicative of the overall ecological health of the water body in which they reside. The use of benthics as an indicator of water quality is now used throughout the world and has been widely used in Ontario since the early 2000’s.
In 2019 U-Links, Trent University, and Sir Sanford Fleming College participated in a pilot project involving six lakes within Haliburton County in order to determine if a program like this was possible. All six projects were successful and it was determined in early 2020 that the program would continue and expand to more lakes throughout the Haliburton region. A number of projects are available under this program: click here to learn more.
Benthic macro-invertebrates, colloquially referred to as “benthics” or “benthos”, are aquatic, spineless organisms that live on the bottom of water bodies. Since the late 1980’s they have been used as biological indicators for common aquatic pollutants as they spend part or the entirety of their lives in the water. Due to this long-term contact with the water around them, certain groups of benthics are more sensitive to stressors such as organic pollution (including excess phosphorus and nitrogen). This makes the presence or absence of certain groupings of benthics indicative of the overall ecological health of the water body in which they reside. The use of benthics as an indicator of water quality is now used throughout the world and has been widely used in Ontario since the early 2000’s.
In 2019 U-Links, Trent University, and Sir Sanford Fleming College participated in a pilot project involving six lakes within Haliburton County in order to determine if a program like this was possible. All six projects were successful and it was determined in early 2020 that the program would continue and expand to more lakes throughout the Haliburton region. A number of projects are available under this program: click here to learn more.
Completed 2019 - 2020 Projects:
#4481 Calculating the Impact of the SIRCH Thrift Warehouse Haliburton
#4804 Glebe Park Stewardship Plan
#4838 Gull Lake Benthic Zone Assessment
#4877 Haliburton Forest Revitalization Project: Integrative Report
#4884 Youth Retention and Engagement in Minden Hills: Insights, Opportunities and Challenges
#4885 Kawagama Lake Calcium Decline Mitigation Cost Benefit Analysis
#4891 Environmental Monitoring - Experimental Pilot
#4897 An Investigation into Plastic Consumption and Alternatives for the Haliburton County Farmers Market
#4900 QEII Species Summary – Eastern Moose
#4901 Restoration Plan for QEII – Recommendation to naturalize decommissioned ATV trails
#4920 Kawagama Lake Benthic Assessment
#4921 Halls Lake Benthic Assessment
#4927 Kashagawigamog Lake Benthic Assessment
#4933 Haliburton Lake Benthic Assessment
#4935 Haliburton Highlands Art Centre Foundation Feasibility Study
#4938 Haliburton Highlands Land Trust Salamander Monitoring Project
#4940 Growing Beautiful - Garden Tourism in Canada
#4941 Abbey Gardens Educational Interpretive Trail
Kennisis Lake Benthic Assessment
Children's Water Festival
#4804 Glebe Park Stewardship Plan
#4838 Gull Lake Benthic Zone Assessment
#4877 Haliburton Forest Revitalization Project: Integrative Report
#4884 Youth Retention and Engagement in Minden Hills: Insights, Opportunities and Challenges
#4885 Kawagama Lake Calcium Decline Mitigation Cost Benefit Analysis
#4891 Environmental Monitoring - Experimental Pilot
#4897 An Investigation into Plastic Consumption and Alternatives for the Haliburton County Farmers Market
#4900 QEII Species Summary – Eastern Moose
#4901 Restoration Plan for QEII – Recommendation to naturalize decommissioned ATV trails
#4920 Kawagama Lake Benthic Assessment
#4921 Halls Lake Benthic Assessment
#4927 Kashagawigamog Lake Benthic Assessment
#4933 Haliburton Lake Benthic Assessment
#4935 Haliburton Highlands Art Centre Foundation Feasibility Study
#4938 Haliburton Highlands Land Trust Salamander Monitoring Project
#4940 Growing Beautiful - Garden Tourism in Canada
#4941 Abbey Gardens Educational Interpretive Trail
Kennisis Lake Benthic Assessment
Children's Water Festival