Planetary, public, and personal health, well-being, and justice
A Sustainability Across Disciplines conference
March 9-13, 2026, Concordia University
This year's conference theme provides the basis for a crucial and timely trans-disciplinary conversation and action for a path forward in this time of crisis at the intersection of health and sustainability.
The 9th annual Sustainability Across Disciplines conference features keynote talks, panels, workshops, exhibits, and more from Concordia University faculty and students, as well as the ever-popular careers panel.
Health & sustainability knowledge sharing
This year marks the first time that the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability and the Loyola Sustainability Research Center is partnering with the School of Health and Future Earth to focus on cross-over between health and sustainability at all scales, from individual to planetary.
The conference will take place on both of Concordia's campuses. Select events will be live-streamed and recorded by Concordia's 4th Space for increased accessibility.
Schedule of events
Monday, March 9
Various locations; see specific event details below
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- "Invisible plastics, visible consequences: Rethinking health and sustainability in a plastic world," a keynote address from Sarah Sajedi. View recording
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
- "Roots & Recipes 2nd edition book launch: Nourishing health, culture, and sustainability", with Zariah Williams.
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
1:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
- "The emotional cost of enormity: When climate distress becomes futility — and how creativity can help," a workshop with Jessica Bleuer, Madeline Montgomery, Atlas Wutapumitukew Lowry, and Bill Yong.
3:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- Poster display: "Access to wintertime outdoor recreational facilities among Concordia students," by Zachary laRoza
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- "Firing up action," a short film and workshop with Kat Plamondon and Alex Pace.
Tuesday, March 10
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- "At the intersection of behavioural ecology and genetics," with Sarah Turner and Marie-Julie Favé. View the recording.
12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- "Issues in environmental science: Health, biodiversity, justice, and waste," with Andrea Arias Gutierrez, Natasha Artokun, Karen Ayass, Teprine Baldo, Leanne Mckella Duncan, Amanda-Faith Noble-Gelinas, Deanna Gene , Maya Goss, Philippe Hamel, Lily Hutchison, Kelly Ann Kyle, Anthony Lemelin, Arielle Limoges, Juana Gomez, Viviane Macedo de Oliveira, Blythe Middlebrook, Sophie Mortimer, Maya Oliva-Kreysa, Gabriella Oliveira Trajano, Thomas Valle Painter, Kat Plamondon, Chloe Robichaud, Stephanie Schmidtke, Cristina Sciortino, and Misha Solomon. View event details.
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- "Communicating climate research to policy and the public," with Damon Matthews, Peter McQueen, Dominique Paquin, and Snigdhodeb Dutta. View recording.
Wednesday, March 11
DUE TO WEATHER, ALL EVENTS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLY ONLINE ON THIS DAY
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
- "Complexity, care, and collaboration: Art–science dialogues on systems," with Annabelle Brault, Rachel Burman, Nick Carpenter, Sarah Galarneau, Asma Ahsan Khan, Heather McLaughlin, and Emilie O'Brien. View recording.
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- "The state of Montreal's urban birds," with Mackenzie Guest and Siena Blier. View recording.
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Poster display: "Holocene fire history reconstruction for the Parc National de la Gaspésie: Considerations for old-growth stands and Gaspésie caribou in the face of climate change," by Kelly Kyle. View the poster.
3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- "Remote sensing and Indigenous-led nature-based solutions to address emissions and biodiversity targets," with Camilo Alejo and Angela Kross. View recording.
Thursday, March 12
Online in the morning and in person in ER 1428 in the afternoon.
9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- "Careers in sustainability panel discussion and networking session," with Daniel Martinez, Mishel Wong, Andréa Ventimiglia, and Melodie Le Siège. View event details.
12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- "Leadership in Environmental and Digital Innovation for Sustainability (LEADS) workshop," with Nilufar Sabet-Kassouf. View event details.
2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
- "Environmental history: Past, present, and future at Concordia," with Anya Zilberstein, Rosanna Cyr, Shauna Buckley, Rémi Piovesan, and Julian Rioux
Friday, March 13
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- "Biodiversity fresque: An interactive workshop about the biodiversity crisis," with Emma Despland. View event details.
9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
- "Undergraduate honours research for a healthy planet: Cities, spaces, places, and landscapes," with Amy Badi, Allegra Ghiglione, Daria Monjezi-Kochak, and Lauren Rapley. View event details.
10:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- Poster display:
- "Protective effects of musicianship on hearing-in-noise performance in aging," by Giulia Panaioli
- "Large language models in supply chain management: Engineering and technology management perspectives," by Shubham Awasthi
11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
- "Issues in biodiversity, sustainable fashion, and climate action," with Lisa Ofili, Noa Davidai, Arielle Limoges, Isabel Drummond, and Jochen Jaeger. View event details.
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- "Working across complexity: Creative approaches to interdisciplinary collaboration for sustainability," with Heather McLaughlin and Annabelle Brault. View event details.
2:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
- Poster display:
- "A multi-proxy reconstruction of forest fire and inundation history in the Ottawa Watershed", by Thomas Cheung
- "Large language models in supply chain management: Engineering and technology management perspectives", by Shubham Awasthi
2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
- "Issues in urban biodiversity, greenspace, health, and fire," with Annie Chen, Dalia Assi, Andrée Tremblay, Catherine Rokakis, and Sofia Ithaca Bandel. View event details.
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- "Sustainable peer-based leisure activity after traumatic brain injury (TBI): Drawing insight from the TBI-Health/TCC-Santé Initiative," with Shawn Wilkinson, Elizabeth Teel, Enrico Quilico, Pascal Brodeur, and Eric Tessier. View event details.
Territorial Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Concordia University is located on unceded Indigenous lands. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which we gather today. Tiohtià:ke/Montréal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples. We respect the continued connections with the past, present and future in our ongoing relationships with Indigenous and other peoples within the Montreal community.
If you are not joining from Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, you can learn more about the land you are on.
Special thanks
This event is brought to you by the Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability and the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre in partnership with the School of Health, with generous support from Future Earth, the Department of Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, the Office of Sustainability and the Student Success Centre.
This event will contribute to Concordia's Sustainability Action Plan by increasing the visibility of sustainability research at Concordia. It is also received Platinum certification from the Office of Sustainability.
Please review the code of conduct for detailed guidelines on how participants are expected to treat each other with consideration and respect.
Contact us
For more information or questions, please get in touch with Rebecca Tittler.