World-class research on climate change is happening on the StFX campus, at the Environmental Sciences Research Centre (ESRC ).

ESRC is a multidisciplinary research and post graduate training centre carrying out fundamental and applied research in Environmental Sciences. Since 2004 ESRC actively contributes to the training of future scientists through the sharing of expertise and resources among researchers and institutions to facilitate the development of leading edge research in the region. Dr. Lisa Kellman is the present Director of ESRC.

Besides computer programs modelling climates around the world, the labs of this multi-purpose research and post-graduate education centre feature sophisticated $500,000 isotope facilities, which aid in the fingerprinting of biogeochemical processes. The work of the ESRC team is often published in the world’s most prestigious journals, including Geophysical Research Letters and the Journal of Geophysical Research. The centre has brought in $5 million in competitive research funding over five years, and its research projects have received funds from NSERC , the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AI F) and the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCA S). The centre itself has two Canada Research Chairs — Dr. Lisa Kellman, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Sciences (Climate Change and Global Warming) and Dr. Ricardo Scrosati, CRC in Marine Ecology. Graduate students are instrumental in the centre’s success.

The centre currently has three PhD students, two post-doctoral students, 11 master’s degree students,  and four undergraduate research students on campus.