Student Perspective
By: Kyle Reyes, Master’s in Material Science | Trent University, Canada
I participated in my first International Institute for Environmental Studies (IIES) Annual Science and Policy Workshop, held in the enchanting city of Santiago, Chile in December 2023. This was followed by the Graduate Student Forum in Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas. In my experience, I found that the IIES conference and its circle of international participants to be very insightful. Plus, summertime in Chile was the perfect place to hide from the freezing Canadian winter and to foster the sharing of great ideas and memories.
Images taken from Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago de Chile (left) and Barrio Lastaria (middle) in Santiago and Lake Llanquihue in Puerto Varas (right) while sightseeing during our off time.
The Science and Policy Workshop in Santiago had a diverse group of scientists and engineers representing various fields, including environmental science, chemistry, geology, biochemistry, and indigenous studies, each of which highlighted different concerns and solutions from their parts of the world.
Hearing their presentations and participating in interdisciplinary discussions gave me confidence in the brilliant minds we have addressing the world’s environmental problems, while gaining insight into what I should consider when developing solutions for environmental remediation as a material scientist.
Image: Presenting my talk, “Grafting Polyacrylamide Brushes on the Surface of Petroleum Coke-Derived Activated Carbon for the Remediation of Oil Sands Tailings Waste”
Following the workshop in Santiago, the graduate student forum took us out of the conference rooms and threw us outdoors for some hands-on learning. We learned how GPS navigation could be a useful tool for environmental research at the Universidad San Sebastián in Puerto Montt, and we also had an opportunity to take in the beauty of Lake Llanquihue in Puerto Varas to understand the connection that Chileans have with their environment, their hopes for preservation and our roles as scientists at the frontier of environmental science and policy.
A group photo after a group seminar on GPS navigation at the Universidad San Sebastián in Puerto Montt, Chile.
Overall, the IIES Science and Policy Workshop and Graduate Student Forum provided an amazing representation of the global and interdisciplinary research that graduate students in environmental research are doing. I hope that the IIES continues to grow, because I believe that international discussions that take place in these workshops and forums are important in developing solutions for our environmental challenges. I would also like to thank our hosts and the IIES for making this amazing experience possible.
