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Indigenous prairie agroecosystems: investigating soil health and perspectives on climate solutions

Dr. Melissa Arcand is seeking an MSc student to conduct research to examine soil health and perspectives on climate solutions in partnership with Indigenous communities who are engaged in agriculture and agricultural land management across the Prairies. This is part of the LEAP (Leveraging Ecosystems to transform Agriculture on the Prairies) Project (https://umanitoba.ca/agricultural-food-sciences/leap), an NSERC/SSHRC funded Sustainable Agriculture Research Initiative, led out of the University of Manitoba, with this position located at the University of Saskatchewan, Department of Soil Science.

Students will gain interdisciplinary experience, conducting soil health assessments as well as interviews with First Nations land managers and farmers. There will also be close interaction with the SAGE (Soil and Agroecosystem) Project, which is an outreach and education initiative focused on developing and delivering workshops on soils and Indigenous Prairie agroecology. Dr. Arcand’s team is comprised of students and staff from diverse backgrounds and life experiences working collaboratively on various topics related to soil nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, plant-soil relationships, and Indigenous agriculture.

Interested students should have the following experience, interests, and skills:

• Undergraduate degree in soil science, Indigenous studies, environmental science, environmental studies, renewable resource management, geography, or related discipline
• Strong communication skills and ability to work and communicate with colleagues and collaborators of diverse backgrounds
• Self-motivated and ability to work independently as well as in a collaborative team
• An interest in learning about plains Indigenous history, culture, and contemporary issues particularly related to agriculture and land stewardship
• Experience working in collaboration with Indigenous communities considered an asset

MSc students will be paid a stipend of $24,000 per year for 2.5 years. Additional scholarship opportunities and teaching assistant positions are available.

Interested candidates should submit a CV, a cover letter indicating your interest in this specific project, and unofficial transcripts to melissa.arcand@usask.ca.

Start date: May 2025 or September 2025.

Primary Purpose: The Pulse Crop Pathology and Lentil Breeding Programs at the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan require a Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) immediately who will work as part of a research team on a research project focused on the introgression of anthracnose resistance from a crop wild relative into elite lentil cultivars.

Nature of Work: Reporting to the Program Leaders, the PDF’s responsibilities will include assisting with the development and execution of experiments to develop interspecific hybrids, optimize embryo rescue protocols for the target genotypes, contribute to the development of backcross-populations, the phenotyping of such populations and the applications of marker-assisted selection for foreground and background selection. The position also involves data analyses and reporting, supervision of junior technical support staff and graduate students, and liaison and coordination with other members of the team.

Accountabilities: The PDF will conduct inter- and intraspecific hybridization in lentil, optimize embryo rescue protocols and generate interspecific hybrids. They will conduct backcrossing complemented by marker-assisted selection and phenotyping for resistance to anthracnose under controlled conditions. They will collate, organize and analyze data, contribute to the preparation of progress reports, prepare manuscripts for publication in scientific manuscripts. They will also interact with an MSc student who is working on this project and be involved in the day-to-day research supervision.

Education: : The position requires a PhD degree no earlier than 2022 specializing in tissue culture and molecular and conventional plant breeding.

Licenses: Possession of valid class 5 driver’s license is an asset.

Experience: Experience with interspecific hybrids, embryo rescue, plant pathology, and the demonstrated ability to adapt quickly to a new work environment are assets. Research experience in laboratory, greenhouse/growth chamber is required, including marker-assisted selection and tissue culture.

Skills: The position requires a motivated, reliable and highly organized person able to work in a multi-disciplinary group environment and productively contribute to this time-sensitive project. Candidates must possess good oral and written communications skills in English and the ability to work both independently and in a team-based, collaborative environment. The candidate must possess a good working knowledge of safety procedures and protocols.

To Apply:
Interested applicants must include the following in their application: cover letter, curriculum vitae and three names with contact information for reference.

https://careers.usask.ca/