Restoration Futures Lab
Our research group is lucky to work and live on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples and the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ peoples. We offer gratitude and respect to these Peoples and to their relationship with the lands on which we reside.
Based at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, the Restoration Futures Lab aims to advance our understanding of how to design and conduct successful restoration of ecological communities. Our research investigates the drivers of restoration outcomes, bringing together ecological theory with on-ground results to make restoration more predictable at all scales. We assess how functional traits, landscape context, and environmental variability shape the development of restoration sites, and how this can be generalized across ecosystems globally. |
Design by W̱SÁNEĆ/Coast Salish emerging artist Sarah Jim.
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connecting knowledge
Local and global scopes
With ambitious restoration global goals like the UN’s Bonn Challenge and the IUCN’s Restoration Initiative, the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and an ever-increasing amount of degraded landscapes worldwide, restoration is increasingly being turned to as a global solution for broad conservation and societal concerns. To meet these needs, restoration science will need to share knowledge and discovery across boundaries, and conduct research in collaboration with an international community of scientists and practitioners. Restoration is inherently a place-based effort, however, and must meet the needs of the local communities. Our work bridges across scales, linking locally connected projects and partnerships with global networks and knowledge.
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connecting people
Research group
Our people are the best! Our group is composed of active, excited students and research partnerships that guide the questions we ask and the projects we tackle. Each one of our members and collaborators brings a unique perspective into the group, and boy do we love to share those perspectives with each other. It makes for broad thinking, and a common enthusiasm driven by our shared passion for our work.
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continuing education
Restoration of Natural Systems Program
Our group shares space, ideas, and leadership with the Restoration of Natural Systems (RNS) Program in UVic's Continuing Education department. The RNS Program is group of students and professionals across a huge variety of backgrounds that are furthering their knowledge of ecological stewardship. Students in the program leave with a professional certificate or university diploma that is widely viewed as signaling a deep, rounded understanding of ecological restoration.
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engaging with the community
Ecological Restoration Club
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UVic has an incredible student body driven to restore and steward the campus and its surrounding communities. Undergraduates and graduate students from across campus come together throughout the year to conduct restoration, share knowledge, and participate in community-oriented volunteer events around Victoria.
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Vancouver Island Regional Planning:
UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
Students here on campus are excited to help launch and celebrate the UN's proclaimed Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030). They are working with many regional community partners to coordinate restoration events and think on regional scales about communicating the amazing work done here.