Aidan O'Brien

Role: Conference Bursary Recipient

Department: Geography, Environment and Geomatics

College: College of Social and Applied Human Sciences

Conference Attended: Canadian Association of Geographers 2021: 71st Annual Meeting and Conference

Location: Virtual

Value: $75

Research Presentation: 

My research explores the opportunities and barriers to using agri-environmental DSS for advancing soil carbon sequestration in Southern Ontario by better understanding how agricultural, conservation and government stakeholders perceive them as salient, credible and legitimate. My results show trade-offs between the ways stakeholders perceive information as useful, valid and trustworthy for their decision-making, as well as how universally information is accepted, accessed and affected. These trade-offs challenge the equitable and effective use of agri-environmental DSS to advance soil carbon sequestration on working lands and highlight best practices for their coproduction.

Soil health decision-support systems are an innovative way to equip the agricultural sector to better manage and sustain their soils and operations. However, these tools are only beneficial if they are developed, designed and utilized in a credible, salient and legitimate way that is valuable and easy for the end-user to adopt. My research aims to develop best practices in the management and translation of agri- environmental data into soil health decision-support systems. An improved understanding of how stakeholders perceive information as useful, valid and trustworthy for their decision- making, as well as how universally information is accepted, accessed and affected will improve the equitable and effective use of agri-environmental DSS to advance soil carbon sequestration on working lands.

Objectives for Attending: 

By attending this conference I hope to disseminate the results of my thesis as well as connect further with Canadian Geography scholarly community, share my achievements and learnings of researching during the COVID-19 pandemic, and support my fellow geographers as we move forward together in these uncertain times. Further, I seek feedback on my research that can be included in my thesis or help me think more critically about my own results. Although attending virtually will challenge networking I will engage with conference presenters and attendees through the conference platform as well as on Twitter and LinkedIn to further build my online network and more widely disseminate the conversations taking place at the conference.