The Future Is So Bright...CSEG DL @ L’Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)

Greenery gives way to the yellows, ochres, oranges and deep reds of changing foliage, bringing warmth to the surroundings as the air cools. This stunning backdrop lines the road as we leave Atlantic Canada and head towards the next stage of the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG) Distinguished Lecture Tour: Quebec and Ontario.

Even though my focus for these two months is the initial twenty stops on the tour, other commitments continue and as we drive I find myself in virtual board and mentorship meetings, as well as working on email communication and blog posting for the tour. Ian does a lovely job of saying ‘look up’ when he knows I’ll especially enjoy a change in the view. I was certainly looking up as we drove into Old Quebec City, with its cobbled streets, boutique stores, rambling alleyways, steep stairs and docked cruise ships. I’m a proponent of varied lifelong learning, not just for technical development, so during the trip have been working through Duolingo French. Now I have a chance to practice, starting with our hotel check-in and ordering coffee in the morning. ‘Un americano moyen, s’il vous plait.’ A few hours wending our way across the cobbles, through pedestrian streets, up to Chateau Frontenac, venturing into the less touristy areas, gave us our bearings within the city, so I easily found my way to INRS in the morning.

L’Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), or National Institute of Scientific Research, is a unique research focused institution that offers MSc and PhD programmes, and on Tuesday morning I was welcome at the stylish modern building by Research Associate Dr. Maxime Claprood, my host for the day. Maxime explained the unique INRS model before we met with professors Dr. Bernard Giroux and Dr. Mathieu Duchesne in their spacious light-filled offices.?The floor to ceiling windows gave a sense of being connected to the outside world, and I loved that sense of connection. Our tour continued to the student and research offices as Maxime and Bernard introduced me to many of the members of the group including the talkative Xiao Xia Liang, Sepideh Vafaeishoushtari and Lemuel Arzola that would soon be seated in front of me for the formal part of the day. We were joined in the seminar room by Laval University students and a Geological Survey of Canada scientist, and their experience covered a range of geoscience: engineering and applied geoscience through to geostatistics and petrophysics. Although my experience is in frontier exploration and seismic interpretation, I ask participants to imagine what their perfect day may look like, and suggest that using an exploration workflow, incorporating elements of the United Nations sustainability development goals (SDGs), that they can build career prospects that are bright for themselves while considering sustainability. The Geophysical Sustainability Atlas (Capello et al., 2021) outlines many ties between geophysics and the UN SDGs that geosciences can use to make connections. After questions and conversation that brought the seminar to a close, Laval University PhD students, Yasaman Nemati, Mostafa Zare and Arnaud Mercier, asked whether I would have time during my stay in Quebec City to also visit them at their campus. Always being open to an opportunity to connect, I agreed to visit the next morning. That afternoon, though, Maxime, Bernard and I grabbed a bagged lunch from a local bakery, La Bo?te-à pain, that I flagged as great place for coffee and croissants the following morning. My visit to INRS closed enjoying my salad, quiche and second americano of the day as Maxime and I chatted about the facility, the research and the students, along with perfect days. I headed off, ready to continue practicing my French in Old Quebec City. Merci beaucoup. Au revoir jusqu'à ce qu'on se retrouve.

Next stops:

Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec at 11:30AM 12th October 2022. Impromptu visit.

University of Ottawa / Carleton / GSC at U of O, Ottawa, Ontario at 11AM 13th October 2022.