Meet 2 PhD students who are trying to make environmental field work more accessible
CBC
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Every summer, Sam Gene and María José Gómez-Quijano move from their student digs at Queen's University to a remote site north of Kingston, Ont. There, they spend months untangling the effects of invasive species or environmental pollution or climate change — sometimes all of the above — on our planet.
This field work can be gruelling and repetitive, but also quite fun, Gómez-Quijano and Gene said.
Like many graduate students in biology, they spend every day outside. Rain or shine, they record observations, measuring everything from microplastic concentrations to invasive plant growth.
Without field work like this, we wouldn't understand the impacts humans are having on our planet. But there are many hurdles that make it difficult — sometimes even impossible — for budding environmentalists to get involved.
"Financial barriers, sociocultural barriers, knowledge barriers. Those are the main ones," said Gómez-Quijano.
In 2020, she and Gene set out to remove some of these barriers by founding the Queen's Outdoor Field Experience Initiative (QOFEI, pronounced "coffee"). As co-chairs, they use the organization to get more people involved in field work.
Both are working toward their PhD — Gómez-Quijano is an ecologist studying purple loosestrife, an invasive plant species found in almost all Canadian provinces, and Gene is an ecotoxicologist researching the risks microplastics pose to amphibians.
They spend their field seasons (May-August) at the Queen's University Biological Station in Elgin, Ont., which they fondly describe as "camp for adults."
All field work requires a lot of equipment, including hiking boots, rain pants, rain jackets, bug nets, tick safety kits, sun shirts and backpacks. For other seasons and sites, students might have to provide a tent, sleeping bag, wetsuit, snow wear or other specialized gear.
Gene and Gómez-Quijano say it's difficult to know what gear to buy. If it's too cheap, it won't last through the field season — Gene knows this from experience. Too expensive, and you're simply paying for the brand.
In total, quality equipment can easily cost a student more than $1,000 — and since most research grants don't cover anything you can take home at the end of the day, it's all out of pocket.
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