For immediate release: May 7, 2024

Sophie Walker, a Red River College Polytechnic (RRC Polytech) nursing student has received a $30,000 grant from the inaugural Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2) and Wawanesa Climate Champions: Youth Innovation Grant for her project, Climate Resilient Nursing.

“As a founding member of Canadian Colleges for Resilient Recovery, RRC Polytech has made a commitment to preparing students to use the skills they’ve learned and make real-world impacts,” said Dr. Christine Watson, Vice President, Academic, RRC Polytech and Co-Chair of the C2R2 Steering Committee. “As a leading post-secondary institution, we play a vital role in advancing sustainability through our academic programs and applied research. Sophie’s project is an exciting reminder of how our students can help us move toward a more sustainable future. We are also very pleased that a Winnipeg-based organization such as Wawanesa has provided such a unique investment to support students’ research to positively impact climate action.” 

Sophie’s Climate Resilient Nursing project aims to address nursing professionals’ lack of capacity to address climate change related health care system vulnerabilities and resilience. The project will increase climate awareness among nurses, help nursing students develop practical skills to become more climate conscious in their future careers and create a comprehensive resource guide for future students and instructors at RRC Polytech.

“I am very grateful to receive this grant and excited to dive deeper into the research! I have been interested in research since my first year in nursing school back in late 2019 and in the last three weeks I’ve had incredible support from my instructors and researchers at RRC Polytech in finding an idea and creating the proposal,” said Sophie. “Receiving this grant means I can help to make a difference and leave a lasting change. It will also help me gain valuable experience for my future career.”

Sophie worked with her instructors in the Nursing program and Research, Partnerships & Innovation team at RRC Polytech on the project, which was inspired by one of Sophie’s instructors, Jennifer Morin, who Sophie says is passionate about the subject and has a wealth of knowledge that helped her with the application.

Sophie is one of five Youth Innovation Grant recipients. Each grant is given to a student from a C2R2 partner institution to launch or enhance a climate adaptation or climate mitigation project. RRC Polytech is one of the founding partners of C2R2 and currently offers six micro-credential courses aimed at clean tech and social innovation.

“C2R2 is proud to support the empowerment of youth leaders in their efforts to drive impactful change that centers on climate change adaptation and mitigation,” said Adrienne Madden, Coalition Manager, C2R2. “RRC Polytech is among our esteemed partner institutions amplifying C2R2’s collective efforts, and we were excited to see such a strong project led by them for this inaugural Wawanesa Climate Champions: Youth Innovation Grant. We are eager to see the impact that Sophie’s project will have in Winnipeg, and more broadly within the nursing community.”

Sophie’s contributions to her community don’t end here. She was also recently in the news for her generous creation of the Journey Award for nurses to support other nursing students who have faced formidable challenges in their academic journey as she did.

For more information about the awards: The Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery and Wawanesa Insurance Youth Innovation Grants announcement