Lark Scientific Joins Forces with University of Waterloo to Catalyze Student-Driven Sustainability Innovation

Lark Scientific is proud to announce our sponsorship and mentorship partnership with the University of Waterloo’s Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship (SSEF) program, in collaboration with Halton Region. This year’s nine-week program invited 30 multidisciplinary students to transform bold ideas into practical solutions addressing climate change, infrastructure resilience, and community sustainability in Halton Region. (University of Waterloo)

Through our support, we enabled the cohort to access data, domain expertise, and guided oversight, helping to ensure their proposals were evidence-informed, scalable, and responsive to local challenges. At the end of the program, the students presented 12 well-researched projects ranging from rain garden installations and permeable paving to transit upgrades and emissions reductions in wastewater management.

Our involvement extended beyond funding to include actively mentoring student groups, offering feedback on technical approaches, sustainability trade-offs, and communication strategies. We believe that real impact is achieved when academic ingenuity is grounded in operational realism, and our role was to help bridge that gap.

As Axel Doerwald, Founder and Executive Director of Lark Scientific, put it:

“At Lark Scientific, we believe progress comes from pairing innovation with sustainability. Supporting the Fellowship has been rewarding, as it empowers students to transform ideas into practical solutions. 

Mentoring this year’s fellows has been inspiring. I’m pleased that Lark’s sponsorship and mentorship can play a role in equipping our next generation of leaders to drive meaningful change.”

We’re deeply inspired by the creativity, rigour, and passion these students demonstrated. Their work underscores the critical value of collaboration between academia, industry, nonprofit partners, and policymakers in tackling climate and infrastructure challenges.

Moving forward, Lark Scientific looks forward to sustaining and expanding such partnerships. We aim to build pathways that allow student research to feed directly into implementable projects, pilot tests, and community impact. If you’re interested in learning how to partner with us, mentor future fellows, or translate sustainability ideas into action, we’d love to connect.

Stay tuned for upcoming reports on student project outcomes.