ResNet, an NSERC-funded major Canadian research network, held its closing event on McGill’s downtown campus on May 22.
The event brought together researchers, students and partners who have shaped the project over the past seven years. The program included a short film and the debut a national ecosystem services mapping platform.
For Elena Bennett, who led the $5.5-million initiative, the moment marked both an end and a transition.
“Personally, it’s been life-changing to run something this big,” said Bennett, the Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Science in McGill’s Department of Natural Resource Sciences. “But what stands out most is the people and the relationships that have come out of it.”
Rethinking how science gets done
Launched in 2019 with support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, ResNet brought together more than 200 researchers, students and partners across academia, government, industry and Indigenous communities.
Its goal was to transform how Canada understands and manages “working landscapes” – lands used for food production, forestry, energy and other human activities – by recognizing that they provide many benefits at once.
“We’ve tended to think in terms of one output – this is farmland, it produces food, or this is forest, it produces timber,” she said. “ResNet emphasized that these landscapes are serving multiple functions at once.”
That shift has implications for decision-making. Increasing food production, for example, may come at the cost of water quality or biodiversity. ResNet’s work focused on making those trade-offs visible and helping communities navigate them.
A key part of that approach was engaging partners from the outset.
“We went to communities first and asked what questions they wanted answered,” Bennett said. “That’s very different from the traditional academic model that starts with researchers determining the questions to be answered.”
The network operated across six landscapes in Canada, supported by three cross-cutting themes focused on governance, modelling and monitoring.
A model for scientific collaboration
Beyond its research outputs, ResNet is shaping how large-scale sustainability work is done at McGill.
The initiative is often cited as an example of a “ReAct Hub,” a model of collaborative, partnership-driven research that will be used at the University’s Sustainability Park. The approach brings researchers, communities and decision-makers together from the start.
“What’s been exciting is seeing people across the University recognize this way of working,” Bennett said. “Some were already doing it without calling it that, and others are now really interested in adopting it.”
A network that outlasts the project
While ResNet produced scientific outputs, including models and the new Ecosystem Services Observatory System of Canada (ESOS-C), Bennett said its most enduring impact may be the people it trained.
More than 100 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers took part, many of whom are now working in government, academia and industry.
“They’re starting their careers with networks already built,” she said. “They have connections to policymakers, to NGOs, to communities.”
Jackie Hamilton is one of those researchers. She joined ResNet as a PhD student in 2021 and is now a postdoctoral fellow at McGill.
“I feel incredibly lucky,” Hamilton said. “Having a community where you can bounce ideas off people in completely different disciplines made a huge difference.”
She said the experience reshaped how she thinks about research, particularly when working with communities.
“I used to think communication happened after the science,” she said. “But in ResNet, communication and relationships were part of the research from the beginning.”
That sense of connection was intentional. Early in the project, Bennett said she was advised to choose between focusing on deliverables or building a strong network.
“I chose the network,” she said. “And in the end, we’ve been able to do both.”
Tools for the future
Among the initiative’s final deliverables is ESOS-C, an online platform that allows users to explore ecosystem services across Canada and how they interact.
Unlike traditional mapping tools, it encourages users to consider multiple factors at once.
“If you look at carbon, for example, it prompts you to also think about water quality or food production,” Bennett said. “It’s designed to help people see the relationships.”
The platform, the one being introduced at the closing event, is expected to serve both researchers and decision-makers, though its full impact will emerge after its public release.
Beyond the tools, Bennett said she is already seeing the network’s influence continue through new collaborations across the country.
“It’s exciting to see people building on these partnerships,” she said.
As ResNet ends, Bennett remains optimistic about addressing sustainability challenges, even if progress can feel slow.
“Change takes time,” she said. “But there are now hundreds more people working on these challenges together.”