Blog and Opportunities

Watershed Public Tours

The Capital Regional District (CRD) offers seasonal public tours of the Greater Victoria Water Supply Area & Treatment Facilities.

Registration for the 2025 watershed tour season is now open.  Register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/crd-watershed-public-tours-2025-4164203

Ever wonder how your drinking water is delivered from source to tap?
The CRD’s Get to Know Your H2O Tours are a great way to discover how your drinking water is delivered from the source to your tap. During the tour you’ll discover the natural landscapes, water supply reservoirs and the treatment process that provides Greater Victoria with high quality drinking water.

Important Notes

• Tours are for ages 12 and up only
• Tours are limited to 42 participants
• Dress appropriately for outdoor activities, no open toed shoes – we recommend dressing in layers as the weather changes quickly inside the watershed
• Bring a lunch, water, sunscreen and bug spray 

Technical & Post Secondary Tours

The CRD is proud to support advanced learning opportunities. Come discover the many professional, technical and specially trained staff involved in providing drinking water to the region. Please contact us for more information about technical tours. 
 

Frequently Asked Questions

Have more questions about tours, check out our Frequently Asked Questions [PDF/92KB]

Join this special edition of the Ocean of Data Challenge, featuring Building Bridges. Hosted by DeepSense, COVE, and ShiftKey Labs, this exciting challenge offers a unique opportunity to collaborate and develop innovative ideas! The free event kicks off on Tuesday, June 3rd at 6 pm AST with an introduction to the challenge, expert presentations, and a Q&A session to help fuel your creativity. Participants must submit video entries by 11:59 pm AST on Tuesday, June 17th. Judges will review submissions over the following two weeks, and winners will be announced on Thursday, July 3rd.

Who should participate? 

Great ideas often emerge from diverse perspectives, so we encourage students from all disciplines to participate – whether that be computer science, engineering, biology, sustainability, business, or any other program! Participants must be current students (full-time or part-time) or recent graduates (within the past 12 months) of a post-secondary institution in Atlantic Canada. You can choose to work solo or collaborate with a team of up to five members. Please make sure to review the Official Rules below.

The Rules

• Competitors must either own the rights to all software used in their project or have written permission from the owner.
• Submissions can be as simple as an infographic or as complex as a machine learning model for predictions. Surprise us! Projects will be judged on their clarity, creativity, and potential impact.
• Competitors can participate individually or in teams of up to 5 members.
• Submissions must not include any confidential information.
• Each project must be based on data from the CIOOS Data Portal, with the source clearly cited in the presentation, infographic, visual, or slides (additional data sources can be used to supplement CIOOS data).
• Competitors must currently live in Canada and have an active Canadian bank account.
• Competitors must be a current part-time or full-time student at a post-secondary institution in Canada OR have graduated from one of these institutions within the past 12 months.

For details and registration, visit: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/deepsense/1714714.  

UVic Libraries student scholarship deadlines are fast approaching for undergraduate and graduate students for the David Harris Flaherty Undergraduate Student Library Scholarship, the William Petrie Graduate Student Library Scholarship, and the Gladys Nipp and Stephen Mah Family Award. Scholarships are $1,000 each.

Eligible UVic students must complete a 500-word essay explaining how they have used library resources.   

Deadline: May 31.

Learn more about library scholarships

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of the Government of Japan is currently accepting applications for the 2026 Research Student Scholarship for students who wish to study at Japanese universities as research or post-graduate students.

The scholarship covers:

Full tuition, Monthly allowance, Round-trip flight between Japan and Canada

The Research Student Scholarship is aimed at university graduates, born on or after April 2, 1991 (for the 2026 scholarship year). The area of research or post-grad study should be in the same or related field that the applicant has previously studied.

Application guides and forms are available through the links on the Consulate General of Japan website:

https://www.vancouver.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/mext_en.html. Application deadline for the 2026 scholarship year: May 23, 2025.

Generally, application forms are available in April or May each year with a deadline in May. Interested applicants can enter their Email address on our website to be notified of the opening of the next application period.

Applicants who successfully pass the written application screening are required to undertake an interview and examination (English and Japanese language) to be held on a designated date in early to mid-July. Interviews and examinations must be conducted in-person at the Consulate General of Japan’s offices. Please note that fluency in Japanese is not necessarily required, but dependent on the nature of the university and study program as selected by the scholarship candidate.

Any questions or concerns contact: 604.684.5868, x397 or by Email at jet@vc.mofa.go.jp.   Culture and Public Relations Coordinator, Consulate General of Japan in Vancouver

The Undergraduate Research in Natural and Clinical Science and Technology (URNCST) Journal is pleased to announce that our call for abstracts for the very 3rd round of the URNCST Journal Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Encyclopedia Entry Initiative is now open!
In an effort to provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to contribute to STEM research literature and develop key writing skills, we have established our novel Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Encyclopedia Entry Initiative (AI-EEI). Students who are selected to participate will have the opportunity to leverage the use of an artificial intelligence platform to write an encyclopedia article about a given topic. Through this opportunity, students will learn how to use artificial intelligence chatbots responsibly and ethically, concisely summarize key concepts regarding a chosen topic, and develop skills applicable to conducting literature reviews. The opportunity to participate in this initiative will enable undergraduate students to develop their critical thinking, and scientific writing and editing abilities.

This is an experimental initiative launched following detailed and careful consultation with the journal’s senior team, and we hope that it will be one that many of you will be interested in, given the growing popularity/use of generative artificial intelligence. We invite YOU to submit an abstract before the deadline closes on Sunday, May 04, 2025 @ 11:59PM EST.

To submit an abstract and learn more, please visit: https://urncst.com/index.php/urncst/encyclopedia_entry_initiative

Please direct your queries to competition@urncst.com. We look forward to receiving your submission!

Hi

I’m excited to share NSERC has launched new Lab to Market grants! They are focused on product development, scale up, and advancing technology readiness level toward commercialization.

Please check them out and circulate within your teams.

Students can apply directly using the forms linked in the table and EOI is live NOW. We highly encourage applications.

Program	Who can apply	Stipend	Commitment	EOI Deadline	Further Info
Technology Readiness Level-Up	Current College, Undergraduate, Masters, PhD student or postdoc (within 5 years of graduation) OR Graduate (within 2 years of graduation)	$10, 000 per participant	4 month program	Round 1: May 9 2025 Round 2: June 6 2025	Program Information Application Form

 

There are 5 days left to apply to the Parliamentary Internship for the Environment (PIE) program. We would like to encourage young leaders in your network who are passionate about the environment, sustainability and politics to apply before April 13th 2025 at 11:59pm.

The Parliamentary Internship for the Environment (PIE) program, now in its 8th year, places young environmental leaders on Parliament Hill for paid, full-time, 10-month internships with Parliamentarians from all national parties. Interns gain a deep understanding of the day-to-day workings of Canadian Parliament and learn from some of Canada’s top environmental changemakers among other benefits. The internship program also offers a wide range of professional development opportunities.

We’re looking for young environmental leaders, aged 18-30, who are passionate about politics and the environment. This program runs from approximately September 2025 to June 2026 and comes with a stipend of $30,000 CAD. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds, with no political experience or specific level of education required. This program is designed to provide hands-on experience to anyone with interest in the intersection of politics and the environment.

They have two specialized streams: The Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture stream pairs young environmental leaders with priority for those representing Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) with climate champions on Parliament Hill. The Indigenous stream selects from a nation-wide pool of self-identified First Nations, Metis, and Inuit leaders, with the goal to break down the systemic barriers Indigenous individuals face in Parliament Hill and support the development of Indigenous-led policy

Applications close at 11:59 pm on April 13th, 2025 so please do not delay sending applications in. More information about the program can be found here, and the application form can be found here.

Please contact pie@environmentalleadership.ca for questions, need more information, or require some accommodation during the application process.