By: Jaclyn Chambers Page, Copyright Librarian + Faculty of Agriculture Liaison Librarian

The MacRae Library hosted the third Student Research Poster Competition for Dal’s Agricultural Campus (AC) students on March 18, 2026. Students representing topics from across departments in the Faculty of Agriculture came together to share their research with one another and an audience of students, faculty, and staff from across the AC community.

The audience engaged with researchers one-on-one to learn more about the research featured on the posters, serving as judges in this “people’s choice”-style contest, selecting their top three favourite posters based on a provided rubric.

The winners were:

1. First Place ($100): Prakhar Talwar, Sahil Sahil, Siyi Sun, and Glen Dsouza for “Biochar: A Multifunctional Material for Sustainable Environmental Remediation.”

2. Second Place ($50): Alanna De Boer for “Effects of Blueberry Juice Concentration on Green Tea Kombucha Fermentation and Antioxidant Properties.”

3. Third Place ($25): Belle Kim for “Genome-wide Association Studies of Feed Efficiency and Resilience Traits in Canadian Duroc Pigs.”

All students associated with the Truro Campus, from any academic level, were welcome to submit to the competition. This year, the competition featured undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students from areas related to animal science, plant science, and engineering. Microsoft Co-Pilot (Microsoft, 2026) accurately identified the following key themes evident across the breadth of entries:

Sustainable and climate‑resilient agriculture

• Developing environmentally friendly technologies, materials, and systems to support low‑impact, resilient agricultural production.

Animal welfare, behaviour, and precision livestock monitoring

• Using genetics, sensors, and housing design to improve animal health, welfare, and productivity.

Functional foods, fermentation, and nutritional bioactives

• Leveraging natural bioactive compounds, fermentation, and innovative food processing to enhance nutritional or therapeutic properties.

Plant–insect interactions and integrated pest management

• Understanding how pests and pathogens respond to environmental and chemical cues to improve crop protection strategies.

Dalhousie Librarians Erin MacPherson and Jaclyn Chambers Page organized and hosted the competition, supported by Elaine MacInnis, Acting Dean of Libraries, Head of MacRae Library, and Associate Dean, Library Services.

We are grateful to the students, faculty members, and community members who came to support our student researchers, including the Dean of Agriculture and Campus Principal, Dr. Heather Bruce, and the Faculty of Agriculture Associate Dean Academic, Dr. Dian Patterson.

For more information about the competition, please contact the MacRae Library at macrae.library@dal.ca.

Left to right: Jaclyn Chambers Page, Prakhar Talwar, Sahil Sahil, Alanna De Boer, Belle Kim, Erin MacPherson

References

Microsoft. (2026, March 19). Identify key themes [Generative AI chat]. M65 Copilot. https://bit.ly/40D9uWT