Congratulations Kyra Lightburn! Kyra is one of the three University of Guelph award winners for the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship 2019. Kyra is a PhD candidate at the Department of Plant Agriculture supervised by Profs. Ralph Martin and Rene Van Acker and co-supervised by our own Prof. Nigel Raine from the School of Environmental Sciences. 

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship was launched in 2008 by the Government of Canada. Yearly, up to 166 scholarships are awarded across Canada and awarded by Canada’s three main granting agencies. The scholarship aims to ensure that Canada attracts outstanding doctoral students that help to establish Canada as the global centre of excellence in research and higher learning. The award is worth $50,000 a year for three years. 

The successful recipients excel academically, demonstrate outstanding research potential and show strong leadership skills.

Kyra’s research aims to assess how grassland management practices affect wild bees and their population dynamics. Wild bees, including bumblebees are amongst the most important plant pollinators. Kyra’s ultimate goal is “to be able to offer feedback to farmers to tell them which kinds of pasture flower benefit bumblebees and what kind of floral diversity will lead to wild bee diversity.”