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Alberta Regenerative Living Lab

Initiative Overview

Location:

Albert farms and ranches

Duration:

2022 - 2027

Major Supporters:

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Living Lab Program

The Alberta Regenerative Living Lab (ARLL) initiative is led by the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA) and Food Water Wellness Foundation (FWWF). TRI is a partner organization, providing guidance on good practices related to weaving Indigenous ways of knowing and other approaches to help advance the goals of the Living Lab.

Launched in 2021, Agricultural Climate Solutions — Living Labs is a program that will allow Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to build and strengthen a nationwide network of living labs over 10 years.

Each living lab brings together farmers, scientists, and other sector stakeholders to co-develop and test innovative technologies and on-farm practices to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sequester carbon in real-world conditions.

The mission of the ARLL is to create an innovation project supported by research that will enable an accelerated response to climate change through the rapid and widespread adoption of new agricultural practices and technologies. This project will co-create a space that is inclusive, that acknowledges and validates good management practices already being implemented, and that inspires and motivates producers and scientists towards practices that increase sustainability and resiliency on Alberta farms and ranches.

Sara Walsh, PhD

Board Member

Dr. Sara Walsh is a disaster risk reduction and climate resilience specialist with more than 15 years of experience spanning Canada, Nepal, the Middle East, and North Africa. Until November 2025, she served as Thematic Lead for Climate and Resilience with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where she supported Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to strengthen their climate and risk reduction work across the region. Sara currently works as a freelance consultant with the United Nations, governments, and humanitarian organizations on recovery, risk governance, and community-based resilience. She teaches at a Canadian university and holds a PhD in Disaster Risk Reduction. Her work emphasizes anticipatory action, equity, and bridging research with practice to shape more resilient and sustainable futures.

Alison Criscitiello

Board Member

Ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer Alison Criscitiello explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions using ice core chemistry. Criscitiello’s work also focuses on environmental contaminant histories in ice cores from the Canadian high Arctic and the water towers of the Canadian Rockies. In 2010, she led the first all-women’s ascent of Lingsarmo, a 22,818-foot peak in the Indian Himalaya. Criscitiello has earned three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, the John Lauchlan and Mugs Stump alpine climbing awards, as well as the first Ph.D. in Glaciology ever conferred by MIT. Criscitiello is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta. She is the co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada.