20th Henry Teuscher Award - Danielle Dagenais, 2019 Grand Prize Winner

MONTRÉAL, May 24, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Each year, as part of the Great Gardening Weekend at Montréal's Jardin botanique, the prestigious Henry Teuscher Award is presented to someone whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of horticulture in Quebec. This year, the jury reviewed the remarkable career of Danielle Dagenais, director since June 2018 of the school of urban planning and landscape architecture at the Université de Montréal and associate professor since 2007. Prof. Dagenais is also an associate researcher with the Chair in Landscape and Environment at the Université de Montréal (CPEUM) and the UNESCO Chair in Landscape and Environment at the Université de Montréal (CUPEUM).

An agronomist with a master's degree in environmental engineering and a PhD in environmental design, Prof. Dagenais is a specialist in horticulture, phytotechnologies, plant identification, ecology and gardening. Her research deals with the implementation of green infrastructure or phytotechnologies in urban areas and adaptation to climate change. She is currently studying the impact of the choice or maintenance of plant species on the effectiveness of bioretention and buffer strips of vegetation in cold climates. She is also interested in biodiversity, plant-human relations, the ecological discourse of landscape architecture and the concept of urban nature. She often works with governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as standardization agencies, on research projects or as a vegetation expert. She is an associate fellow of the Réseau Inondations intersectoriel du Québec flood research network and the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, and a founding member of the Société québécoise de phytotechnologie. She has published numerous scientific papers and made many presentations at international conferences on those subjects.¹ She is a member of the Association des architectes paysagistes du Québec and Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and was horticultural columnist for Le Devoir and a regular contributor on Radio-Canada from 1994 to 2000. It's with great enthusiasm that the Jardin botanique's committee is presenting her with this year's Henry Teuscher Award.

The Henry Teuscher Award past and present

Henry Teuscher, a visionary and passionate horticulturist, botanist and landscape architect (1891?1984), designed Montréal's Jardin botanique. He worked closely with Brother Marie-Victorin and was responsible for designing several of the exhibition greenhouses and assembling some of the garden's main plant collections. Since it was created in 1999, the Henry Teuscher Award has been presented to André Poliquin (2018), Yves Gagnon (2017), Bertrand Dumont (2016), Claude Vallée (2015), Albert Mondor (2014), Isabelle Dupras (2013), Francis H. Cabot (2012, posthumously), Hélène Leclerc (2011), Jacques-André Rioux (2010), Elsie Reford and Alexander Reford (2009), Jean-Claude Vigor (2008), Émile Jacqmain (2007), Fred Oehmichen (2006), Daniel A. Séguin (2005), Gaëtan Hamel (2004), Milan B. Havlin (2003), Henri and Camille Perron (2002), Wilfrid Meloche (2001), Roger Van den Hende (2000) and Tony Huber (1999).

Trace the History of Evolution
In 2019, Espace pour la vie will be exploring nature and biodiversity through the lens of evolution. How have phenomena taking place over thousands of years resulted in the fascinating history of life on our planet? A complex, exciting story to investigate and discover!

Espace pour la vie is made up of four attractions on the same site: the Biodôme, Insectarium, Jardin botanique and Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan. These four prestigious municipal institutions form Canada's largest natural science museum complex. Together, they are launching a daring, creative urban movement, encouraging all of us to rethink the connection between humankind and nature and cultivate a new way of living.

SOURCE Espace pour la vie