The Centre d'études nordiques (CEN) was founded under the initiative and perseverance of visionary geographer Louis-Edmond Hamelin (1923-2020), who stimulated the Québec government's interest in research in the Far North. On August 2, 1961, the CEN was created by ministerial decree (No. 1684), at the suggestion of the then Premier of Quebec, Jean Lesage, and under the responsibility of the Minister of Natural Resources, René Lévesque. On December 20, 1961, CEN became Université Laval's first official research centre.

CEN Fields of Activity

The CEN brings together researchers, students, trainees and research professionals from a variety of disciplines, working together to better understand the evolution of arctic, subarctic, boreal and alpine terrestrial environments. The main areas of intervention in which they work are as follows:

• Dynamics of the permafrosted physical environment;
• Natural and geomechanical risks;
• Coastal dynamics and resilience;
• Evolution of landscapes;
• Paleo-environmental reconstruction;
• Interactions between climate, biogeochemical cycles and aquatic and terrestrial systems;
• Exchange of energy and materials between environmental compartments;
• Structure and functioning of ecosystems;
• Remote sensing applied to geo-ecosystems;
• Water cycle and groundwater management;
• Responsible management of renewable and non-renewable natural resources;
• Development of renewable energy adapted to the North;
• Man-environment relationship and culture of adaptation of the peoples of the North