About Us

The Historical Geographic Information Systems Lab (HGIS Lab) is a CFI funded research facility in the history department. It was one of the first digital history labs in Canada when Geoff Cunfer founded it in 2008. In recent years the lab has grown to include four additional faculty members: Jim Clifford, Ben Hoy, Cheryl Troupe, and Andrew Watson. The lab also trains dozens of students, from undergraduates through to PhD candidates, along with postdoctoral fellows and visiting faculty and students.

Lab members’ specializations include environmental, energy, borderland, agricultural, urban and social histories of Canada, the United States and Britain. The faculty, postdoctoral fellows and students collaborate with scholars in Canada, the United States, Spain, Austria, the United Kingdom and Columbia. Research in the lab has been funded by numerous SSHRC and CFI grants, including a Partnership Grant, a Digging Into Data grant, Insight Grants, Insight Development grants and graduate student scholarships. 

Funding for the Historical GIS Lab comes from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Saskatchewan Innovation and Science Fund, the College of Arts and Science, the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, and the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan.

Please contact us with any inquiries you may have.