Not the answer, because the need is intermittent
A manufacturer or a health charity may have three or four discrete technical needs a year, which is not enough to justify a doctoral-level post on staff.
Independent consultancy · Edmonton, Alberta · Remote delivery across Canada
Evidence you can trust.
Performance you can prove.
Sagehill Research Group helps small and mid-sized companies demonstrate their environmental performance, and helps health and life-science organizations measure, analyse, and manage their work.
- Environmental compliance
- ESG readiness
- Health analytics & dashboards
- Evaluation & performance measurement
- Fractional project management
The problem we solve
You are being asked to prove it.
Customers, lenders, insurers, and funders now ask organizations to prove their performance. The organizations being asked rarely have the people to answer.
- Customers & certifiersAn environmental management system that meets the current standard.
- Lenders & insurersA sustainability report that will survive scrutiny.
- Funders & boardsAn evaluation that shows a program works.
- Investors & sponsorsA project that hits its milestones.
Minimum engagements exceed the budget line
The major firms carry real capacity, but their smallest engagement often costs more than the entire budget line the work has to come out of.
Doctoral capacity, one project at a time
Sagehill is built for exactly that gap: doctoral-level environmental, analytical, and evaluation capacity, available for a single project or a capped monthly retainer, at a fixed price, with the principals doing the work.
What we do
Two practices, one method.
Both practices turn operational documents and data into defensible, auditable findings: a gap register against a standard, an indicator framework against a theory of change, a dashboard against a data specification. Each principal leads one practice and supports the other.
Environmental compliance & ESG readiness
Practice A · Led by Dr. Jania ChilimaISO 14001:2026 gap assessments and internal audits, independent review of environmental compliance and monitoring reports, and first sustainability reports prepared with reference to the GRI Standards. For manufacturers, waste and agri-food firms, and environmental consultancies.
-
ISO 14001:2026 gap assessment
A remote, document-based assessment against every clause, including the new climate, lifecycle, and change-management requirements. You receive a gap register, a prioritized roadmap, and a transition plan if you hold a 2015 certificate.
-
EMS internal audit
An internal audit planned and reported following ISO 19011 guidance. Records are reviewed remotely; any site component is arranged in advance through a vetted partner auditor or a booked visit.
-
Compliance & monitoring report review
Technical review of environmental compliance, monitoring, or annual reports against approval or permit conditions, with a findings memo to you.
-
ESG readiness assessment
A materiality screen, an inventory of your environmental and emissions data, and a response pack for customer, lender, and insurer questionnaires.
-
GRI-referenced sustainability report
Your first sustainability report, prepared with reference to the GRI Standards: materiality, indicator data, drafting, and a GRI content index.
-
Environmental claims evidence review
A review of your marketing and disclosure claims against your evidence file, with a memo identifying gaps in substantiation. This is a technical review, not legal advice.
Health analytics, evaluation & project management
Practice B · Led by Dr. Steve JimboStatistical analysis, dashboards, evaluation frameworks, and performance measurement for health research teams, health charities, and health authorities. Also PMP-certified project management for biotech and research startups, delivered as a structured, asynchronous project office.
-
Statistical analysis
An analysis plan, analysis in R or Python, reproducible code, results tables, and methods text, ready for your report or manuscript.
-
Dashboard development
Indicator specification, data model, a Power BI dashboard, and handover documentation so your team can maintain it.
-
Evaluation framework & performance measurement
A theory of change, logic model, indicator set, data collection plan, and reporting template. Built to satisfy funders, and to tell you something true about your own program.
-
Survey & qualitative analysis
Survey instrument design and analysis in your Qualtrics instance, plus an NVivo coding framework and a thematic analysis report.
-
Fractional project office
PMP-certified project management without a full-time hire. Set-up covers the charter, work breakdown, integrated schedule, risk register, and governance. Each month you get schedule and risk review, a milestone report, and written issue triage.
-
Analytics & evaluation retainer
Named hours each month for ongoing analysis, dashboard maintenance, and methodological guidance, with a written two-business-day response window.
How pricing works. Every engagement is fixed-fee against a written statement of work. The project office and the analytics retainer are capped monthly retainers with named hours. You know the price and the delivery date before we start. We take a 50% deposit on signature and the balance on delivery. Two rounds of revision are included. You own the deliverable on final payment.
Services & packages
Clear scopes, starting prices.
Common engagements, packaged with a starting price so you can budget before we talk. Every package is delivered by a principal and finalized as a fixed quote.
Environmental Compliance & ESG
Led by Dr. Jania Chilima · EP-CEA certified environmental auditor-
ISO 14001 gap assessment
From$3,500
Remote document review and interviews, a gap report, and a prioritized action plan.
Typical timeline: 2–3 weeks
Request a quote -
Internal audit (ISO 14001 / ISO 19011)
From$4,500
An EMS internal audit planned and reported following ISO 19011 guidance.
Request a quote -
Environmental report review
From$1,500
Independent review of a compliance, monitoring, or Phase I/II ESA report.
Request a quote -
ESG / GRI sustainability report readiness
From$6,000
Materiality, data inventory, and a GRI-referenced reporting roadmap.
Request a quote
Data, Evaluation & Project Management
Led by Dr. Steve Jimbo · PhD, Public Health · PMP-
Evaluation plan & logic model
From$2,500
A logic model, indicator set, and evaluation plan your funders will recognize.
Request a quote -
Data analysis & statistical report
From$2,000
Analysis in R, Python, SAS, or SPSS with a clear, reproducible report.
Request a quote -
Dashboard / data visualization build
From$3,000
Indicator specification, data model, and a dashboard your team can maintain.
Request a quote -
Fractional project manager / analyst on call
From$1,800 / month
PMP-certified project and analytics support on a monthly retainer.
Request a quote
Subcontracting for consulting firms: hourly rates from $95/hr; volume and retainer terms available.
Discuss subcontractingAll prices in CAD, plus GST. Fixed quotes provided after a free 20-minute scoping call. Every engagement is screened for conflicts of interest before acceptance.
Why Sagehill
Narrower, and harder to buy.
We do not compete on availability, and we do not pursue work requiring same-day response or weekday on-site presence. Instead, we offer technical judgment, delivered by the principals, at engagement sizes larger firms will not accept.
Two PhDs, and they do the work
No junior staff, no handoff after the pitch. The people who scope your project write it.
We read the science
Our project manager can read your protocol. Our environmental lead is a certified environmental auditor with impact assessment and site assessment credentials. We tell you whether the evidence holds, not just how to present it.
Two disciplines, one team
Health science, analytics, and project management on one side. Environmental science, impact assessment, and environmental management on the other.
Fixed scope, fixed fee, fixed date
You know the price and the delivery date before we start. We decline work we cannot deliver rather than deliver it late.
Who we work with
Organizations that need the capacity, not the headcount.
Organizations that need doctoral-level technical work from time to time but cannot keep it on staff. We screen every prospective client against our published conflict of interest policy.
-
Manufacturers & agri-food processorsSmall and mid-sized firms in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and across Canada
-
Waste & resource recovery firmsRegional operators needing compliance review and EMS work
-
Environmental & engineering consultanciesFirms engaging subcontracted review, reporting, and data capacity
-
Health research teams & investigatorsAt universities and research institutes
-
National health charitiesEvaluation, performance measurement, and board reporting
-
Health authorities outside AlbertaPerformance measurement frameworks, evaluation, and analytics
-
Biotech & research startupsAsynchronous project office, milestones, and funder reporting
-
Evaluation & analytics consultanciesEngaging subcontracted technical capacity, where the end client also clears screening
-
Associations, societies & foundationsProfessional associations, learned societies, and philanthropic foundations
How we work
Four commitments, every engagement.
These four commitments govern every engagement, from the scoping call to the final release. We are deliberately small. We take a limited number of projects at a time, we do the work ourselves, and we price each project so it is a decision an organization can actually make.
-
BAND 01
We scope in writing before we start
Every engagement opens with a scoping call and a written statement of work. No work begins on a verbal brief, so the price and the date are settled at the beginning rather than negotiated at the end.
-
BAND 02
We review each other's work
Nothing leaves this firm that only one of us has read. Analytical deliverables carry reproducible code and an independent re-run of key results. Audit and gap findings are traced to the clause and the document reviewed.
-
BAND 03
We tell you what the evidence supports
Including when that is not what you hoped. We do not draft environmental claims that your evidence file cannot substantiate. Where the evidence is thin, we say so in the deliverable.
-
BAND 04
We aim to leave you more capable
Frameworks, registers, and code come with the reasoning behind them, so you can extend them yourself. Each engagement should leave you able to take on more of the work in-house next time.
The delivery model
- Remote, asynchronous delivery. Each engagement has two scheduled calls, scoping and findings; everything else is in writing.
- Calls are booked early morning, in the evening, or in a weekday window arranged at least two weeks ahead.
- Deadlines carry at least a 20% effort buffer. If a delay becomes likely, we tell you immediately rather than at the deadline.
- No more than two engagements at a time. This is a limit on our own capacity, not a sales line.
- Health data accepted only in de-identified form, under a written data-sharing agreement, in Canadian-hosted, firm-controlled storage.
- Every statement of work includes an explicit limitation-of-reliance clause. Third parties may rely on a deliverable only with our written consent.
An evidence review that only confirms is not a review.
Sagehill Research Group: methodological honesty
Principals
The people you meet are the people who do the work.
Sagehill is a two-principal firm. Both principals deliver client work and neither holds a purely commercial role. All engagements are scoped jointly.
Dr. Steve Jimbo
PhD · PMP · P.Biol Principal · Leads health analytics, evaluation & project managementSteve is a public health scientist, immunologist, and certified project manager. His career spans laboratory research, federal biosecurity science, provincial health analytics, and public-sector policy and evaluation. At Sagehill he leads statistical analysis and dashboards, evaluation frameworks and performance measurement, and the asynchronous project office. He also provides project management and data analysis to the environmental practice.
- Statistical analysis
- Dashboards
- Evaluation design
- Performance measurement
- Project management
- Life-science evidence
- PhDPublic Health (Vaccinology and Immunotherapeutics), University of Saskatchewan
- PMPProject Management Professional
- P.BiolProfessional Biologist
Read full biography
Steve holds a PhD in Public Health (Vaccinology and Immunotherapeutics) from the University of Saskatchewan. His research at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization–International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) characterised regulatory and effector B cell populations in mucosal lymphoid tissue and examined immune-inhibitory pathways in bacterial respiratory disease. His work is published in the peer-reviewed immunology literature, including Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology.
He went on to serve as a Research Scientist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, working on foreign animal disease preparedness within Canada's high-containment animal health system. That work grounded his practice in formal risk assessment, biosecurity, and the One Health interface between animal, human, and environmental health.
He has also served as Manager of Digital Health and Analytics at the Saskatchewan Health Authority, where he led the COVID-19 modelling and analytics work that informed provincial and federal policy decisions.
Steve now works in policy analysis and evaluation in the public sector. He applies structured project management methods to complex files with many stakeholders, and holds an adjunct appointment with the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Professional Biologist (P.Biol).
Dr. Jania Chilima
PhD · EP-CEA Principal · Leads environmental compliance & ESG readinessJania is an environmental scientist, certified environmental auditor, and collaborative governance specialist. Her practice spans field science, impact assessment, and climate and water policy. At Sagehill she leads ISO 14001 gap assessments and internal audits, review of environmental compliance and monitoring reports, and GRI-referenced sustainability reporting. She also provides survey design and qualitative analysis (Qualtrics, NVivo) to the health practice.
- ISO 14001 & EMS
- Compliance review
- GRI reporting
- Impact assessment
- Water governance
- Qualitative research
- PhDEnvironment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan
- EP-CEAEnvironmental Practitioner – Certified Environmental Auditor
- Phase I ESAEnvironmental Site Assessment certification (AESAC)
Read full biography
Jania holds a PhD and a Master of Environment and Sustainability from the University of Saskatchewan, and a joint honours BSc in Environmental Resource Sciences and Business Administration from Trent University. She is a certified environmental auditor, holding the Environmental Practitioner – Certified Environmental Auditor (EP-CEA) designation.
Her doctoral research examined collaborative water governance and management in the lentic–lotic system of Lake Diefenbaker, Saskatchewan. It brought together community-based participation theory, institutional analysis, and recreational hazard assessment, including how lake users behave. Her master's research addressed watershed cumulative effects assessment and management in the Grand River basin, Ontario.
Her technical credentials include:
- Phase I Environmental Site Assessment certification from the Associated Environmental Site Assessors of Canada
- Environment Canada certification in terrestrial ecological monitoring (EMAN) and benthic macroinvertebrate analysis (OBBN)
- Social Impact Assessment and Quality Assurance in Environmental Impact Assessment training through the International Association for Impact Assessment
- Human and Ecological Risk Assessment through the Toxicology Centre at the University of Saskatchewan
Jania works in municipal environment and climate resilience practice in the public sector. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Safe Drinking Water Foundation, a national charity advancing drinking water education. She has taught environmental public health at the graduate level at the University of Saskatchewan School of Public Health.
Two doctoral researchers with complementary technical foundations: health science, analytics, and project management on one side; environmental science, impact assessment, and environmental management on the other. We share a professional history of turning technical evidence into findings that companies, funders, and boards can act on.
Independence & conflict of interest
Our limits, published.
Both principals are employed full time in the public sector, and we take that boundary seriously. We publish these limits rather than mention them if asked, because an organization relying on us for an independent finding is entitled to know exactly where our own interests sit.
We do not accept
Absolute exclusions · no exceptions, no case-by-case review- The Government of Alberta: any ministry, agency, board, commission, delegated administrative organization, or provincial corporation, including Alberta Health Services, the other provincial health agencies, and Alberta Innovates.
- Any organization that receives, has applied for, or may reasonably apply for funding administered or advised on within either principal's area of public-sector employment.
- Any organization delivering or advocating in family violence, sexual violence, or abuse prevention and response services in Alberta.
- The City of Edmonton: any department, branch, agency, or City-controlled corporation.
- Any party holding an active procurement, permit, approval, regulatory, or funding relationship with the City of Edmonton in a principal's area of responsibility.
- Any municipality or regional body within the Edmonton Metropolitan Region.
- Any vendor, contractor, or subcontractor to either principal's employer, assessed at the parent and affiliate level.
- Any engagement whose performance would require information not available to the general public.
- Any lobbying, government relations, or advocacy activity, however characterised.
Who we can work with
Eligible, subject to screening- Universities, research institutes, and individual investigators. We screen Alberta institutions case by case for ties to provincial funding.
- National health charities and non-governmental organizations with no conflicting provincial funding relationship.
- Health authorities, health system organizations, non-profits, and municipalities outside Alberta.
- Small and mid-sized companies in manufacturing, waste and resource recovery, and agri-food. They must be headquartered and operating outside the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, with no City of Edmonton or Government of Alberta vendor, permit, or funding relationship at the parent or affiliate level. For now, we decline facilities regulated by the Province of Alberta.
- Biotech and research startups outside Alberta. Alberta startups only where screening confirms no ties to provincial funding.
- Professional associations, learned societies, and philanthropic foundations that do not fund the Alberta family violence sector.
- Consultancies engaging us as a subcontractor, provided the ultimate end client also clears screening.
How screening works
Before any proposal is issued- Every prospective client is screened against a written policy, signed by both principals, before a proposal is issued.
- Screening of companies and subcontract partners extends to parent companies and affiliates.
- A subcontract does not launder an excluded end client. The ultimate client must clear the same screen.
- Where either principal holds any doubt, the engagement is declined. The tie-breaker is always to decline.
- A conflict log records every prospective client, the outcome, and the reasoning.
- No employer time, equipment, software licences, information, or premises are ever used for Sagehill work.
Services we do not offer
Professional boundaries that protect your findings- No certification audits, and no third-party assurance or verification opinions on sustainability reports or greenhouse gas statements. Certification and assurance remain with accredited bodies.
- No sign-off as qualified professional of record on regulatory submissions. Compliance report reviews are advisory findings to the client.
- No internal audit of a management system we designed or implemented. Auditors do not audit their own work.
- No fractional role requiring scheduled weekday attendance, stand-up meetings, or on-call availability, and no arrangement under which a principal functions as the client's employee.
- No custody of identifiable personal health information. Health data are accepted only in de-identified form under a written data-sharing agreement.
- No success fees or contingent pricing tied to certification outcomes, funding decisions, or financing. Contingency creates an incentive to overstate a client's position.
- No lobbying, government relations, or advocacy representation of any kind.
Disclosure to both principals' employers is made before the firm accepts its first engagement and is renewed annually and on any material change.
Contact
Tell us what you need to prove.
Every engagement starts with a scoping call and a written statement of work, so the price and the date are settled before anything begins. If the work is not something we can do well, we will say so.
It helps to include:
- The deliverable you need and the deadline it has to meet
- The standard, funder, customer, or lender requirement behind it
- What documents, data, or program material you already hold
- Your budget range for the piece of work
- hello@sagehillresearch.ca
- Based
- Edmonton, Alberta
Fully remote delivery across Canada - Calls
- By appointment: early morning, evening, or a booked weekday window
- Launching
- Q1 2027
- Assurance
- Professional liability (errors and omissions) and commercial general liability, $2M. Certificate available to clients on request.