What does it mean to live rurally in the 21st century? This is the foundational question asked during each episode of Rural Routes Podcasts. The online podcast program was created in 2015 through a partnership between the Leslie Harris Centre for Regional Policy and Development and the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation. In Episode 12, Dr. Gibson shares his experience meeting with researchers at the Cold Climate Housing Research Centre in F
How can a region experiencing population decline and decreasing economic opportunities change their future? Community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and businesses gathered in St Anthony to discuss the future of the Northern Peninsula region of Newfoundland. The Our Way Forward: Sharing Knowledge and Building Capacity for Regional Development conference facilitated knowledge sharing from the multi-year research initiative called Canadian Regio
The concept of “welcoming communities” has recently become a useful policy and research framework in which to explore immigrant settlement, integration, and retention. Small, rural, and regional communities often struggle to meet the needs of immigrants and have limited partnerships and capacities in the area of immigrant settlement and integration. Over the past five years, Brandon has received significant increases in immigrant arrivals through the influ...
Dr. Gibson had the opportunity to connect with owner representatives and branch managers of Libro Credit Union at the 2016 Fall Forum on October 29. The event was an opportunity for Libro Credit Union to conduct strategic discussions on the future and to celebrate their achievements over the past year. The event also provided an opportunity for the newly announced Libro Professor of Regional Economic Development in Southwestern Ontario to formall...
The Libro Professor of Regional Economic Development in Southwestern Ontario was officially launched during the recent Building Vibrant Rural Futures conference on October 14, 2016. The London Free Press recently produced an article about the position, running in the October 20 edition of the paper. You can read the full article at http://www.lfpress.com/2016/10/20/libro-credit-union-university-of-guelph-partner-to-create-economic-professorship.
On October 19, Dr. Gibson contributed to a panel discussion on enhancing investment in rural and northern communities at the Invest in our Communities, Our Future meeting in Plum Point, Newfoundland. Dr. Gibson shared research on community-based collective endowments that communities can utilize to support their local priorities. The presentation pulled on research related to philanthropy, inter-generational wealth transfers, and the recent State
We are pleased to announce with Libro Credit Union (Libro) the appointment of Prof. Ryan Gibson to the Libro Professorship of Regional Economic Development for southwestern Ontario. The professorship is focused on building economic development and innovation across the region, through world-class research, teaching, outreach and collaboration.
“We are absolutely thrilled to partner with the University of Guelph and are very excited to have Rya...
During the Building Vibrant Rural Futures conference, Dr. Gibson and Logan Horrocks presented a poster titled Facilitating Rural Policy Connections. The poster presentation highlights the work of the Policy Fora team of the Rural Policy Learning Commons. The Rural Policy Learning Commons (RPLC) is a multi-year partnership striving to enhance rural prosperity by identifying and analyzing policy options relevant to rural areas. The initiative is ev
The Building Vibrant Rural Futures conference kicked off on October 12, 2016. Over 150 community leaders, community-based organizations, government representatives, researchers, and students have convened in Guelph to discuss the future of rural communities. Over the next two days, over 80 presentations, posters, panels, and capacity building sessions will be held on a variety of topics pertinent to building vibrant rural futures.
During the c...
On October 3, 2016, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) awarded Dr. Gibson and his colleagues a one-year Connections Grant. The Connections Grant will facilitate the Building Vibrant Rural Futures conference, support engagement of community and students in rural policy discussions, and support knowledge mobilization among researchers, policy makers, and local/regional development actors.
The Building Vibrant R...
