How do rural regions attract and keep highly skilled workers? Check out Natasha D'Souza's research summary examining Bruce County’s energy sector and the role of a dominant industry in shaping talent, governance, and regional identity.
Take a read of the research summary at https://ruraldev.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Research-Summary-DSouza.pdf
A new peer-reviewed article titled “Revisiting rural economic development: New Localism’s potential in Canadian local government” shines a timely spotlight on the growing pressures facing rural communities across Canada. As local governments are increasingly asked to take on roles beyond basic services, many rural municipalities are struggling to keep up. Limited staff, tight budgets, and expanding responsibilities have created real challenges for communit
During the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Canadians packed up city life and moved to rural communities. But what did that sudden shift really mean on the ground? A new article in Plan Canada, “Reflecting on the Urban Exodus: Rural Planning for City Expats,” explores how rural municipalities across Ontario experienced — and responded to — this change.
Written by Sara Epp, Christopher Fullerton, Natasha Gaudio Harrison, and Ryan Gibson, the article draws o
Natasha D'Souza's recent Rural Studies PhD dissertation "Space, Place and Power: A Case Study of Highly Skilled Talent and Governance Dynamics in The Bruce County Energy Sector" is now available online.
Louis Helps' Rural Studies PhD dissertation titled "Migrant Stories, Industry Narratives: A Critical Discourse Analysis on Migrant Labour in Canadian Agriculture" is now available online!
Formal agricultural research is often conducted by professional researchers, however, recently there has been in an increase in farmer-led initiatives such as the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario’s (EFAO) Farmer-Led Research Program (FLRP). The Connecting the Dots initiative is excited to share a research summary about the impacts of the FLRP – Farmer Knowledge as Formal Knowledge: A Case Study of Farmer-Led Research in Ontario, Canada. The summar
A new research publication by Margarita Fontecha, Silvia Sarapura‑Escobar, and Ryan Gibson published in the Journal of Rural Studies invites us to rethink what “rural life” really means in parts of Colombia where licit and illicit economies coexist. Using participatory methods grounded in theories of agency and intersectionality, the authors center the experiences and aspirations of rural youth from the community of La India. Rather than treating them as p
A newly published chapter in Critical Futures: Community-Engaged Research in a Time of Social Transformation (University of Toronto Press) invites readers to rethink what it means to live, work, and thrive in rural places today. Written by Sean Markey, Ashleigh Weeden, Ryan Gibson, Greg Halseth, and Laura Ryser, “Community-Engaged Research and the ‘Right to Be Rural’” challenges long-held assumptions that cast rural communities as outdated, declining, or s
20-26 October 2025 is International Open Access Week – a global event dedicated to openness in scholarship and research. This year’s theme, “Who Owns Our Knowledge?”, invites all of us to reflect on who controls the production and sharing of knowledge—and how we might open it up for the wider public good.
The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development is excited to host three open access journals: Canadian Agri-food & ...
The latest report from the Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review (SRCPR) has set its sights beyond Scotland's borders, drawing on a detailed case studies from four countries to inform how Scottish rural support systems might evolve. The report explores how community-led development, grassroots movements and local-government partnerships operate in four international rural settings: Canada, England, Finland, and Ireland. The report aims to glean lessons
