The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph, in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), hosted a one-day symposium to showcase rural research being conducted at the University of Guelph. The Rural Symposium is an opportunity for graduate students to share their research with researchers, policy analysts and program staff with the OMAFRA, and rural organizations.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a visible migration of urban populations into rural communities. A new research initiative is examining the migration trends taking place in Ontario and their impact on rural communities, economies, and environments.
As a part of the Urban Exodus: Understanding the Impacts of Migration to Rural Ontario as a Result of the COVID-19 Pandemic initiative, a set of research insights have been developed by gra
The COVID-19 pandemic created fluctuations in flight service, both nationally and internationally. Over the past months, researchers have investigated the changes in scheduled flight services in rural and northern Ontario. To gain a greater depth of understanding of these changes, an inventory was created based on information collected from 66 Northern Ontario Airports. The new report creates an inventory of Northern Ontario airports. The information colle...
How can you ensure your charity donations are truly helping your local community? Brady Reid (PhD candidate in Rural Studies, University of Guelph) and Louis Help (PhD candidate in Rural Studies, University of Guelph) recently discussed this question in an article published in The Conversation.
This article builds from ongoing cross Canada research on how communities can utilized place-based endowments to support their long term prosperity.
Alex Petric and Ryan Gibson recently published an article in the Ontario Professional Planners Institute's Y Magazine sharing lessons learned from across Canada on facilitating rural economic development through place-based investments. The publication examines six community investment fund programs operating across Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The research explores how these progra...
The “Getting to Work: Investigating Labour Market Challenges in Saugeen Shores” project is now complete. This project was in partnership with the the Town of Saugeen Shores, University of Guelph, Bruce Power, and Mitacs, in order to research the specific labour market challenges in Saugeen Shores.
“We are fortunate to have these partners working together to conduct research and collect data for the Town of Saugeen Shores” says Mayor Luke Charbonneau, “t...
The COVID-19 global pandemic created great uncertainty for employment across Canada and internationally. News reports have noted job losses by different sectors, the unequal distribution of the impacts, and the gradual re-opening of some sectors. Victoria Agyepong, Ryan Gibson, and Ray Bollman recently published a report called "Rural Employment and Workforce Development: Impacts and Opportunities". The report takes a rural lens to understand the impac...
A new publication focused on infrastructure investments to support COVID19 recovery in rural communities was released by the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF). As part of CRRF's Rural Insights on COVID-19 Series, the publication examines how rural communities can employ green infrastructure to address post-pandemic recovery and climate reliance. The report emerges from the Building the Future research initiative funded through the Ontario Agr
Ashleigh Weeden (PhD Candidate, Rural Studies), believes the future of local government will look very different from its past and, in an interview with Municipal World's CEO and Editor in Chief, Ashleigh argues that this future requires recommitting to core values of inclusion, diversity, and integrity. The interview was recorded as part of Municipal World's new MW Shares podcast series and highlights Ashleigh's five years of contributions to Municipal Wo...
Three graduate students were recently profiled by the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) as emerging rural scholars! The February 2020 CRRF national newsletter highlighted the research being conducted by Victoria Agyepong, Koren Lam, and Ashleigh Weeden. The research themes are noted below:
Victoria Aygepong: Bringing People to the Centre: Governance of Digital Circular Food Economy in Non-Metro Ontario.
Koren Lam: Rural Telecommuters in
