We are excited to announce a new funded project titled “Bridging Rural Insights: Integrating Research, Policy, and Development”. The funding will support knowledge translation through the 2025 Rural Symposium and the Rural Review: Ontario Rural Planning, Development, and Policy.

The Rural Symposium is an opportunity for University of Guelph graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to showcase their rural research to Government of Ontario staff, rural community leaders, and rural businesses. The event facilitates knowledge translation/transfer and network building between graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers, Government of Ontario staff, and rural stakeholders. The 2025 Rural Symposium will take place on February 11, 2025 at the Conference Centre at 1 Stone Road West, Guelph.

This new project will facilitate three key activities: (i) a one-day knowledge sharing forum for graduate students at the University of Guelph to share their research with staff from the provincial government and rural organizations; (ii) an online repository to enable knowledge sharing after the event, and (iii) share knowledge emerging from the event and online repository to amplify the messages to a broader audience throughout rural Ontario.

The project is funded through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance’s Knowledge Translation and Transfer Initiatives program.