Innovative Workforce Strategies in Rural Ontario

Innovative Workforce Strategies in Rural Ontario
From March 13th to 15th, Heather Graham (MSc Rural Planning and Development student) and Dr. Ryan Gibson attended the 26th Annual Metropolis Canada Conference in Montréal, Québec. They had the opportunity to present their poster, titled, "Innovative Workforce Strategies for Engaging Newcomers in Rural Ontario." The poster highlights the results of a survey they had completed in Fall 2023, which asked workforce planning boards and Community Futures Developm

New Project: Emerging Voices – Rural Knowledge Transfer

New Project: Emerging Voices – Rural Knowledge Transfer
A new initiative will be launched focused on supporting and amplifying the voices of emerging rural researchers. Emerging Voices - Rural Knowledge Transfer 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

2024 Rural Symposium

2024 Rural Symposium
Mark your calendars - the 2024 Rural Symposium takes place on March 5! The Rural Symposium is an annual opportunity for University of Guelph graduate students to showcase their rural research to policymakers, policy analysts, and program staff from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The event facilitates knowledge mobilization and network building between graduate students at the University of Guelph, researchers, and ...

Danika Hammond Successfully Defends MSc Thesis

Danika Hammond Successfully Defends MSc Thesis
Congratulations to Danika Hammond for successfully defending her Master of Science (Planning) thesis - Advancing Economic Development in Small and Remote Rural communities; A Convergent Mixed-Methods Study of Provincial Rural Policy in British Columbia! Stay tuned for an electronic copy of the thesis! Thank you to Dr. Sarah-Patricia Breen (Selkirk College), Dr. Patrick Brouder (Thompson River University), and Dr. Dave Guyadeen (University of Guelph) for...

Embedding Wealth in Rural Communities

Embedding Wealth in Rural Communities
On 27 November 2023, Ryan Gibson share research on embedding wealth in rural Canadian communities at the International Association of Community Development's Researcher Forum. The presentation explored how rural and small communities can benefit from existing wealth to build their futures. Insights from community wealth building experiences from rural Canada were be shared, focusing on lessons learned, impacts, and transferability. A copy of the presentati...

Measuring the Urban Exodus: Statistics Canada Data Trends in Rural Ontario

Measuring the Urban Exodus: Statistics Canada Data Trends in Rural Ontario
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

Exploring the Rural Research Landscape across Ontario

Exploring the Rural Research Landscape across Ontario
​The Rural Futures project at the University of Guelph is on a mission to promote the impactful research work happening in Ontario, particularly as it relates to rural people, places, and the environment. As an initiative aimed at promoting rural-focused research by students and faculty, Rural Futures is committed to making these outputs accessible to everyone. Through our dynamic new directory, Rural Futures is shining a spotlight on the diverse resear

New Report on Rural and Northern Ontario Airports

New Report on Rural and Northern Ontario Airports
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...
  During Day 3 of the Rural Policy Twitter Conference three contributions were shared from researchers focused on the digital divide (Ashleigh Weeden and Wayne Kelly), barriers for newcomers to access recreation services for children (Niva Shrestha), and the role of rural community leaders (Norm Ragetlie and Lissel Hernandez Gongora). Check out the Twitter presentations below: https://twitter.com/ashleighweeden/status/1405510790996578312?s=20