Stories are the universal form of human cognition, critical to the way we make sense of ourselves and the world around us. In an increasingly ‘noisy’ world, understanding how to craft memorable and meaningful stories helps cut through the static and ensure that the people we most want to connect with can hear us, but that we can stay true to our core values in the process.
The Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation is hosting a free online webinar that will provide support to emerging and developing rural researchers and practitioners to clarify the role of stories in their own work and lives, identify what matters to them (and why) and how it shapes the questions they ask, the way they show up in the world, and how they align their purpose and presence to make an impact on the issues that matter most. Whether it’s a research proposal, presenting to a conference, writing an op-ed, or making the most of opportunities to be at the table when it matters most, participants will leave this workshop with a set of tools for crafting the critical stories that will shape their lives and careers – and to do it with both integrity and joy.
The webinar takes place on Thursday, November 12, 1pm – 230pm EST. Registration for the webinar is available online.
Ashleigh Weeden, MPA, PhD, is an award-winning rural futurist and critical public policy researcher whose work explores the dynamic relationship between place, power, and policy, with particular emphases on advancing “the right to be rural” and on storytelling as a foundational policy lever. A lifelong storyteller, she has developed a reputation for effectively ‘speaking truth to power’ by translating complex policy issues to human-scale conversations, often using creativity and humour to support collaborative problem solving on contentious topics. Dr. Weeden currently serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Rural Development Institute at Brandon University and will be joining Dalhousie University in 2027 as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar, supported by a prestigious Canada Postdoctoral Research Award.