News

Many rural businesses struggle to locate sufficient labour force. Many job vacancies go unfilled. How rural communities and businesses are able to attract and retain workers needed to generate economic development and vitality is a critical question. Lissel Hernandez-Gongora, a new postdoctoral fellow with the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, will examine this issue in partnership with rural communities and businesses.

Four SEDRD 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:

Community leaders from across Ontario convened in Toronto to discuss immigration strategies, challenges, and opportunities for small communities. Nine Rural Planning and Development students facilitated these discussions and will be compiling a summary report in the coming weeks. 

On February 5, 2020, three SEDRD members shared their rural research and knowledge with the In No Particular Order podcast series. Tony Fuller, retired Rural Planning and Development professor, discussed the agricultural revolution taking place China.

The Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural Frederick Gage Todd National Scholarship. This scholarship in the amount of $10,000 will be awarded to one exceptional landscape architecture student in the summer of 2020. Students must apply for this scholarship by May 1st.  Details including student eligibility and submission requirements can be found on the LACF website. 

The inaugural award of the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation - Alain Lamontagne Scholarship in Landscape Architecture was presented for the first time to Beth Bray, 4th year BLA student. BLA alumnus Peter Kreuk, principal of Durante Kreuk in Vancouver, endowed this award in memoriam to Alain Lamontagne, who was a graduate of the BLA program in 2008 and a valued member of the dk staff. In attendance for the presentation were Alain’s family members and UofG professor emerita, Cecelia Paine, who presented the award on behalf of Peter and LACF. 

On January 27^th, the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) was pleased to host delegates from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Global Affairs Canada to discuss: 1) The importance of rural-focused development in developing countries and, 2) Opportunities for collaboration with faculty and students from Rural Planning and Development and the University of Guelph more generally.

Master of Landscape Architecture students enjoyed a tour of the Lakeview Waterfront Connection project, which is overseen by Credit Valley Conservation in partnership with Toronto and Region Conservation, the Region of Peel and the City of Mississauga.  In early settlement days, the Lake Ontario shoreline was mined via stone hooking; an estimated 4-million tons of stone were taken from along the Mississauga shore.

We are really excited to continue collecting your amazing work for our 2019/2020 edition of the Studio V Journal. Landscape Architecture students should consider submitting excerpts of their final assignments and/or anything else that represents their hard work this term to the Studio V team. Being published in the Studio V journal makes a great addition to a CV as it is a peer reviewed journal. Copies of the Studio V Journal will be printed for our 2020 convocation and if your work is chosen you will be given a complimentary copy of the 2019/2020 Studio V Journal.

Congratulations are in order for Rachana Devkota, PhD in Rural Studies candidate!  She recently published two peer-reviewed journal articles in the journal, Sustainability and the Journal of Rural Studies. Rachana specializes in sustainable agri-food systems innovation. Her fieldwork is in Nepal, and she has a specific focus on gender analysis. Her co-advisors in the PhD in Rural Studies program are Dr. Helen Hambly (SEDRD) and Dr.