News

Fourth year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture students, Jack Mosquite and Emil Kovacevic were participants and award winners from the Brains and Brawn Design Challenge hosted by The Concussion Legacy Foundation of Canada and iBoost Zone. The design challenge was a 24 hour event hosted by Ryerson University from February 7th to 8th with participants encompassing of teams competing from various South Ontario Universities.

The annual Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association Student Design Competition invites Ontario university and college students to apply their design skills to create a rehabilitation design proposal for an existing Ontario pit or quarry or pit. Winners are awarded monetary prizes and winning entries are displayed at OSSGA's annual conference. 

My name is Natalya Garrod, I am a 2nd-year Rural Planning and Development graduate student and I am thrilled to commence the position of webinar coordinator for the Students and Young Professionals Committee for the Canadian Water Network. This is a volunteer position where I have the opportunity to host 4-6 webinars throughout the year with regards to water. I am responsible for developing a topic, inviting speakers, and general organization of the webinar. My MSc thesis research focuses on First Nations local-level source water protection.

Students in the advanced planning practice course travelled to the Essex, Ontario region at the end of February. There they met with local planning officials/development proponents to examine planning topics concerning economic development, and land use development challenges. Major planning themes centred on the evolving rural land base, e.g., on farm diversified land uses, agri-tourism development, vegetable and cannabis greenhouse production.

A new journal paper co-authored by Md Kamruzzaman, Ataharul Chowdhury, Helen Hambly and Silvia Sarapura, highlights how agricultural advisory agents use social media to support agricultural innovation in Bangladesh. The paper can be found online in the Rural Extension & Innovation Systems Journal, 2019 15(1) called "How do extension agents of DAE use social media for strengthening agricultural innovation in Bangladesh?"

On February 25, 2020, in partnership with the Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA) and on behalf of the Building the Future research team, Ashleigh Weeden (PhD Candidate, Rural Studies) launched a survey for rural municipal officials and staff to learn more about their experiences in planning for and connecting infrastructure initiatives and economic development strategies.

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.