Rural research from the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development was on display at the recent Liminal Spaces: Two Days of Rural Canada [1] conference. The interdisciplinary conference examined the world between the cities and the wilderness. The following students and alumni presented rural research at the conference:

• Danika Hammond (MSc Planning graduate): Defining rural: Advancing a place-based rural criteria matrix.
• John Dale (Rural Studies PhD candidate): Social infrastructure in rural communities.
• Damilola Oyewale (MSc Planning student): Assessing the interplay of immigration and housing in Ontario’s agricultural landscape for economic development.
• Rana Telfah (Rural Studies PhD graduate): The early settlement experiences of Syrian families in Southwestern Ontario.
• John Dale (Rural Studies PhD candidate): Optimizing local governance: How municipalities navigate the impacts of austerity in rural Ontario.
• Jeff Reichheld (Rural Studies PhD candidate): (Dis)incentives in Canadian agri-environmental policy – missed opportunities from mis-fits.

Image:  University of Guelph participants (left to right): Prof. Sara Epp, Jeff Reichheld, Damilola Oyewale, Prof. Ryan Gibson and John Dale.

Prof. Sara Epp delivered the keynote address titled “Reconceptualizing, reframing or restructuring rural: Understanding rurality and why rural research matters.”

Brock University’s Centre for Canadian Studies [2] hosted the Liminal Spaces: Two Days of Rural Canada conference in St Catherines, Ontario, on March 21-22, 2024.