The New Rural Economy project provided the opportunity for 58 Concordia students to participate directly in ongoing social science research. As part of this national team of researchers and research assistants, NRE students have participated and presented at 11 national conferences and workshops, participated in fieldwork, data collection and analysis in 24 rural Canadian communities, authored or co-authored 41 published papers or reports, and have been team members on exchanges to Japan and Australia. NRE ‘alumni’ are now dispersed widely - working for NGO’s in Sierra Leone, for NATO in Sarajevo, doing research and teaching at US and Canadian universities, working as Senior Analysts for Health Canada, Statistics Canada, and Heritage Canada and completing MA’s and PhD’s at institutions across the country.
TEAMS & PARTNERS
Bill Reimer
Central team leader
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Concordia University
Tom Beckley
Environment team leader
Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management
University of New Brunswick
David Bruce
Communications team leader
Director, Rural and Small Town Programme, Mount Allison University
As a whole 120 BA, MA, PhD and Postdoctoral students from 14 Canadian universities have had roles as research assistants conducting household surveys, interviews and focus groups, doing data analysis and modeling exploring rural Canadian themes such as health care, services, capacity, environmental values, resource dependency, cohesion, religion, gender, governance, internet use, communication tools, and regional disparity. Over 250 NRE publications were authored or co-authored by students within our network.
The NRE project began in earnest in 1998 and has since benefited from the support of the following government agencies , NGOs and Research Centres.
The Institute for Rural Revitalization in the 21st Century |
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The Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research, Scotland |
Loddon-Murray Community Leadership Program, Bendigo, Australia |
Bio-Canada |
Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities |
Canadian Federation of Agriculture |
Municipal Councils and equivalents of 32 rural sites in the Rural Observatory |
The Newfoundland Department of Development and Rural Renewal |
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Ontario Minister of Agriculture |
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La Chaire Desjardins en développement des petites collectivités |
Policy Research Initiative |
The Co-Operative Secretariat |
Rural and Northern Sub-Committee of the Prime Minister’s Committee on Cities and Communities |
Rural Innovation and Research Partnership, Northern Ireland |
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English Community Roundtable, QC |
Rural Policy Research Institute, USA |
Rural Roundtable of the Minister for Rural Development, Office of the Secretary of State |
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The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) |
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The Federation of Canadian Municipalities |
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Health Canada |
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Hon. Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State for Rural Affairs |
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Victoria Department of Primary Industries, Australia |
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Institut de la statistique du Québec |