Monthly News
July 2019

The ACSRC 2018/2019 Annual Report is now available.  The report outlines the work of the centre over the past year.  Research projects, presentations, and events along with financial statements are included in the report.
        
 
Peace in the Parks is a short documentary that examines the role that parks and nature can play in the health care needs of palliative care patients. Sonya Jakubec looks at how nature can assist palliative care patience in their life journey. 
This project was sponsored by the Alberta Parks' Social Science Framework Pilot Project Fund, the ACSRC, and Mount Royal University's Academic Development Centre.  Project details can be found on our website.   
 
Conferences

 
September 24 - 26, 2019.  Seoul, Korea  
 
How can policies raise well-being in rural areas?  The 12th OECD Rural Development Conference  will tackle this central question by examining the multiple aspects of rural wellbeing, including role of innovation and digitalisation in revitalising rural communities and making them attractive for business and residents alongside strategies to deliver quality public services and to help rural regions transition to a low carbon economy.
The conference will identify best practices and build comparative knowledge on how rural policies contribute to national competitiveness and global agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will engage high-level policy makers from OECD member and partner countries, policy practitioners from national and subnational level, representatives from the private sector and international experts.
 


 
September 30 - October 3, 2019. Vancouver, BC. 
 
Join changemakers from near and far to deepen your knowledge of the 5 practices needed to move your community change agenda from idea to action to impact.  Go deep into one practice area or advance your skills in all five.  Meet your peers, re-charge, and have fun!
 

 
October 21, 2019. Edmonton, Alberta
 
Covenant Health is proud to support and provide delegates the opportunity to gather, meet, share experiences and exchange ideas with colleagues representing many disciplines from all over Alberta and surrounding provinces. Sonya Jakubec will be presenting her work on parks and palliative care in a plenary talk during this event.

 
June 8 - 12, 2020. Valea Boros, Romania 
 
This event will be built around sessions and activities designed to stimulate discourse and to enhance interactions of participants.  It is an opportunity to: exchange ideas; to pull apart contentious issues; to set challenges and goals for the work; to develop more effective collaborations within the international community; to build greater camaraderie among researchers within discipline areas; and to help emerging researchers to take leading roles.  
Resources

T his collection presents strategies that both address core challenges, including climate change, stagnating economic growth, and rising socio-political instability, and offers novel frameworks for living well on a finite planet.   
The chapter Grieving Nature -  Grieving in Nature: The place of parks and natural places in palliative and grief care is written by Sonya Jakubec of Mount Royal University, Dan Carruthers Den Hoed of Mount Royal University, Heather Ray of Mount Royal University  and As'ad Krishnamurthy of the University of Halifax.  The chapter stems from the work done for the Peace in the Parks research project. 
 
Meet the Research Team

 
Thomas Rosenberger, is in his 3rd year of the Bachelor of
Management program at the University of Alberta's Augustana Campus.  He is new to the ACSRC and is working as a research assistant on a  Government of Alberta Community and Regional Economic Support project.  The focus of the project is to investigate how businesses in the City of Camrose are planning and preparing for the economic impact that technology, and specifically automation, could have on their businesses. Thomas' responsibilities include arranging and conducting interviews and completing a literature review on the same topic.  Thomas is looking forward to learning more about the topic and meeting the Camrose business community this summer. 
 
 
Calendar of Events
For upcoming events, conferences and workshops visit the events calendar on the ACSRC website.  This calendar holds events offered by the ACSRC and other organizations with a common goal of sustainable rural communities. 
 
   
Website     Contact
Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities