By Cristalle Smith, UBC Okanagan
Dr. Eric Li, PhD, of the Faculty of Management at UBC Okanagan, and Cristalle Smith, MFA Candidate, are partnering with Melissa Hemphill of Community Connections Revelstoke Society in two research projects designed to collaboratively work with Revelstoke community members.
The Food Economy Research Project aims to better understand the inter-relationship between food consumption and challenges related to food security and accessibility to healthy food in rural communities.
The project will include two components: the Food Receipt Study that capture residents’ food consumption pattern and explore the opportunities for local food economy; and the My Meal, My Recipe social campaign, which seeks to invite community members to share images of their meals and their recipes to build healthier eating and cooking habits.
The second research project titled Engaging Stakeholders in Co-Creating Sustainable Communities: A Study on Rural Communities in B.C. Interior aims to better understand residents’ and stakeholders’ perspectives on sustainable and healthy rural communities. This study will include an interactive photo/video-voice Community Pride workshop, an online residential survey, and one-on-one dialogue with community members.
The research team invites community members to collaborate in the research through various means. Please contact Cristalle Smith at smitcris@mail.ubc.ca or 250-718-0885, or Dr. Eric Li at eric.li@ubc.ca if you are interested in participating in the research (or one part of the research project).
These projects are funded through the Mitacs Accelerate Internship Program, Regional Socio-Economic Development Institute of Canada Seed Grant Program and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant program. Research is conducted through the University of British Columbia Okanagan.