I am a Ph.D. student in Rural Studies at the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD), under the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph. Originally from Wellington, Nova Scotia, I have a B.A. in International Relations from Mount Allison in Sackville, New Brunswick, and a collaborative M.Sc. in Rural Planning & Development and International Development Studies at the University of Guelph.

I am passionate about people and place, including equitable housing, transportation and representation of and within peripheral Canada. I am a board member at the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) and the Guelph Campus Co-operative. I currently contribute to the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) for the City of Guelph, Ontario. I am a public advocate for proportional representation. My views are my own.

My research background explores themes including but not limited to:

• Space, Place & Place-making
• Mutual Aid
• Pluriversal Rural Futures
• Rural Community Economic Development
• Atlantic Canada
• Local Governance
• Labour Shortage & Newcomer Attraction

Ethics and AI:

I refuse to use generative AI in my personal work or in my contributions to larger professional outputs, from research design to output. There is an actively-expressed gap in local-level data for much of rural Canada. This absence of data suggests that large language models (LLMs) will reflect similar patterns to urban-focused ‘one-size-fits-all’ policymaking and program development, wherein it cannot speak to rural sensibilities, challenges, and experiences, especially when compounded with other marginalized voices that may operate under entirely different knowledge sharing practices (oral history traditions, etc.). I am happy to discuss rural data sovereignty and decentralization as an approach to living in a world suffocated by generative AI as a means of refusal.