College partnership provides funds for research project

College of the Rockies and the Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute (RDI) at Selkirk College have formed the RDI-College of the Rockies Applied Research Internship. The internship will provide support for a COTR student to undertake a community-based research project in the East Kootenay Region.

Applied research involves the use of new or existing knowledge to solve real-world challenges or questions. The Internship will match a community organization with a College of the Rockies student to collaborate on an applied research project that supports rural development at the community or regional level.

Up to $10,000 in funding will be made available for research projects in the area. College of the Rockies and RDI invite community organizations involved in rural development initiatives, including those that have already identified a COTR student they wish to work with, to apply for funding. Organizations that do not have an existing connection with a student are still encouraged to apply; the College will assist in the hiring of a student for successful proposals.  Student applicants must have a sponsoring community organization identified.

College of the Rockies Vice-President – Education, Dr. Marilyn Petersen says, “This is an exciting partnership that will provide a tremendous opportunity for a student to engage in applied research and to build confidence and capabilities. The work the successful applicant does with the sponsoring organization will not only be beneficial for both parties but will also provide a positive impact in the region as the research project will be locally focussed.”

RDI Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development, Dr. Terri MacDonald is excited to be working with College of the Rockies and assures that RDI will be involved through every step of the process. “Along with COTR, we will work closely with the student, College of the Rockies faculty and the successful community organization to support the development of the research project, provide advisory support during implementation and to help distribute the research findings.”

The project will take into consideration the study schedule of the successful student applicant and will likely be implemented over the summer semester (May 1 to August 31).

Interested community organizations and/or students should submit a project proposal of no more than five pages by March 21. A proposal template, guidelines and more information on the RDI-College of the Rockies Research Internship are available at here.