About RDI

Rural populations face considerable challenges in today’s rapidly changing society. Restructuring in agriculture and industry, plus fiscal restraint and shifts in rural and northern demographics, are leading to a re-examination of the roles of governments, communities and individuals.

Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute (RDI) is a centre for excellence in rural development helping strengthen rural and northern communities through research and information on issues unique to these areas.

Our Mandate

For more than 100 years Brandon University has been a cornerstone of the City of Brandon and southwestern Manitoba. Throughout this time, Brandon University has maintained its foundation as a rurally-based university with strong national and international links.

Brandon University established the Rural Development Institute in 1989 as an academic research center and a leading source of information on issues affecting rural communities in Western Canada and elsewhere.

RDI functions as a not-for-profit research and development organization designed to promote, facilitate, coordinate, initiate and conduct multi-disciplinary academic and applied research on rural issues. The Institute provides an interface between academic research efforts and the community by acting as a conduit of rural research information and by facilitating community involvement in rural development. RDI projects are characterized by cooperative and collaborative efforts of multi-stakeholders.

The Institute has diverse research affiliations, and multiple community and government linkages related to its rural development mandate. RDI disseminates information to a variety of constituents and stakeholders and makes research information and results widely available to the public either in printed form or by means of public lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences.

RDI Brochure