Congratulations to Dr. Frederik Noack on receiving the NFRF grant for his innovative research on rural-urban migration.

In March of this year, MFRE assistant professor Frederik Noack received a $250,000 grant by the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) sponsored by the Government of Canada. This grant will support his research on Rural-Urban Migration (RUM), in other words, the tendency of rural inhabitants to move into cities. One of the effects that RUM has is in reducing the workforce in fields, which then increases the amount of machinery and pesticide used to account for the reduced labour. With more high-density cities, RUM could potentially lead to an increase in concentrated pollution, which can in turn negatively impact human health. Finally, RUM is often associated with economic development which potentially leads to higher incomes. This could mean better economic opportunities for women, which would then lead to a lower fertility rate. While higher incomes could lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, having fewer offspring has the opposite effect. Dr. Noack will explore what economic and environmental consequences these effects toll.

The NFRF is investing $275 million in the coming five years by funding “international, interdisciplinary, fast-breaking and high-risk research”. The fund promotes and supports innovative research that undertakes unique scientific paths using interdisciplinary approaches by early career researchers such as Dr. Noack.

Dr. Frederik Noack is an assistant professor at the Master of Food and Resource Economics at the University of British Columbia. Learn more about him and his research interests here.