On July 17, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sports, highlighted the importance of social science and humanities research in the development of Canadian communities.

It is in this context that Nong Zhu, Associate Professor at the Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), CIRANO Fellow, received a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for his project "Immigration in support of the countryside - What appeal? What are the effects on the socio-demographic restructuring of rural areas?". This grant is awarded under the "Savoir" Program to support research and training in the social sciences and humanities.

This research project is based in particular on the "Synthèse de la littérature sur l’impact de l’immigration sur l’innovation" conducted by Nong Zhu, under the direction of Claude Montmarquette in 2014.