Rural communities
The Churchill Fellowship
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Rural communities

About this theme

This theme covers topics relating to strengthening rural communities. Between 2019-2023 the Churchill Fellowship ran a designated programme of Fellowships on this theme in partnership with the Royal Countryside Fund. Fellows from across the years continue to explore this theme as part of their Fellowships. You can read more about them, their reports, and their latest activity below. Fellows’ stories

Blogs & conversations How rural Canada is rethinking migration

Keith Ruffles travelled across Canada to explore how rural communities are using migration to reverse population decline. Over five weeks, he visited six towns taking part in the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP), meeting with local coordinators, federal agencies, and migrants like Natalia and Mohammad, who shared their experiences of settling in Canada. In this blog, Keith reflects on what the UK could learn from Canada’s community-driven approach to migration, and how the Fellowship gave him the time, space, and connection to explore these issues in depth.

By Keith Ruffles, 2025

Blogs & conversations Bringing Rural Abuse into Focus: What survivors are telling us, and why we must listen

As part of my Fellowship, I travelled across rural regions in the USA, Canada, and Australia, connecting with experts and victim-survivors to explore how to improve safety and achieve equity. My learning and earlier conversations with Rhianon Bragg – a survivor whose story reveals deep cracks in our justice system – helped shape my focus post-Fellowship, laying the groundwork for a new social enterprise to raise the status of rural domestic abuse in public policy and support more coordinated, realistic responses.

By Judith Vickress, 2025

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