Sarah-Patricia Breen Successfully Defends PhD Thesis on Rural Drinking Water Systems

On December 9 2016, Sarah-Patricia Breen, a former Rural Resilience RA, defended her PhD thesis: From staples theory to new regionalism: managing drinking water for regional resilience in rural British Columbia. Sarah’s research built on the foundational work of the Canadian Regional Development project and the NLBC Comparative Water Study. Her work explores the management of drinking water systems in the Kootenay Development Region of British Columbia, specifically examining the relationship between the current infrastructure deficit and patterns of regional development, as well as the applicability and feasibility of using new regionalism as a foundation for a new approach to infrastructure management.

Sarah is currently working as a researcher with Selkirk College’s Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute and Applied Research and Innovation Centre. Her portfolios include climate change adaptation in rural communities, as well as rural workforce and economic development. She also sits a Board president of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation. When not doing research, Sarah can be found playing outside in the beautiful natural setting of the Kootenays in activities like cycling and snowboarding.