Diane Parent

Diane Parent is a Professor in the Department of Animal Sciences in the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science at Université Laval and a founding member of the research group TRAGET Laval (transfert-gestion-établissement en agriculture). While in the Netherland, Prof. Parent had a scholarship from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture (1998 to 1999) where she had a chance to analyze information and agricultural knowledge systems at the Wageningen University and Wageningen Research Centre in the Department of Communication & Innovation Studies.

Prof. Parent has published several journal articles and presented at various scientific and public conferences on the topics such as farm transfer and the sociology of agriculture, with emphasis on social sustainability. In 2010, she was invited by National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) to become a member of the scientific committee to focus on the relation between agriculture and the quality of life of the rural communities.

Prof. Parent’s research interests focus on the challenges of sustainable agriculture development, specifically examining the social aspects such as social acceptance of agriculture. Additionally, she lead a multidisciplinary research team on the assessment of dairy farms sustainability. This program is financed by the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et technologies (FQRNT).

Prof. Parent completed her Bachelors in agroeconomy and her Masters in rural economy at Université Laval and completed her PhD in Communication at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM).

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