Professor Neil Argent

Over his academic career Professor Argent has attracted research support to the value of c. $1.2 million, mostly via Australian Research Council grants. Since 1998, he has held six ARC Discovery-Project grants; four as sole or lead CI (sole CI: DP0211395; DP0452652; lead CI: DP0770460; DP0985831), all revolving around Australian rural economic and social development and regional migration trends, processes and impacts.

A particular focus of his research over the past decade has been the changing population geography (particularly international and internal migration processes) of rural regions as they undergo the spatially and temporally uneven transition away from productivism and towards more broadly-based developmental approaches that value, for example, landscape amenity, cultural and artistic expression in place. These interests have led naturally to an exploration of the role of creative enterprises, including craft brewers and allied businesses, in the revitalisation of local economies.

He was a joint investigator with a team of fellow Canadian and Australian geographers exploring the operation of resource royalty schemes in both countries, focussing particularly on the benefits (or lack thereof) that flow to host rural and remote regions and communities. This project was funded by a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ‘Insight’ Grant (2017-2019).