Professor Mark Skinner

B.A. (Honours), Wilfrid Laurier University
M.A., University of Guelph
Ph.D., Queen's University

Research and Teaching Interests:

Mark Skinner is a health, rural and social geographer. His primary research interests are aging communities, health care and voluntarism, with particular attention to rural people and places. Featuring community-based research in Canada and internationally, his work contributes to the fields of rural aging, rural health, social gerontology, health and social care, and the voluntary sector. Mark's current projects examine the continuum of health care for older rural people, the evolving role of voluntarism in aging rural communities, and aging in Canada's resource hinterland. He supervises graduate students through Trent's interdisciplinary programs in Canadian Studies and Sustainability Studies, and teaches courses in qualitative methods, foundations of geographic thought, community-based research and health geography. He is the university representative for the Canadian Association of Geographers.

Selected Recent Publications:

Joseph AE and MW Skinner (in press) ‘Voluntarism as a mediator of the experience of growing old in evolving rural spaces and changing rural places’ Journal of Rural Studies (DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2012.01.007).

Herron RV and MW Skinner (2012) 'Farmwomen's emotional geographies of care: a view from rural Ontario' Gender, Place & Culture 19, 232-248.

MacLeod A, MW Skinner and E Low (2012) ‘Supporting hospice volunteers and caregivers through community-based participatory research’ Health & Social Care in the Community 20, 190-198.

Skinner MW and S Fleuret (2011) 'Health geography's voluntary turn: a view from western France' Health & Place 17, 33-41.

Skinner M, N Hanlon and G Halseth (2011) ‘Health- and social-care issues in aging resource communities’ in J Kulig and A Williams (eds), Health in Rural Canada, UBC Press, Vancouver, 462-480.

Skinner MW and AE Joseph (2011) 'Placing voluntarism within evolving spaces of care in ageing rural communities' GeoJournal 76, 151-162.

Skinner MW and A Power (2011) 'Voluntarism, health and place: bringing an emerging field into focus' Health & Place 17, 1-6.

Fleuret S and M Skinner (2010) ‘Mieux comprendre le rôle de l’économie sociale dans les services sociaux et de santé, exemples choisis en France et au Canada’ RECMA: Revue des études coopératives, mutualistes et associatives 315 75-88.

Fleuret S and M Skinner (2010) ‘Le rôle de l'économie sociale dans les territoires: l'exemple des services sociaux et de santé en France et au Canada’ in H. Noguès (ed), Vers une économie sociale et solidaire: nouvelles pratiques et dynamiques territoriales, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes, 227-241.

Andrews GJ, C Milligan, DR Phillips and MW Skinner (2009) ‘Geographical gerontology: mapping a disciplinary intersection’ Geography Compass 3, 1641-1659.

Skinner MW, NM Yantzi and MW Rosenberg (2009) ‘Neither rain nor hail nor sleet nor snow: provider perspectives on the challenges of weather for home and community care’ Social Science & Medicine 68, 682-688.

Yantzi NM and MW Skinner (2009) ‘Providers of care in the home: sustainable partners in primary care?’ in VA Crooks and GJ Andrews (eds), Primary Health Care: People, Practice, Place, Ashgate, Aldershot, 221-236.

Yantzi NM and MW Skinner (2009) ‘Care/caregiving’ commissioned refereed article in R Kitchen and N Thrift (eds), International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Volume 1, Elsevier, Oxford, 402-407.