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VIU student set to share research at major conference

Lan Le Diem Tran’s research deals with millennials and mobility in Nanaimo
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For more than a year, Vancouver Island University student Lan Le Diem Tran has been researching the role transportation plays in accessing leisure opportunities for millennials in Nanaimo.

During that time, Tran, a masters student, spent hours gathering data through online discussions and questionnaires. She even hosted a focus group that dealt specifically with millennials and accessing leisure opportunities within Nanaimo.

As a result of her efforts, Tran has been selected to speak about her research in front of academics from around the world at the Canadian Congress on Leisure Research conference May 23-26 in Kitchener, Ont. Tran will be heading to the conference with fellow VIU students, Veronica Yang, Angélica Granja and Julia Froese.

“I am thrilled about this opportunity to present at this conference. I am pretty sure that it’s going to be an eye-opening experience,” Tran said. “I am really excited because I am going to present in front of bunch of professors and researchers,” she said. “It’s not just another class project. It’s the real thing.”

The Canadian Congress on Leisure Research conference is a three-day event that is hosted by the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies. Held once every three years, the conference brings together recreation and leisure researchers, academics and industry-related professionals from all over the globe.

Tran said her presentation will focus on the results of her research, which she said shows that millennials in Nanaimo have a strong desire to be connected with nature.

“When I asked people what they wanted to do more, the answers I got were ‘oh, I wish I could go hiking more’ or ‘I wish could go to the park or go running at Westwood Lake,’” Tran said. “All of them desire to be connected to nature, which is very interesting.”

Nicole Vaugeois, director of the university’s World Leisure Centre of Excellence in Sustainability and Innovation, said the conference attracts top Canadian researchers in the leisure field and is a big opportunity for universities to showcase their brightest graduate students.

“On the Canadian scene, this would be the conference. All the folks who are doing research from across the country will be coming,” Vaugeois said. “It’s a place where we showcase our grad students like Lan and [Veronica] and it is a really important part for us to display what we are doing.”

Vaugeois, who will also be attending the event, called Lan’s research very unique and expects it to attract the attention of researchers.

“Lan’s is the first study that I know of that is being done on this topic of mobility and millennials,” she said.“It’s no surprise that she got in. What folks are going to hear about with her presentation is that they really need to be paying attention to this topic.”

Vaugeois said she’s thrilled to see four VIU students heading to the conference and said it will be meaningful for students who have never had the opportunity to share their work in front of academics before.

“Lan gets to add to her CV now that she’s joined the world of scholars and that she has got her first publication and that she has stood up in front of her peers that aren’t just her classmates and friends. These are folks that actually studied this stuff and if they found her work interesting then chances they will help continue it and they will cite her work. It’s sort of a coming of age, really,” she said.

nicholas.pescod@nanaimobulletin.com