The Canadian Studies Program is pleased to announce that Jocelyn Liu has been awarded an Undergraduate Research Fellowship for Summer 2026.
Jocelyn is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in environmental science and environmental economics & policy in the Rausser College of Natural Resources. Jocelyn grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, where she developed a passion for community-engaged policy, especially related to the housing and energy sectors. She has been a research assistant for various projects across the departments of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Geography, and UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment.
Jocelyn's fellowship will support her research analyzing the impact of short-term rentals (STR) in rural Ontario, Canada, as well as the regulatory responses to them. STRs are often economic keystones for small municipalities now reliant on tourism, and create unique tensions between economic development, housing affordability, and municipal governance. The project will extend the current body of literature on Canadian STR markets that primarily focus on large urban cores like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Her fellowship will enable her to travel to east-central Ontario to interview local community members, politicians, and planners about their perceptions of STRs.
Jocelyn's research is being overseen by Hildebrand Fellow Allison Evans, and will contribute to Allison's dissertation project, which examines the mechanisms behind increasing homelessness in sem-rural and rural communities in Ontario. Jocelyn has worked with Allison since last fall, through Berkeley's Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP).