Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation (3ci).
Highlights Reel:
3ci is a Carleton-based research centre with a track record of impactful, partnered research on a range of issues, from environmental sustainability to Indigenous issues, northern issues, housing and homelessness, social finance, food security, philanthropy and the non-profit sector, violence against women, and more.
On October 12, 2023, Faculty, staff, graduate students, community partners (current and potential!) who have an interest in community-based research joined us to strengthen our community-based research network at Carleton and beyond, brainstorm new project ideas with like-minded colleagues and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation (3ci).
Why? From food and housing insecurity to climate change, poverty, and human-rights violations, CBR can enable citizens to assess complex problems and design appropriate and effective solutions for better futures.
Some of the community-based research topics discussed:
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- Indigenous research
- Sustainability
- Housing and homelessness
- Social finance
- Responsible Investing
- The philanthropic sector
- Food security and food sovereignty
- Research supports
Key Takeaways from the discussion:
(Compiled by P . Andrée with input from group facilitators and note-takers)
How can we ‘grow’ the impact of Community Based Research (CBR)?
I) Work researchers and partners can do together:
• Focus on knowledge implementation:
o Balance research with ACTION
o Build capacity for knowledge mobilization and lay dissemination
o Develop outputs at various project stages contributing to policy and action
• Commit to relationship building:
o Be aware of, and attend to, power inequities
o Take time to nurture trust and open communication
o Make commitments over time – beyond the scope of a single project
• Continue to learn about (and share lessons) on CBR processes
o Remain nimble/flexible
• Recognize ‘community’ can mean many different things
o Clarify who/what is the ‘community’ in any given endeavour
• Pay attention to the distinct characteristics of CBR in Indigenous contexts:
o Learn about specific protocols to be followed.
o Ensure research is community-driven and meaningful to the specific communities involved
o Include and celebrate diverse contemporary Indigenous identities
o Continue developing Indigenous research principles and practices
o Work through emerging challenges (e.g., data access consistent with OCAP principles)
• Do specific projects:
o Undertake participatory policy evaluation (e.g. use of visual methods to evaluate Nutrition North)
o Prepare CBR review papers
II) Work universities can do:
• Create safe spaces for cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary dialogue and learning.
• Strengthen funder understanding of and support for CBR:
o Fund networks and shared narratives for local knowledge co-creation
o Support relationship continuity
o Support open-ended collaborations
o Support staged/iterative projects
o Remain flexible
• Develop the next generation of CBR researchers:
o Educate students on relationship-building elements of CBR
o Offer creative course credits for CBR (including JIT and faculty-wide options)
• Educate others on the relational dimensions of CBR
o E.g. Educate/train municipal officials
See the full video of the panel discussions here:
Presenters, panelists and discussion table hosts included:
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Currently working on:
Open Access Digital Pedagogy Project (participant) |
Interested in:
open access, scholarly communications, copyright |
Willing to:
Provide feedback about sharing research |
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Currently working on:
Nunavut labour market issues |
Interested in:
Indigenous research |
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Currently working on:
Carceral Food Systems, Tools and strategies of collective action |
Willing to:
mentor, support through the Social Innovation Workshop |
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Currently working on:
Rebuilding First Nations Governance Project |
Interested in:
Indigenous Governance |
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Currently working on:
Deeply affordable housing, non-profits partnering with private sector, financing for affordable housing |
Interested in:
Non profit governance, affordable housing, financing for affordable housing |
Willing to:
Be an advisor |
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Currently working on:
Implementing the accessibility strategy for Carleton |
Interested in:
Built environment’s impact on mental health |
Willing to:
Consult on accessibility, engage in related research |
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Currently working on:
Transnational families, aging |
Interested in:
Migration |
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Currently working on:
Housing and homelessness |
Interested in:
Poverty discrimination |
Willing to:
Mentor graduate studentts |
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Currently working on:
Social Finance Fund |
Interested in:
Social finance, sustainable finance, gender-lens and social equity-lens financing |
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Currently working on:
My dissertation |
Interested in:
Indigneous research methods and community based research models |
Willing to:
Talk with graduate students about research and doing PhD work |
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Currently working on:
All of 3ci’s projects and activities |
Interested in:
Learning and making our communities better |
Willing to:
Share learnings from CBR administration and project management experiences, collaborate on finding solutions to ongoing challenges |
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Currently working on:
PhD student |
Interested in:
Resource Extraction, Indigenous peoples, emotions, social justice, sustainability |
Willing to:
Researching |
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Currently working on:
Rebuilding First Nations Governance |
Interested in:
Extractivism, industrial-sustainable development, self-determination, Indigenous Governance, Indigenous legal systems |
Willing to:
Provide mentoring, supervision, networking opportunities |
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Currently working on:
Community wealth building with a focus on community ownership of wealth-generating assets |
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Currently working on:
Housing research project |
Interested in:
Research supports |
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Currently working on:
A National Urban Indigenous Housing and Homelessness strategy. Working on encampment research with OFHA on the lived experience of Urban Indigenous people living in encampment communities. |
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Currently working on:
Impact measurement / impact investing |
Interested in:
Impact measurement / impact investing |
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Currently working on:
Impact measurement |
Interested in:
Social Finance, Indigenous methodologies |
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Currently working on:
Sustainable built environments |
Interested in:
Housing, sustainability, energy, urban planning |
Willing to:
Quite experienced applying for funding and developing multidisciplinary proposals |
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Currently working on:
The alternative mental health and substance use crisis response for Ottawa |
Interested in:
Funding, mental health, addiction, evaluation |
Willing to:
Community engagement, working with people with lived experience |
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Currently working on:
Our foundation grants to projects that accelerate the energy transition. |
Interested in:
Energy transition, Reconciliation Economy, polarization |
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Currently working on:
Manager, Upper Nicola Cultural Heritage Resource Department |
Interested in:
The correlation between Indigenous research and rebuilding First Nation governance |
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Currently working on:
Government of Canada |
Interested in:
Social Innovation; Social Finance; Foresight; Indigenous economies and science |
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Currently working on:
Food systems governance, regional food systems, alternative housing |
Interested in:
Food, housing |
Willing to:
Be a mentor |
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Currently working on:
Sustainability and community based research |
Interested in:
Indigenous-led sustainability initiatives |
Willing to:
Provide community-based research guidance |
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Currently working on:
I support researchers applying for research funding from Canadian foundations. |
Interested in:
Research support, philanthropy, EDI, research impact |
Willing to:
I can support faculty members interested in applying to foundations for research funding. I can also connect any members of the Carleton research community to Research Impact Canada. |
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Currently working on:
Thesis! |
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Currently working on:
Adapting proven community-driven research solutions for impact at scale |
Interested in:
Social enterprise; scaling science; community co-creation; adolescent health and resilience; poverty alleviation |
Willing to:
Share experiences and collaborate |
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Currently working on:
Alternate Mental Health Crisis response for Ottawa |
Interested in:
Community engagement, Social Return on Investments, funding, evaluation |
Community engagement, research, Equity, antiracism |
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Currently working on:
Fishery and forestry stewardship, food security and economic development |
Interested in:
Indigenous knowledge, knowledge sharing, community engagement, capacity building |
Willing to:
sharing field research experiences |
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Currently working on:
The governance challenges of sustainability |
Interested in:
Community based learning and research |
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Currently working on:
Justice-oriented philanthropy |
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Currently working on:
1) climate finance for gender, jobs and the energy transition in developing countries; 2) community-campus partnerships and 3) farmworker rightsfor affordable housing |
Interested in:
sustainable finance, energy transition, gender equality, affordable housing, farmworker rightsuality, good jobs, affordable housing, farmworker rights jobs |
Willing to:
Online/video consultations; sharing of publications, joint research and consulting |
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Currently working on:
Responsible Investment and Impact Investing |
Interested In:
Responsible Investment and Impact Investing |
Willing to:
Mentor |
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Currently working on:
Children and youth – mental health, substance use health, and addictions; homelessness; critical hours and school readiness |
Interested in:
Youth; Housing and Homelessness; Mental Health, Substance Use, and Addictions |
Willing to:
Collaborate on finding solutions to ongoing challenges |
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Currently working on:
Green bonds and investor behaviour |
Interested in:
Sustainable finance and economy transition-centric research |
Willing to:
I can provide my wide range of experiences within the Canadian sustainable finance research community as well as my experiences running a university-wide mentorship group for women in academia based out of the University of Waterloo |
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Currently working on:
Indigenous community driven recommendations for culturally safe hospitals |
Interested In:
Decolonization, policy analysis, policy research |