Community-Engaged Research and the Climate Crisis: Key Insights and Best Practices.
In October 2022, the Centre for Climate Justice and SFU’s Community-Engaged Research Initiative co-hosted a Symposium on Community Engaged Research and the Climate Crisis. This event brought together community organizers, movement and youth leaders, Elders, media makers/storytellers, researchers, and other practitioners of climate justice to share practices, stories, and lessons for responsive and community-engaged climate research. The goal of the one-day event was to foster discussion and connection among initiatives centered on three themes: Indigenous sovereignty, storytelling and youth-driven research and engagement for climate justice. We sought to galvanize a community of practice that can increase the visibility and impact of community-engaged climate research, and foster new collaborative relationships. The knowledge and recommendations shared through these conversations will also inform the research agendas of the CCJ and CERi, identifying future areas of focus,
best practices of research, and new potential partnerships.
This Report summarizes the key insights and recommendations shared at the event. It offers researchers best practices of research engagement and partnership, and inspiration for creative research design. It offers community organizers not currently engaged in partnerships case lessons in the potential of such partnerships to address community needs. For students and others who may feel overwhelmed by the mandate to act on climate change, it helps to ground climate action in concrete relationships and ongoing struggles. For university staff and administrators, it offers insights for essential reforms to better support community-engaged work on campus.
