Date/Time
Date(s) - 27/03/2025 - 28/03/2025
9:30 am - 6:00 pm

Location
McMaster Continuing Education

Categories

• Community-Engaged Research

Join Us for Community Engaged Research Day: Building Capacity for Ethical and Effective Community-Engaged Research
March 27 & 28, 2025 | 9:30AM – 6:00PM | 1 James St. N

McMaster University’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE) and Spark: a centre for social research innovation invite you to a two-day event dedicated to advancing community-engaged research (CER) in Hamilton and the surrounding area.

This event brings together academic and community leaders to explore best practices, ethical considerations, and real-world applications of CER. This event is open to McMaster students, staff, and faculty, as well as community partners and members. Refreshments and lunch will be provided for workshop registrants only.

Hands-on Workshops 
Four expert-led workshops will explore critical topics in CER, combining theoretical insights with practical applications.Gain valuable skills, engage in discussions, and collaborate with community and academic partners.

1. Workshop 1 (March 27): The Opportunities and Challenges with ‘Insider Research’
   • This workshop examines insider research—a methodological approach in which researchers study social groups, organizations, or cultures they are part of. While this perspective offers advantages such as stronger participant rapport and deeper contextual knowledge, it also presents challenges related to objectivity, role navigation, and emotional investment. Balancing dual roles as both researcher and community member can lead to self-doubt, value conflicts, trust issues, and the need to continually justify academic credibility. Through speaker insights and facilitated table discussions, participants will explore strategies for navigating these complexities while strengthening confidence in their research process and findings. Discussions will center on real-world scenarios submitted by participants, fostering collective problem-solving and identifying key opportunities and challenges to be systemically addressed. The session will conclude with a collaborative exchange of best practices.
   • Presenters: Brad Evoy and staff from The Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO) research team will lead the session. Brad is DJNO’s Executive Director and a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation. His lived experience as a Disabled person fundamentally shapes his approach to community-driven research and justice work.
     
     
2. Workshop 2 (March 27): Evolving Community Research Ethics
   • This intensive, interactive workshop challenges participants to think about research ethics in new ways, and identify how they can be at the forefront of making research genuinely work for communities.  We will focus on an emerging trend toward community-developed ethical frameworks for CER—a paradigm shift in the approach to conducting research with and within communities, particularly those that have been historically marginalized or exploited.  The workshop will begin in a “fishbowl” where a small group speaks in a circle, with an audience circle surrounding them. Anyone can come and go from the small group discussion or post a anonymous question via your phone. A wide variety of discussants will offer a comprehensive view of evolving community research ethics from multiple perspectives. Table discussions based on participant questions and queries will follow.
   • Presenters: Nicolas Crier, Samona Marsh (Authors, “RESEARCH 101: A Manifesto for Ethical Research”), Sara Howdle (McMaster Indigenous Research Institute), Leah Levac and Barb Powell (Established a Community Research Ethics Office), Tara LaRose (Chair of McMaster University’s Reserch Ethics Board), Mary-Elizabeth Vaccaro (Lecturer, Social Work), Subhanya Sivajothy and Danica Evering (Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship)
3. Workshop 3 (March 28): The Devil is in the Details: Compensation and Other Issues of Access and Inclusion in CER Logistics
   • The concepts of “access” and “inclusion” are fundamental to community participation in research, shaping the nature and quality of community-academic partnerships. Issues such as funding, time constraints, and the value of diversity in community engaged research are all too common issues and require thoughtful navigation. The speakers will discuss the challenges to meaningful community inclusion and access in research and will offer insights and guidance based on their experiences. Participants will then engage in structured breakout sessions on addressing barriers to access and inclusion in research.
   • Presenters: Presenters Nicolas Crier and Samona Marsh work as overdose responders and outreach workers as well as research coordinators in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and are co-authors of “RESEARCH 101: A Manifesto for Ethical Research”. Presenter Sara Howdle from the McMaster Indigenous Research Institute (MIRI) will discuss OCAP^® Principles in Indigenous research contexts and their application in MIRI’s Indigenous Research Primer. Both documents will be available to participants in advance. The workshop begins with these presenters laying out the standards established for researchers and the context, process, and impact of establishing research standards. From there, Leah Levac and Barb Powell will be invited to comment on what has been presented, ask questions of the previous presenters, and share their experience establishing a Community Research Ethics Office that supports research happening entirely outside of an academic institution. Tara LaRose, Chair of McMaster’s Research Ethics Board and Mary-Elizabeth Vaccaro, will add perspective on tensions between institutional and community ethical obligations and ways to navigate them. Subhanya Sivajothy and Danica Evering from McMaster Library’s Sherman Centre will offer a process for discussing data ownership and management in community-engaged research.
     
     
4. Workshop 4 (March 28): Communication in Research: Having the ‘Hard Conversations’
   • This hands-on, theatre-based workshop will help you build skills in a safe space for addressing the communication challenges that often arise in community-campus partnerships. Through acting out and then dissecting scenarios, participants can both see in action and practice specific communication skills such as reflective listening, appreciative inquiry, nonviolent communication, and supportive communication.
   • Presenters: This workshop on communication and conflict in community-engaged research will be co-facilitated by Ruth Greenspan and Allison Van. Ruth Greenspan Ruth Greenspan is a social worker, a community advocate, a community engager, a manager, an educator, a parent, a partner and a group facilitator. She completed her undergraduate degree at Carleton University in law and psychology and her graduate degree an MSW at the University of Toronto. Hamilton has been her home with her partner and 3 children for the last 27 years. She is a former Executive Director of the John Howard Society of Hamilton, Burlington and area, and a sessional faculty member in the School of Social Work. Allison Van, Executive Director of Spark at McMaster University, brings extensive experience in community partnerships and conflict resolution.

Research Gallery
Discover a showcase of active and recently completed CER projects in Hamilton. This open-admission gallery highlights impactful research and fosters dialogue among participants. Want to present your work? Apply to showcase your research here!

Register for the event