The Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the Program on Water Governance at the University of British Columbia are pleased to partner with the UNESCO Chair in Community based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education for a recently funded SSHRC Partnership Development grant– ‘Training the Next Generation of Community-based Researchers.’ In the past 25 years, community-based research (CBR) has become recognized as an important method to conduct social and scientific research—one that is often considered to be more responsible and sustainable. CBR is an umbrella term that includes approaches such as participatory research, participatory action research, asset-based development, collaborative inquiry, in addition to other participatory research methods.
The ‘NextGen’ project is led by Budd Hall from the University of Victoria, and brings together four global partners, each responsible for a thematic area:
1) The Coady International Institute responsible for local asset development;
2) The Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) responsible for participatory governance;
3) The University of Victoria (UVIC) focuses on indigenous knowledge; and
4) The Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) at UBC focuses on CBR in the realm of water governance.
The goal of the project is to establish a global partnership for training in Community Based Research, including creating an open source database on training materials for researchers, professors, and NGOs. Initially, we aim to review and summarize community based research training that is currently available related to each of the four focal themes, particularly efforts based at Institutions of higher learning. From this global review, we aim to identify best practices to inform the development of future training materials and efforts. Ultimately, the project aims to increase global access to high quality training materials in CBR, with focus on the four thematic areas.
Information on involvement of UBC’s Program on Water Governance, IRES
Dr. Leila Harris, Dr. Crystal Tremblay, and Kelly Sharp from IRES, and Dr. Leonora Angeles from SCARP, are delighted to be collaborating on this project, which includes co-creating a global survey, as well as literature review and case study analysis on best practices for CBR and water governance. For more information please contact Kelly Sharp kelly.sharp45@gmail.com
UNESCO Chair in CBR website: http://unescochair-cbrsr.org/
For more information on the project, please visit the project page.