Although our physical office is closed due to COVID-19, CESI remains as active as ever! All staff are working remotely, and our program areas are continuing to operate virtually. During this stage of remote work, CESI continues to explore new and ongoing partnerships with community organizations to collaboratively tackle community research questions.
This year marks historic anniversaries and occasions for some of the community partners with whom CESI has longstanding collaborations through our Community Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETL) program.
This fall, a new partnership between Oak Tree Guelph and U of G’s ICON Course will offer students the opportunity to collaborate with a local charity, strengthen their teamwork and problem-solving skills, and respond to real-world challenges, all while earning course credit.
A recent opinion piece co-written by CESI in the magazine University Affairs is bringing awareness to the issue of student food insecurity, highlighting the need for long-term solutions that go beyond immediate programs created in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
In May of 2020, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Guelph Chapter was awarded with the Ontario Council of CFUW Recognition Award.
In May of 2019, two students were hired to participate in a new-to-us model of engagement led by CESI Director Dr. Elizabeth Jackson and CESI Research Associate Dr.
CESI is very pleased to be a part of the new, seven-year research partnership Engendering Disability-Inclusive Development (EDID). Led by U of G political science professor Dr. Deborah Stienstra, the partnership will involve collaboration between researchers, governments, and advocacy organizations in Canada, Haiti, South Africa, and Vietnam.
For three years, the University of Guelph’s Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization has helped professionals in a variety of sectors gain skills in knowledge mobilization and evidence-based decision making.
This blog post was written by CESI Research Associate, Dr. Mary Ferguson
I have been working with CESI as a part-time Research Associate for the last 7 years, beginning my work here at around the same time as I began work on my PhD in Rural Studies, completed in 2018. I was attracted to CESI because it provides experiential learning for students and supports community-based non-profits and charities with research services that they would otherwise not have access to.
*This blog post is based on a conference presentation first offered at the 2019 Teaching and Learning Innovations Conference at the University of Guelph by Lindsey Thomson and Dr. Melissa Tanti. The content has been adapted by Lindsey Thomson.
A core part of CESI’s collaborative work is listening to and gaining a deep understanding of community partners’ priorities and long-term visions, in order to harness strengths and momentum to address a range of complex social issues.