Between 2021-23, student researchers, Tanja Samardzic and Britanny Pompilii, from the University of Guelph’s Community Engaged Scholarship Institute, were engaged to work with Sustainable Livelihoods Canada in the development of an Annotated Bibliography and an associated Literature Review. The work of the student researchers was supervised by Dr. Mary Ferguson of Eko Nomos, an independent consultancy.
This literature review was prepared for the In Good Company Collaborative and Sustainable Livelihoods Canada to discuss the situation of women in small-to medium enterprises in Canada. More specifically, the review explores the current trends, policies, practices, challenges, and barriers faced by women in the areas of technology and engineering, skilled trades, and transportation.
This collection of literature reviews was prepared for the Nishawbe Aski Nation (NAN) to investigate food self-determination in Indigenous communities. The collection explores some of the challenges as well as ongoing efforts to improve food self-determination in Indigenous communities. Topics include indicators of Indigenous food self-determination, education programs available for youth, the role of social enterprises, and existing import and export systems.
This report presents a literature review on barriers and facilitators to nutritious foods and the findings of a qualitative study conducted in partnership with Our Food Future. Interviews and focus groups were used to better understand the subjective experiences and aspects that influence nutritious eating patterns of residents living in Guelph-Wellington.
This experiential First Year Seminar course challenged students to think beyond volunteering and charity as the means to have a positive impact in the community. Over the course of one semester, interdisciplinary teams of students addressed specific challenges identified by community-partners using tools and techniques from lean business models and social enterprise startups.
For the duration of the course, students worked with one of two community partners to address a problem or issue that the partner organization was facing. Through lectures and guest speakers, students gained the terminology and technical knowledge needed to produce a final report. Students also gained professional experience aggregating their findings and presenting them to an audience in their end-of-term conference.
As the central focus of the class, students planned for, developed, and disseminated Knowledge Translation (KT) products to community partners. Along with the course instructor, students collectively monitored their progress over the semester and ultimately produced three projects each: an infographic, a taped media interview, and a newspaper/blog posting. Classes were a mix of guest lectures, workshop opportunities, instructor-led discussions and in-class assignments about evidence-based practice and knowledge translation.
Throughout this course, students worked with a community partner to analyze and approach broad social issues from a multidisciplinary perspective. A unique aspect of the course was that there were no clear rubrics or mark breakdowns established. Students were informed about bare minimum requirements, but were encouraged to think beyond how to perform to meet expectations, and engaged in conversations with the instructors regarding appropriate learning goals and outcomes based on their discipline and year-level.
As a mandatory course for the Masters of Applied Nutrition (MAN) program, students worked individually with a community partner to create and conduct an individual research project. Over three semesters, students learned skills and theoretical knowledge from guest lectures and applied those skills to their projects with the community partners.
As a capstone course for several streams of geography students, students worked in small groups to contact community partners and organize projects that aligned with their interests and the course learning objectives. The core of the course was a group project; in small teams, students identified a problem, designed a solution, gathered the necessary data, implemented the solution, and presented their results.