Lasting Connections through International Collaboration

Community engagement requires close-knit local partnerships, but leveraging and expanding best practices requires international collaborators.

In June 2023, CESI continued such a collaboration with King’s College London (UK) to co-host an Impact and Community Engagement Summer School for the second time. CESI staff were joined by a diverse group of 31 registrants, including emerging and tenured academics, research support staff, and PhD students from the college. Registrants encompassed a wide range of research interests, from disaster planning and climate change relief to running soundscapes and decolonial efforts.

Over the course of five days, participants learned how to plan and conduct ethical and sustainable community-engaged research as well as how to mobilize knowledge to achieve meaningful social change. They engaged in equity-driven workshops, learning about critical and anti-oppressive community research practices and the power of arts-based methods.

Participants were encouraged to engage with each other and CESI staff during workshops through small group discussion, time for reflection, and large group conversations. The learning was multi-directional, as staff from King’s College shared critical community-engaged work that was occurring at the university, from performances to lectures on anti-racism. The workshop opened up spaces for researchers and practitioners both within King’s College and between the two organizations to share ideas and brainstorm more equitable community-based research practices.

During the five-day program, CESI cross-departmental staff came together to learn from and with each other, as well as with participants. Staff from the Community Engaged Teaching and Learning program, the Guelph Lab, Knowledge Mobilization and the Research Shop were all integral to the success of the Summer School initiative.

This joint commitment to critical community-engaged research bridges practices across the pond to create a long-lasting and mutually beneficial global partnership, which in turn, allows for evidence-driven anti-oppressive practices to the two local communities. Moving forward, CESI has continued to collaborate with King’s College London. We offered a revamped three-day version of the Summer School in the Spring of 2025 and are in the early stages of planning for 2026.