Report

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the impacts of a one-day nature photography workshop for students conducted by Focus on Nature. Surveys collected feedback from 154 students to assess what they learned from the program and how their participation affected their sense of connection to nature. Surveys also looked at the experience of volunteers involved in the program. The report is accompanied by a 1-page infographic summarizing the main findings of the survey.

This community needs assessment was conducted in collaboration with the Yorklands Green Hub in the summer of 2018. A total of 131 participants were surveyed to better understand preferences and barriers in using the outdoor space purchased by Yorklands. The report is accompanied by a visual fact sheet which summarizes the main findings.

This report was created in response to a request by Victim Services Wellington to examine victims' service use and referrals for Victim Crisis Assistance Ontario (VCAO). The project aimed to highlight the current state of affairs with respect to victims' service use, and better understand the policies and practices that may help increase the number of people using and being offered support by VCAO. Researchers conducted a literature review and a survey of VCAO sites across Ontario.

This project is a collaboration between the University of Guelph's Community Engaged Scholarship Institute and Student Life. In the spring 2018, a community needs assessment was conducted to support the University of Guelph's Experiential Learning Hub and the University's strategic priority to expand and enhance experiencial learning for students. The needs assessment saught to better understand community partners' needs and perspectives, and to strengthen experiential learning partnerships between community organizations and the University.

How can municipalities balance innovation, policy goals and citizen protection when faced with the growing popularity of companies like Uber or Airbnb? How can we best understand and respond to this new model of a sharing economy? To help answer these questions, the GuelphLab helped develop a Sharing Economy Toolkit.

The People Table had a problem to tackle – the City hadn’t performed well in the 2012 employee engagement survey. In 2014, some departments and service areas had made positive strides, but others had been less successful so the overall picture hadn’t actually changed all that much. “Must do better.” Agreed. So, where to start?

The Active Citizen Project leverages the research and teaching resources of the University via the Guelph Lab, linking them with initiatives at the City that engage citizens in the governance of the city – from policy making to service design/delivery and budgeting.

The Guelph Lab hosted a small group of City staff, University faculty and students to discuss “public innovation” with Jepser Christiansen. Jesper is Head of Research at MindLab, a Danish cross-governmental innovation unit that involves citizens and businesses in creating new solutions for society. Jesper discussed Mindlab’s work and the role of citizens in public sector innovation.

The City of Guelph’s 2014 Open Government Action Plan (attached below) was one of the first of its kind in Canada. The Guelph Lab hosted 30 City of Guelph staff and councillors to discuss Open Government – what it means, its history, and how it has (and hasn’t) been adopted across Canadian municipalities. 

This report discusses the process of integrating a sustainable food systems lens into Guelph's Official Plan. In partnership with the Guelph Wellington Food Roundtable, Research Shop interns conducted a literature review of sustainable and local food systems in order to gain a broader understanding of best practices in the policy realm. With these resources, a detailed set of policy updates were compiled and layered over the existing Official Plan framework (see Appendix I).