Welcome to the Research for Social Change Lab.

We’re a community-engaged research collective in pursuit of justice and equity in Nogojiwanong/Peterborough.

With community partners, we design and execute research projects that generate actionable knowledge and creative solutions to problems such as homelessness, social exclusion and poverty.

By prioritizing community interests and striving to learn from and be accountable to lived expertise, we aim to politicize knowledge production and mobilize university resources for social change.

The Research for Social Change Lab is based at Trent University in Nogojiwanong/Peterborough, on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig First Nations.

More about us

Data Justice Symposium Report

After the Data Justice Symposium that took place on February 21st, 2025, the organising committee (Reem Ali/City of Peterborough, Yvonne Lai/The New Canadians Centre, Dr. Stephanie Rutherford/Trent University, and Dr. Naomi Nichols and Dr. Collin Chepeka/The Research for Social Change Lab), with design help from Justine Williams, drafted a report summarising the day. To learn more about what took place and to read the report, click the link below!

All Candidates Debate Report

On April 9th, 2025, the United Way Peterborough, One City Peterborough and the Research for Social Change Lab hosted an all-candidates debate on the topic of Housing and Homelessness at the All Saints Anglican Church in Peterborough, ON. Candidates from the Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Green parties answered four questions from the organising committee and then answered five questions for the audience. The Research for Social Change Lab worked to fact check claims made by the candidates. A full, fact-checked transcript can be found at the link below.

To watch the debate, visit the All Saints Anglican Church Youtube or clink the link below.

Activist Scholar Open School

***REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED - PLEASE EMAIL CCHEPEKA@TRENTU.CA TO BE PUT ON THE WAITLIST***

The Research for Social Change Lab, in association with Trent Graduate Studies, is hosting a two-day Activist Scholar Open School on April 28th and 29th at Traill College in Peterborough, ON from 9:30 AM until 4:30 PM. This Open School will consist of a key note panel each morning with scholars Viviane Namaste, Alexander McClelland, Colin Hastings, Eric Mykhalovskiy, Mitchell McLarnon and Jayne Malenfant. The afternoons will consist of small group concurrent working sessions as well as student presentations. Lunch and snacks will be provided.

Using Poetry, Collage, and Creativity to Reimagine Research Data: A Collaborative Zine on Data Practices in Youth Homelessness and Child Welfare Organizations 

This zine was created by a group of about 25 participants in a hands-on workshop facilitated by four of our lab members at the February 2025 Making the Shift, Youth Homelessness Prevention conference in Toronto, ON. Sarah Cullingham, Thamer Linklater, Aron Rosenberg, and Naomi Nichols presented on the creative approaches the Research for Social Change Lab has been taking to share research findings with community members. The group prepared an opportunity for conference goers to try some of these strategies themselves. 

During the workshop, participants – most of whom work in or conduct research related to child welfare and youth homelessness organizations – engaged with anonymized interview transcripts from the lab’s research projects to explore the dreams and desires that workers have for their work in relation to the data practices required of them. Using techniques from found poetry, blackout poetry, and collage, they transformed the excerpts into powerful poetic reflections.  

By engaging with data in informal and artistic ways, this zine reimagines how research findings can be shared beyond traditional academic formats. The poetry and zine-making process offer a more accessible, reflective, and engaging way to communicate key insights – particularly for frontline workers and their clients who may not have the time or capacity to engage with lengthy academic publications. Through this creative approach, we aim to bridge the gap between research and practice, making space for dialogue, connection, and new perspectives. 

Institutional Ethnography Reading Group

Institutional ethnography (or IE) is an approach to social science research that begins with people's experiences rather than a theoretical category or abstract preoccupation. The idea is to figure out how people's experiences are connected to the experiences of people elsewhere. In IE we recognize that the things people do take time and energy and so we refer to these "doings" as people's work. We try to understand how the work someone is doing in one context (e.g., work to get access to resources) is connected to, and shaped by, work that is happening in other places (e.g., sites where people decide who is eligible for the resources someone is seeking).

Data Justice Symposium - February 21st

The Research for Social Change Lab (RSCL) is hosting a symposium to begin a conversation about addressing the data needs of organisations in the community. This event will bring together community organisations and Trent students and faculty for conversations about data justice, data analysis, and much more.

If you have questions about the event, reach out to Collin Chepeka (Lab Manager) at cchepeka@trentu.ca. Registration required.

Collage and Conversations Series

With AJ Withers & The Aging and Disability Studies Reading Group

Lab News

Our Projects

  • Coordinated Access Review

    We’re engaging people with lived experience, frontline workers, system managers, and other stakeholders in a frank and inclusive discussion about Peterborough’s homeless-serving system. What’s working? What’s not? How can we improve?

    United Way Peterborough & District and the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home program.

    Learn More

  • Data Justice for Youth

    In this project, we’re mapping the complex data systems, data processes and data policies that govern young people’s trajectories into and out of homelessness.

    Our goal? To make these systems more transparent, more user-friendly and more equitable.

    Jointly funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab.

    Learn more

  • Building From Experience #2: Investigating Shelter (In)Justice in Peterborough

    As Peterborough’s housing and homelessness crisis intensifies, our Building From Experience research team is documenting the rules and procedures that dictate how housing and shelter resources are distributed in Peterborough.

    Our goal? To read these rules and procedures in the context of our legislated obligation to realize the progressive right to housing. Are human rights being respected in Peterborough? Can we do better?

    With funding from the Government of Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

    Learn more

  • Building From Experience #1: Youth Action Research Revolution

    This participatory research project supported the formation of the Youth Action Research Revolution (YARR), a group of young researchers with experience of homelessness in Montreal.

    YARR performed ethnographic research among street-involved youth to determine how public institutions such as schools, hospitals and jails exacerbate young people’s housing struggles — and how these institutions can do better.

    With funding from the Government of Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

    Learn more

  • Dorothy Smith Open School

    Two days of inquiry, reflection, and collaborative learning focused on Institutional Ethnography, the sociology for people developed by Dorothy Smith

    Learn More

  • In Their Own Words

    A participatory study to document everyday care work in Peterborough and learn how parents can be supported to raise healthy children.

    Learn More

  • Peterborough Community Knowledge Network

    We’re collaborating to develop community-driven data collection initiatives to address the needs of local organizations.

    Learn More

Our Team