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.
Activist Scholar Open School
The Research for Social Change Lab, in assosciation 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
Our Team