Climate Justice Action Plan > Justice-Centred Research and Academics

Co-create research agendas with community-based organizations

Northeastern faculty across the global network are advancing cutting edge participatory practices in community-engaged research in several fields. These include practices such as community-led action research (CLEAR), in which community members define the research problem, design the research strategy, collect and analyze data, and apply what they have learned, and participatory modeling, in which faculty and community members collaborate to identify, assess, and prioritize community challenges and strategies for addressing them. These approaches help ensure that community members are resourced to collaborate on solutions that have a direct impact on their lives.

CJAP Actions

Expand community research partnerships

DESCRIPTION
Build relationships and agreements with local community-based organizations to develop research and grant proposals to address CJAP priorities. Develop a mechanism for community members to connect with university researchers and shape research agendas that intersect with community-initiated research. Explore ways to integrate this work into the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process such as the University of Pittsburgh’s Human Research Protection Office’s model of adding community positions on the IRB.

NORTHEASTERN LEAD
Office of the Provost

ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER
NU CETR

OTHER PARTNERS
Associate Research Deans

Train researchers to build community partnerships

DESCRIPTION
Establish a process to ensure researchers are committed to, receiving training in, and being held accountable for maintaining equitable, inclusive, and accountable community engagement practices. As a model, the Global Resilience Institute is receiving such support from the Social Impact Lab for a USAID-funded project in Barbados and Dominica.

NORTHEASTERN LEAD
College of Social Science and Humanities (Social Impact Lab)
Community-Engaged Teaching and Research

ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER
NU ODEI

OTHER PARTNERS
N/A

Community Spotlight

Launched in the Spring of 2022, the Northeast Climate Justice Research Collaborative (The Collaborative) is a trans-disciplinary network for academic and community researchers in the Northeast. The Collaborative is composed of researchers—whether experienced or just getting started—who are interested in actively working to advance practices and policies that ensure historically excluded communities are safe and healthy despite the changing climate.