Trent University
MyTrent
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate Programs
    • Graduate Programs
    • Trent Online
    • Summer Courses
    • Continuing Education
    • Study Abroad
    • Academic Calendar
    • Academic Timetable
    • Academic Skills Centre
    • Academic Advising
    • Library
    • Centre for Teaching and Learning
  • Admissions
    • Undergraduate
    • Thinking of Applying
    • Already Applied
    • Received an Offer
    • Accepted My Offer
    • Graduate
    • International
    • Indigenous
    • Returning to Trent
    • Transfer
  • Services & Support
    • Academic Advising
    • Academic Skills Centre
    • Administrative Departments
    • Alumni Services
    • Athletics
    • Campus Security
    • Careerspace
    • Colleges
    • Communications
    • Conferences
    • Financial Aid
    • Financial Services
    • Health & Wellness
    • Indigenous Services
    • Information Technology
    • International Students
    • Learning Support
    • Parking
    • Printshop
    • Recruitment
    • Registrar's Office
    • Residence & Housing
    • Student Clubs
    • TrentU Card
  • Research
    • Research at Trent
    • Research Centres
    • Find an Expert
    • Resources
  • Give to Trent
  • About Trent
    • About Trent
    • Careers
    • Giving to Trent
    • Governance
    • How to Find Us
    • Media
    • News & Events
    • President's Office
    • Staff Directory
    • Trent Facts
    • Contact Us
  • Campus Locations
    • Peterborough
    • Durham GTA
    • Online
  • Future Students
    • Undergraduate
    • Thinking of Applying
    • Already Applied
    • Received an Offer
    • Accepted My Offer
    • Graduate
    • International
    • Indigenous
    • Returning to Trent
    • Transfer
  • Current Students
  • Alumni
  • Trent Forward: COVID-19 Info
  • Apply
  • Visit
  • Give
  • Map
  • Careers
  • Directions
  • Library
  • Site Map
  • Bookstore

Trent Forward: Learn more about our response to COVID-19.

Skip to main content Home
  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
  • Online
  • MyTrent
MENU
Trent University
News and Events
  • Latest News
  • Trent Experts
  • For Media
  • For Faculty and Staff
  • Publications
  • Contact Us
  1. Trentu.ca
  2. News and Events

Advancing Social Justice One Research Project at a Time

November 9, 2020

Trent faculty and alumna highlight importance of partnerships between academia and local communities to research sustainability and food security issues

Students and community members harvesting lettuce

Whether it’s creating awareness and stewardship of a region’s flora and fauna or helping establish community gardens, Trent University has long embraced engaged scholarship – the partnerships between academics and community organizations to research community-driven issues.

Trent researchers, for example, continue to work with the not-for-profit charity Abbey Gardens in Haliburton, ON to prepare ecological tours, improve market tables and create awareness of environmental sustainability in the region.

Across North America and beyond, there’s a growing acceptance of and recognition for engaged scholarship in post-secondary institutions.

“This leads to healthier and ecologically sustainable communities with a social-justice orientation,” says Dr. Nadine Changfoot, associate professor of Political Studies at Trent University and executive member of the Trent Centre for Aging Studies whose areas of expertise include engaged scholarship.      

Creating lasting partnerships through engaged scholarship

To highlight the importance and community impact of engaged scholarship, Professor Changfoot recently co-edited and contributed to a special section on the topic in the Winter 2020 issue of the leading U.S. journal Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Volume 26, Issue 1.

The special section includes 11 articles that discuss community impact related to long-term care, food security, rural communities, neighbourhood capacity building, Mayan Indigenous communities, international service learning in Rwanda, farmers’ markets, leadership programs, faculty tenure and promotion.

“These articles demonstrate the importance and impact of engaged scholarship driven by, with and for communities,” says Prof. Changfoot, who co-authored the introduction as well as two articles, Engaged Scholarship and Tenure and Promotion and Accounting for Community Impact. “Bringing faculty and student resources of the University to build trusting and meaningfully reciprocal relationships and projects for social justice is key for long-lasting partnerships.”

Trent alumna Emily Amon, a graduate from the Masters in Sustainability Studies program, contributed the article Brokering Community-Based Research on U-Links in Haliburton County, a leader in North America in community-based research, with Dr. Stephen Hill, associate professor of Environmental and Resource Sciences, and long-time Trent community partners Jim Blake and Marie Gage from U-Links.

“These articles are helpful for planning, conduct, reflection, and support for engaged scholarship, including in tenure and promotion processes and funding applications,” adds Prof. Changfoot.

Find other stories about: Research, Sustainability Studies, Centre for Aging & Society, Politics, Centre for Community-Based Research, Environmental Resource Science, Peterborough

You Might Also Like

Open-Access Educational Resources Understanding Homelessness in Canada: From the Street to the Classroom.

Creating a Hub for Homelessness Pedagogy and Perspectives

Adam Henley ’05, reflects on their time at Trent and their journey to starting their own clinical service organization

Knowledge, Innovation and Care: Community Nursing in Edmonton

New Climate Change Science & Policy Program at Trent University to Prepare Students to Work on Climate Solutions

New Climate Change Science & Policy Program at Trent University to Prepare Students to Work on Climate Solutions

Trent University logo
Challenge the Way You Think

Trent University respectfully acknowledges it is located on the treaty and traditional territory of the Mississauga Anishinaabeg. We offer our gratitude to First Peoples for their care for, and teachings about, our earth and our relations. May we honour those teachings.

Peterborough

1600 West Bank Drive
Peterborough, ON Canada, K9L 0G2

Toll Free: 1-855-MY-TRENT

Campus Map

Durham Greater Toronto Area

55 Thornton Road South
Oshawa, ON Canada, L1J 5Y1

Phone: 905-435-5100

Campus Map

Social Media Directory
  • Contact
  • Directions
  • Site Map
  • Accessibility
  • @ Copyright 2022 Trent University