Jonathan A. Newman, PhD, FRES, FRSB, is Vice President: Research and Professor of Biology at Wilfrid Laurier University. An ecologist whose research focuses on plant–animal interactions, biological invasions, and climate change, he has authored more than 100 scientific publications. His monographs include Climate Change Biology (2011) and Defending Biodiversity: Environmental Science and Ethics (2017), and he has co-edited Grasslands and Climate Change (2019) and the Routledge Handbook of Grasslands (2026).

Before joining Laurier in 2019, he served as Dean of the College of Biological Science and Director of the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph. Earlier in his career, he held academic appointments at the University of Oxford and Southern Illinois University. He earned his PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior from the State University of New York at Albany in 1990.

Amanda has practiced and promoted community-based approaches to research and evaluation within community, not-for-profit, and government spaces since completing her Master of Arts in Community Psychology in 2015. Amanda holds designation as a Credentialed Evaluator (CE) by the Canadian Evaluation Society and has specialized in applying participatory approaches to evaluating community-led mental health initiatives. In addition to serving as the Executive Director of Community-Based Research Canada, Amanda is an Adjunct Researcher within the Centre for Community, Health, & Social Impact at Lambton College, and Instructor for the University of Guelph's Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization, and a Sessional Lecturer in the University of Waterloo's School of Public Health Sciences.

Amanda has extensive experience in planning, conducting, and mobilizing the results of program evaluations and community-based research, as well as expertise in course design, course instruction, and workshop development and facilitation on topics including community-based research, program evaluation, and knowledge mobilization. Amanda promotes research as a tool for innovation that can advance social justice, equity, and community and individual wellbeing.

How do you build a research partnership where everyone is meaningfully engaged in designing the work? From Crisis to Collaboration, funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada, explores the wellbeing of staff in Ontario gender-based violence (GBV) organizations. Sustainable Livelihoods Canada, three GBV organizations, and the University of Guelph's Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) came together at the application stage. Since then, decisions have been shared through a steering committee that also includes evaluation and, more recently, communications partners.

We co-designed the research questions and approach. CESI students led the ethics submission, data collection, and analysis, with the committee involved throughout. Over 2.5 years, all partners have highlighted deep power sharing and engagement.

This session shares how our community-engaged research-practice partnership works: co-designing from day one, adapting when the ethics review timeline delayed data collection, and welcoming new partners mid-project. Participants will leave with practical ideas for partnerships where community organizations and universities share ownership from the first conversation.

Allison Prieur, CE, is the founder of DARE Impact Consulting and an evaluation associate with Sustainable Livelihoods Canada. She has spent almost 25 years in the nonprofit sector helping organizations use their data to change the world. She regularly partners with colleges and universities across Ontario, engaging in community-based research projects with student researchers and giving guest lectures to future practitioners. Allison is pursuing an Interdisciplinary PhD in Evaluation at Western Michigan University. 

Laureen Owaga is a PhD candidate in Applied Social Psychology and International Development at the University of Guelph. She is passionate about gender justice and preventing violence against women. She has experience in advocacy, sexual assault prevention, research coordination and community-engaged research. Her doctoral research investigates the feasibility of adapting an evidence-based Canadian sexual assault resistance intervention, the EAAA, in Kenya.

This presentation explores the long-standing partnership between the Sexual Assault Centre Brant and Drs. Jennifer Root and Marcia Oliver by drawing from their most recent collaborative project, Taylor the Turtle: a violence prevention program engaging young children, parents, and service providers in conversations about body autonomy, boundaries, consent, and emotional literacy. Over the past year, we have formed a community-led research team to support the evaluation of Taylor the Turtle, placing practice-based knowledge at the center of the research process. Members from the team will 1) discuss the role of practitioners as researchers and knowledge producers, and 2) illustrate how community expertise shaped the research design and implementation of preliminary findings. We are keen to discuss how community and University researchers bring different expertise to the research design, and begin to dispel the notion that University researchers are the primary experts in community-university partnerships. Ultimately, we consider what becomes possible when community-university research is grounded in reciprocal expertise, community priorities, and practice-based knowledge.

Joanna Brant (she/her) is the Executive Director of the Sexual Assault Centre of Brant. In this role, Joanna has worked to end sexual violence and to support those recovering from its impacts for over 30 years. Her extensive experience allows her to develop in-depth analyses of gender, trauma, sexual violence, and oppression while working in a collaborative setting. During the last 25 years, she has had the privilege of both counselling and providing leadership at the Sexual Assault Centre of Brant, where the individuals she has encountered have helped her to understand resilience and the value of advocacy and trauma-informed, intersectional counselling.

Jezeth Esmas (she/her) is a Community Development Coordinator with the Sexual Assault Centre of Brant, and, Research Coordinator for Taylor the Turtle. She connects community members with tools and supports to help children (and adults!), learn about their body rights, express their feelings, and feel safe. Jezeth is passionate about building strong, caring networks where everyone can thrive.

Marcia Oliver (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Law and Society at Wilfrid Laurier University, and, a member of the Social Justice and Community Engagement Master’s program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Her program of research and community-engaged work focuses on gender-based violence, feminist theory, and social justice. Her longstanding commitment to community-engaged scholarship includes previous collaborative research with the Sexual Assault Centre of Brant, exploring survivor-centred approaches to sexual violence prevention and support. She is currently supporting research examining Taylor the Turtle, an early childhood sexual abuse prevention initiative.

Kasey Politano (she/her) is the Volunteer and Community Engagement Lead at the Sexual Assault Centre of Brant. She holds a Master of Arts degree from the Social Justice and Community Engagement program, Wilfrid Laurier’s University. She has spent over 13 years working to end sexual and gender-based violence across research, shelter, counselling, post-secondary, and community settings. Her practice is rooted in care, solidarity, and a commitment to survivor-led, intersectional work. Kasey first joined the Taylor the Turtle team as a Research Assistant before moving into her current role with SAC Brant.

Jenn Root (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, BSW program on the Brantford campus, and, a member of the Social Justice and Community Engagement Master’s program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Her approach to research and community work is rooted in principles of intersectional feminisms and anti-oppressive practices. Prior to joining Laurier and the Brantford/Brant communities in 2014, she worked as a social worker alongside various communities in southwestern Ontario and the Midwest US supporting anti-violence prevention and intervention work, primarily on issues related to women’s experiences of intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, and sexual violence. Over the past 12 years she’s been lucky enough to work alongside Joanna and the amazing folks at Sexual Assault Centre of Brant, and most recently, supporting research examining Taylor the Turtle, an early childhood sexual abuse prevention initiative.

The goal of this project is to create an educational app aiming to facilitate conversations between children and parents about Taylor the Turtle's teachings.

Taha Hayat & Rigma Wagley are 4th year BDes User Experience Design students working with the SAC Brant through the BioAdaptive Lab.

Youth CivicCorps (YCC) is CivicAction's civic engagement and leadership initiative mobilizing emerging changemakers aged 18-30 to tackle regional challenges across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Funded in part by the Government of Canada through Canada Service Corps, YCC establishes social infrastructure pairing civic service with workforce pathways and equity.

The program deploys cohorts of young Black, racialized, and newcomer leaders into 16-week community placements with vetted host organizations. Working in multidisciplinary teams led by trained peer leads, participants deliver strategic initiatives addressing housing affordability, food justice, and economic inclusion. To dismantle barriers, YCC provides barrier-removal stipends, 1-on-1 coaching, and mental health supports.

By uniting grassroots hosts, public institutions, and corporate champions, YCC models cross-sector collaboration while operating under CivicAction's standard of radical clarity, psychological safety, and collective accountability. YCC equips young leaders with social capital, policy insight, and experiential learning for lasting systemic change.

Shaneeza Nazseer Ally is Director of Youth CivicCorps at CivicAction, mobilizing cross-sector partners to build experiential learning opportunities for emerging leaders tackling pressing regional issues. A speaker, leadership coach and former Executive Director, Shaneeza advises funders and policymakers on interventions that advance social capital and economic mobility for equity-denied youth.

This presentation reports findings from a recent survey of municipal employees across Ontario. As street-level bureaucrats, municipal staff often function as the public face of local authority and therefore bear the brunt of public frustration tied to unpopular or controversial policy decisions (Lipsky, 1980). At the same time, sectoral shifts toward digital engagement, dynamic communications platforms, and legislated open government have increased employee visibility while eroding some of the institutional protections that once shielded staff from direct exposure, leaving many respondents feeling punished for simply doing their jobs. This study situates those experiences at the intersection of networked publics and context collapse (Boyd, 2010; Boyd, 2011), illuminating the persistent harassment environment now confronting municipal employees.

Lexee Giles is an Honours BA/ MA Graduate in Criminology from WLU who is passionate about research, policing, and evidence-based research.

Dr. James Popham is a well-rounded researcher with academic and community experiences. His employment history includes roles as a knowledge mobilization officer, senior researcher, research coordinator, and lead investigator.

Shawna Reibling holds a master’s degree in Communications and has over a decade of experience in the post-secondary sector. As Laurier’s former Knowledge Mobilization Officer, she supported researchers and community partnerships in developing communication strategies to share research findings with broader audiences.

Melissa McLetchie

Khadijah Thompson

Vanessa Oliver

Moni Sadri

Ryan Huckle brings experience in research ethics and community-engaged research, including his previous work chairing the Community Research Ethics Office (CREO), a non-profit organization that supported community organizations in addressing ethical issues in research.

Martha Cassidy-Neumiller

Laine Young

Andrew Spring

Jie-Soo Park

Elyse is the Manager of Continuing Education for the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences and has been a valued member of Continuing Education at Laurier for the past nine years, playing a key role in the growth and success of the Centre for Public Safety and Well-Being and the FHSS Centre for Professional Development. She contributed to the development and launch of several impactful programs, including the Mental Health Crisis Response Education and Applied Training program and the Police Supervisor Certificate program, along with a range of other continuing education initiatives.

Elyse brings over 12 years of experience in public safety, having worked with the Ministry of the Attorney General in both the Crown Attorney’s Office and courts. Her combined expertise in justice and continuing education supports her strong commitment to professional learning and community well-being.

Eileen Lin is a third year Honours Health Sciences student at McMaster University, where she is doing a research project course with a team of professors, community organizations and fellow students on the use of personalized music in wound care for older adults living with pressure injuries. With a strong interest in community-based research and the intersection of music and health care, Eileen is passionate about exploring how research can identify community needs and inform meaningful decisions to improve quality of life. At the Summit for Creative Community Solutions, she looks forward to sharing her work and learning from others building change through community collaboration.

Nouf Hamoudi is a third year Honours Health Sciences student at McMaster University, where she is working on a research project course exploring the use of music in wound care alongside a team of other students and researchers. With a strong interest in creativity/music-based research and community work, Nouf is passionate in exploring the ways in which the arts can be used to improve the delivery of care to various populations. At the Summit for Creative Community Solutions, she looks forward to sharing her work and learning from fellow passionate researchers.

Jia Lu is a fourth year Honours Health Sciences student at McMaster University, where she is completing her undergraduate thesis on the use of personalized music during wound care for older adults living with pressure injuries. With a strong interest in community-based research and person-centred care, Jia is passionate about exploring how research can address community needs and inform meaningful improvements in quality of life. At the Summit for Creative Community Solutions, she looks forward to sharing her work and learning from others building change through collaboration.

Demian Kogutek is a guitarist and music therapist originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Classically trained at the Juan José Castro Conservatory, he specializes in Argentine folk traditions—including zamba, chacarera, and tango/milonga—and brings these styles into both performance and clinical improvisation. He is an Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University, where his work explores the therapeutic use of music for neurological conditions.

Lisa Costa is a local contemporary folk songwriter. She is a graduate of Seneca Polytechnic in Toronto where she studied both ‘Songwriting & Performance’ and ‘Music Production.’ She has released two country-folk songs independently and she is currently recording her first album. Lisa is a co-creator of the twice-monthly Open Mic at The Dog-eared Cafe in Paris and she performs locally.

lisacostamusic.ca

Demian Kogutek is a guitarist and music therapist originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Classically trained at the Juan José Castro Conservatory, he specializes in Argentine folk traditions—including zamba, chacarera, and tango/milonga—and brings these styles into both performance and clinical improvisation. He is an Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University, where his work explores the therapeutic use of music for neurological conditions.

Babatunde Joseph Abioye is a public health professional, community health advocate, and civil society leader focused on HIV, TB, hepatitis B, antimicrobial resistance, and health systems strengthening. Through community-led programming, advocacy, research, and partnerships, he works to improve health equity, disease prevention, community accountability, and access to quality healthcare in Nigeria.

This project presents findings from a targeted school-based hepatitis B screening and linkage-to-care intervention implemented among students of a tertiary institution in Osun State, Nigeria, during World Liver Day 2026. The intervention addressed gaps in hepatitis B awareness, risk perception, and access to screening among young adults. Activities included institutional advocacy and stakeholder engagement, health education, risk communication, pre-test counselling, voluntary HBsAg screening using rapid diagnostic test kits, post-test counselling, and referral for confirmatory testing and clinical management. A total of 180 students participated, comprising 75 males (41.7%) and 105 females (58.3%). Seven students tested positive for HBsAg, representing a positivity rate of 3.9%. Five positive cases were female and two were male. Importantly, all students who tested positive received post-test counselling and were referred to designated healthcare facilities, achieving a 100% linkage-to-care referral rate. The findings demonstrate the value of tertiary institutions as strategic platforms for reaching young adults with hepatitis B services.

Lilian Barraclough is a PhD candidate in Social Practice and Transformational Change at the University of Guelph. Her work focuses on exploring the role of queer ecologies in contributing to different understandings and approaches to the climate crisis. She works in partnership with artistic collaboratives explore these questions.

This project was a collaborative partnership between the Throbbing Rose Artist Collective, and myself as the researcher. We worked together to organize an artist residency focused on queer ecological thought and co-developed interview guides, and a collaborative arts-based workshop. As a full participant in the artist residency, I navigated embedded relationships with the community members and artists, which led to unique insights.

Nealob Kakar (she/her) is a Queer Afghan University of Guelph Social Practice and Transformational Change PhD Candidate, community-based researcher, storyteller, and maker! She is deeply moved by art for social change, daydreaming, and abolitionist worldbuilding. Nealob is interested in the ways QTBIPOC Survivors artfully rethink difference and radically re-imagine transformative futures of care.

When larger social systems fail to provide adequate access to support, racialized, 2SLGBTQ+, and Survivor communities' communities often left to the margins have a long history of building community-based care networks in response. Drawing on a critical community engaged research-creation study exploring the ways Queer, Transgender, Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (QTBIPOC) who are Survivors of Sexual and/or Gender Based Violence (GBV) across Ontario practice care, this study invites us to reorient towards artful and speculative dreaming. In partnership with WomenatthecentrE, a Toronto GBV organization, this qualitative study involved an engaged scoping review, 17 semi-structured interviews, and an arts-based workshop. The study foregrounds zine-making as a feminist pedagogical tool and design fiction as an abolitionist method to conjure pathways that imagine alternatives to current realities. This research highlights the ways that arts-based methods create a space and site of engagement that values and centres the non-normative to articulate more embodied and affective experiences, acting as a catalyst for transformative community-based research.