CESI Projects

Women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs are vital to Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. In Canada, these businesses contribute about $150 billion to the economy and hire more than 1.5 million people (Cukier, Hassannezhad Chavoushi, et al., 2022). Supporting women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs’ empowerment boosts the economy and improves social and environmental outcomes (Cukier, Hassannezhad Chavoushi, et al., 2022; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 2022).

In 2023, the Grey Bruce Local Immigration Partnership (GBLIP) partnered with the Research Shop, part of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph, to conduct their Immigrant Survey 2023. The Immigrant Survey is a collaborative project involving 12 Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) across Canada. Each LIP conducted a similar survey in their own region to better understand their community, the needs of newcomers, and the impact of their collective work. The primary objectives of the Grey Bruce Immigrant Survey 2023 were to: 

In 2023, the Huron County Immigration Partnership (HCIP) partnered with the Research Shop, part of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph, to conduct their 2023 Immigrant Survey. The Immigrant Survey is a collaborative project involving 12 Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) across Canada. Each LIP conducted a similar survey in their own region to better understand their community, the needs of newcomers, and the impact of their collective work.

The Research Shop at the University of Guelph and members of the Perinatal Mental Health Coalition of the Waterloo Region collaborated to better understand the use of perinatal mental health screening tools for pregnant, expecting, and new parents/guardians in the Waterloo region. The Perinatal Mental Health Coalition helps new and expecting parents within the Waterloo region receive the mental health supports that they need, throughout all stages of pregnancy and post-partum life.

Since 2018, Community Living Organizations across Southwestern Ontario, as well as colleagues from Sunbeam Community and Developmental Services, have partnered with the Research Shop, part of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph for a multi-year research project.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with Chalmers, a non-profit organization in Guelph that offers fresh food and social support to anyone that comes through their doors. In specific, the aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of the Food Pantry program at Chalmers on users’ well-being.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with Community FEWD. The aim of this research was to 1.) document the early-stage impacts of the program and 2.) gather feedback from the community and Community FEWD volunteers to inform the future development of the program.

This report was prepared for, and in partnership with Community FEWD. The aim of this research was to 1.) collect demographics of community members utilizing this program to help inform potential funding partners; and 2.) follow up from the 2022 survey on program feedback from community members to help inform program development.

Read the report: Community FEWD Program: One Year Evaulation

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with the Grey Bruce Local Immigration Partnership (GBLIP). The aim of this research was to provide a snapshot of the experiences of discrimination faced by racial minorities, immigrants, and Indigenous residents in Grey and Bruce Counties. The results of this project may be used to generate local knowledge and build community capacity around diversity and inclusion.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership (GWLIP). The aim of this research was to provide a snapshot of the experiences of discrimination faced by racial minorities, immigrants, and Indigenous residents in Guelph and Wellington County.

This project was conducted in collaboration with Hope House, a non-profit organization in Guelph offering services and programs that challenge the stigmas surrounding poverty. One such program is the Food Market, a choice-based pantry serving working and non-working individuals and families.

This report was prepared for, and in partnership with, Barbara Salsberg Mathews, a former professional mime artist, and a person with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Barbara has developed a program, Mime Over Mind: Retrain the Brain, which teaches the principles and concepts of mime to help improve the quality of life of participants. This project aimed to explore the personal impacts that participants and support personnel experienced during the Mime Over Mind Workshop series.

Between 2021-23, student researchers, Tanja Samardzic and Britanny Pompilii, from the University of Guelph’s Community Engaged Scholarship Institute, were engaged to work with Sustainable Livelihoods Canada in the development of an Annotated Bibliography and an associated Literature Review. The work of the student researchers was supervised by Dr. Mary Ferguson of Eko Nomos, an independent consultancy.

"Researchers for Change" was a pilot knowledge exchange initiative bringing together graduate students from different disciplines to build capacity for engagement, collaboration, action and creativity in graduate research. Through three facilitated roundtable discussions, participants connected with peers in person and online to reflect on, question, and explore the opportunities and challenges that come with being an engaged researcher/mobilizer.

Conversations centered on:

Creative Knowledge Mobilization at the Graduate Level (February 15, 2023, 12-1pm)

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with Huron County Immigration Partnership. The aim of this research was to provide a snapshot of the experiences of discrimination faced by racial minorities, immigrants, and Indigenous residents in Huron County.

Read the report here: Snapshot of Discrimination in Huron County

Compass Community Services (CCS) provides a range of mental health and social support services to the Guelph–Wellington community and the surrounding area. One unique, free service offered by CCS is the TeleConnect program, an outbound call service providing emotional support, socialization, wellness checks, medication reminders, motivation, and assistance with accessing resources to isolated community members on a daily basis. Most referrals for TeleConnect come from health care providers who are unable to provide the level of support required by clients.

This report identifies practical strategies for improving diversity and inclusion on the City of Guelph’s Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC). It is hoped that this report will support recommendations brought to the City of Guelph’s Council, prompting policy changes to improve the engagement, participation, and inclusion of diverse groups within the city’s Advisory Committees of Council, specifically the AAC.

This PowerPoint was prepared for, and in partnership with Hope House. Hope House is a nonprofit that offers programs and services that challenge the stigmas of poverty and facilitate skill development for long-term self-sufficiency. The aim of the project was to develop a list of qualitative research methods that would be practical to implement and appropriate for program users to support Hope House with program evaluations. 

This short report presents the results from an evaluation conducted by the Research Shop of a campus food market on campus at the University of Guelph. The Campus Community Market Pilot Project was a six-week, student-led initiative that aimed to bring local, healthy food to campus. It was supported collaboratively by The Arrell Food Institute, the U of G Sustainability Office, the SEED, and the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute.

Municipal staff and Members of Council can play an important role in contributing to more equitable communities. These discussion papers support these efforts by exploring the role of municipalities in promoting equity in different service areas including housing, recreation, transportation, and arts and culture. The papers highlight some of the systemic barriers experienced by individuals in Guelph, especially those in at-risk groups. These systemic barriers are deeply embedded in our society and are influenced by policies implemented at all levels of government.

This project was conducted by CESI's research shop in collaboration with Hospice Wellington, a charitable organization that provides support and care to individuals who are living with life-threatening illnesses or experiencing grief and bereavement. The project focuses on Hospice Wellington’s art therapy program. 

The summary was prepared for and in partnership with the Guelph Community Health Centre (CHC). The Guelph CHC provides health services and community programs to help address inequities in healthcare. The aim of the project was to evaluate a survey from staff regarding their learning interests and needs to help inform the creation of an Anti-Oppression training. The Guelph CHC designed and distributed the survey to their staff, while the Research Shop analyzed those findings and prepared them in a summary.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI's Research Shop in partnership with members of the Guelph Advocates group who are part of a committee of Campaign School organizers in Guelph, Wellington, and Oxford counties. The purpose of this research was to develop a comprehensive list of resources to support participants of the campaign schools and those generally interested in becoming involved in politics. A literature review was conducted cover

This report was prepared for, and in partnership with the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership (GWLIP). This project aimed to understand the challenges and opportunities around the “digital divide” and digital literacy for newcomers accessing settlement services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 13, 2022, CESI and the Waterloo Wellington Knowledge Mobilization Community hosted Sharing Knowledge with Indigenous Communities as part of the 2022 Knowledge Mobilization Forum. This event brought together knowledge mobilization practitioners and community engaged researchers (faculty, staff, students and others) to reflect about knowledge systems and approaches to engagement with Indigenous peoples, tour the Wisahkotewinowak Tea Garden, and experience the 

This article investigates the impacts of CESI’s Research Shop, which works with local and regional organizations to carry out high-impact community-engaged scholarship by training and employing graduate students to conduct community-engaged research. The article includes a case study on the impacts (benefits and challenges) of the Research Shop on community partners and student researchers from 2009 to 2018.

This Master's thesis (supported by Dr. Liz Jackson and the Guelph Lab) explores and illuminates the phenomenon of postsecondary student food insecurity using qualitative methodologies. It uses a phenomenological framework to better understand what constitutes the lived experience of students with food insecurity; the researcher conducted 11 semi-structured interviews with students, all but one from the University of Guelph, who were recruited primarily through the campus food bank.

The Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHAWW) recently launched a new program, Waterloo Wellington Neighbours (WWN) initiative, which trains business employees and concerned community members about issues that vulnerable, at-risk older adults experience. CMHAWW collaborated with the Research Shop to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program on participants via a post session e-survey. Results from this report will help tailor future training sessions and may also be used to expand the program to other regions.

This evaluation was prepared for, and in partnership with, Art not Shame, a Guelph-based, not-for-profit, community-engaged arts organization that serves youth and young adults across Ontario.

This summary highlights key impacts reported by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) from May 2020 - April 2021. In keeping with CESI's mandate and priorities, the metrics are separated into three categories: capacity development, partnerships, and research projects. 

The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute’s (CESI) Scholars are a small group of graduate research assistants enrolled in the PhD in Social Practice and Transformational Change program. During the admissions process, some students with interest and/or expertise in community engaged work are identified and offered a position at CESI as part of their funding package.

This literature review was prepared for the In Good Company Collaborative and Sustainable Livelihoods Canada to discuss the situation of women in small-to medium enterprises in Canada. More specifically, the review explores the current trends, policies, practices, challenges, and barriers faced by women in the areas of technology and engineering, skilled trades, and transportation.

This infographic was prepared by Nishnawbe Aski Nation with the support of the Northern Food Systems Community Project Coordinator in partnership with Eko Nomos and the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute. It explores a spectrum of First Nations' food self-determination activities, including:

This complex, community-engaged project was conducted in partnership with the Guelph Chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), and includes initiatives from both the Research Shop and the Community Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETL) program. 

On Monday, March 8th 2021, CESI marked International Women's Day by hosting a webinar in collaboration with the Guelph chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), the Zonta Club of Guelph, and Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. 

This report was a collaborative project at the University of Guelph involving the Research Shop, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), and an undergraduate course in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. CFUW Guelph is the local chapter of the CFUW national organization that is dedicated to women's advancement and gender equality.

Through a growing partnership between CESI, the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto (WomanACT) and psychology professor Dr. Paula Barata, University of Guelph students have been taking part in the full process of research impact, from knowledge creation to implementation. Hidden in the Everyday is a report that draws on qualitative data gathered through surveys and focus groups with service providers and in-depth interviews with survivors. The report examines the experiences and impacts of financial abuse as well as the challenges in confronting it and the opportunities to prevent and address it.

This collection of literature reviews was prepared for the Nishawbe Aski Nation (NAN) to investigate food self-determination in Indigenous communities. The collection explores some of the challenges as well as ongoing efforts to improve food self-determination in Indigenous communities. Topics include indicators of Indigenous food self-determination, education programs available for youth, the role of social enterprises, and existing import and export systems.

Since its introduction in 2017, the University of Guelph's Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization has offered training in knowledge mobilization and evidence-informed decision-making to hundreds of professionals.

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in partnership with The Men’s Homelessness Committee of the Town of Orangeville. The objective of this research was to conduct a needs assessment of the social services available to men experiencing homelessness in Dufferin County and identify areas for potential development.

This report presents a literature review on barriers and facilitators to nutritious foods and the findings of a qualitative study conducted in partnership with Our Food Future. Interviews and focus groups were used to better understand the subjective experiences and aspects that influence nutritious eating patterns of residents living in Guelph-Wellington.

In early 2021, CESI and the Guelph Lab launched “Promoting Food Security in Higher Education” with Meal Exchange and staff and faculty at the University of British Columbia, the University of Guelph, McMaster University, and the University of Ottawa. The goal of the project is to catalyze a network of university administrators, researchers, students, staff and food service providers working to promote food secure campus communities. The project included:

The University of Guelph places high value on being a leader in post-secondary teaching and learning, as well as providing students enriched learning experiences. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented changes to how instructors teach, how students learn, and what society expects a university education to look like.

The Research Shop conducted this research in partnership with The Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) of Waterloo Region. The objective of this research was to assess the Sex Trafficking Lethality Tool and provide feedback on aspects of the tool including length, ease of use, uniqueness and usefulness. Participants were also able to further understand how to improve their tool. A feedback survey was completed by sexual assault service providers in Ontario between March-June 2021.

Since 2021, the Guelph Lab has worked with the City of Guelph on several research initiatives related to the City’s Advisory Committees of Council (ACOC).

This report presents the findings of research conducted by CESI’s Community Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETL) program in partnership with the SEED. The goal of this research was to investigate the impacts of the SEED Community Food Markets on levels of food insecurity among community food market customers.

This report presents the findings of a survey conducted by CESI's Research Shop in partnership with eMERGE Guelph to better understand the perceived incentives and barriers to purchasing electric vehicles in Guelph. The purpose of this research is to better inform eMERGE’s initiatives that promote renewable energy technologies, and more specifically electric vehicles.

This report presents the findings of a program evaluation conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with the Better Ballot Campaign (BBC). The goal of the BBC is to positively influence the political climate by promoting civil discussion and debates. The program evaluation engaged with candidates, voters and volunteers to assess the successes, challenges and lessons learned to explore potential future directions for the campaign. In addition, a case study examined how the Better Ballot Campaign took shape in Dufferin-Caledon in 2018.

A community-engaged teaching and learning collaboration between the Guelph Black Heritage Society, U of G College of Arts, and CESI has used film to explore the lives of Black residents of Guelph who served in World War I. Working together with the Guelph Black Heritage Society, students in Dr. Jade Ferguson's English 2130: Literature and Social Change class created the short film Black Soldiers from Guelph in the Great War. This video shares the story of the No.

This summary highlights key impacts reported by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) from May 2019 - April 2020. This document is a summary of a larger, internal report on CESI's activities and impacts; the numbers presented were identified as being of particular interest by the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences. The metrics are separated into three categories: capacity development, partnerships, and research projects.

The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute’s (CESI) Community Advisory Term (CAT) is a small group of community members and leaders, each with expertise in unique areas, services, and groups. They provide high-level guidance to the CESI Director to ensure that CESI is informed and supportive of community-driven mandates and interests.

The CESI Faculty Advisory Board provides guidance and advice to the CESI Director and staff on high-level issues including program development and design, staffing, strategic plans, and priorities. It is composed of senior CSAHS scholar-practitioners in the fields of community engaged scholarship, community-engaged research, and teaching and learning.

This page contains links to a variety of resources related to COVID-19 and the current pandemic context; they have helped the CESI team think through how to continue to do our best, most principled work in these very disrupted times. It includes practical resources, reports and primers, resource collections, and opinion pieces that may be helpful and interesting to CESI's partners, collaborators, students, and affiliated faculty as well as the local Guelph-Wellington community.

This report presents the findings of an environmental scan conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy. The goal of the project was to conduct interviews and background research to determine the regulations, guidelines, requirements and programming associated with withdrawal management centres across Ontario.

Read the report: Environmental Scan of Withdrawal Management Centres in Ontario.

This report presents the findings of the program evaluation for The Mural Project conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with Art Not Shame. The purpose of this project was to evaluate The Mural Project, which created a digital mural to bring people together, encourage creativity and better understand the impact of the pandemic on a range of individuals. A survey was distributed to participants to better understand the successes and lessons learned from the six-week workshop.

As the organization approached its 15th year in operation, the board of the Guelph Enabling Garden (GEG) collaborated with CESI’s Research Shop to complete an evaluation of the garden and the GEG horticultural therapy programming. The evaluation engaged program participants, volunteers, and other garden users as a means to assess how well the needs and priorities of these groups were being met by the current horticultural therapy programs, events and structure of the physical space.

There is growing evidence that significant numbers of university students in Canada experience food insecurity, potentially undermining the health, well-being and educational success of students. The University of Guelph has joined a handful of other Canadian universities in responding to this issue. CESI, Meal Exchange, Universities Fighting World Hunger and graduate students working with Dr.

This report represents the results of a mixed-methods study that aimed to learn about the experiences of International Students at the University of Guelph. It is the second part of a series that seeks to highlight strengths and gaps in the supports available to International Students who choose to study in Canada. Both projects were in collaboration with the Guelph Wellington Local Immigration Partnership. The first report focuses on insights from service providers.

The goal of this project was to highlight significant achievements in women’s rights in Canada over the past 100 years. Researchers created a series of posters to be displayed at the 2020 International Women’s Day Event being held in Guelph by the Canadian Federation of University Women, Zonta, and Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis.

Since it was launched in 2017, the University of Guelph’s Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization has helped professionals from the academic, policy, and service delivery sectors gain skills in knowledge mobilization and evidence-based decision making.

This evaluation was prepared for, and in partnership with, Out On The Shelf (OOTS), a queer library and resource centre in Guelph, Ontario. This project aimed to evaluate OOTS programming and processes. Evaluation activities were carried out from October 2019 to February 2020 and consisted of a program participant survey, board member and volunteer focus groups, a graffiti wall, and attendance tracking.

East Wellington Community Services (EWCS) collaborated with the Research Shop to better understand the recreational, leisure, and personal development needs and interest of youth in and around the Town of Erin, as well as the barriers to participation. Data was collected through surveys distributed to local youth and parents of youth. The results will help inform EWCS’s decisions regarding the structure, programming, and launch of the new drop-in centre.

The year 2019 marked the 10th anniversary of the Research Shop, one of the five programs through which the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) fulfills its mandate to support and carry out community engaged scholarship. At the Research Shop, staff and graduate students work with local and regional organizations to design and carry out projects that address community research priorities.

This report was prepared for the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington. It shares the findings from an evaluation of the Rural Emphasis Campaign, which aimed to create a dialogue around the issue of and solutions for rural youth homelessness in Wellington County. Specifically, it reports on data collected through surveys which examined the extent of awareness for youth vulnerability in the community, the effectiveness and impact of the campaign, and ways to improve the campaign’s presence within the community.

This report was created by the Research Shop for Community Living Guelph Wellington (CLGW)’s Campus Friends (CF) program. Following a mentorship-style format, CF connects University of Guelph student volunteers (mentors) with adults who have a developmental disability (students) to promote successful individualized student-based campus experiences. This project aimed to determine the extent to which Campus Friends is currently meeting its intended goals and to explore opportunities for ongoing improvement.

This resource document was prepared by The Research Shop for the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington (CRC). It offers information about the potential impacts of physical distancing and isolation on the wellbeing of children and teens during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes recommendations to support them, as well as links to a number of relevant resources. It also looks at some pre-pandemic predictors that may put children and teens at an increased risk for adverse experiences during and post-COVID-19.

This summary offers key highlights of Research Shop activities from January - December 2020. It includes data on the number of students employed, community partner organizations, partnered research projects and overall outputs. It gives a snapshot of more traditional, quantifiable metrics and outputs that demonstrate the overall reach and potential impact of the Research Shop.

Read the Research Shop's key 2020 metrics.

This research was conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with the Theatre of the Beat (TOTB), a not-for-profit theatre company. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the TOTB Restorative Justice Theatre Program, which works with incarcerated persons at the Grand Valley Institution for Women. From May 2018 to April 2019, a variety of tools were used to assess the perceptions of the program amongst facilitators, inmates participating in the program, audience members for the theatre performances, and prison staff.

This three-part guide is designed for anyone interested in how virtual partnerships work, how they can be integrated with community engagement and/or experiential learning, and how they can enrich university-level courses. It provides an introduction to virtual community-engaged experiential learning, tips for virtual exchange and engaging partners online, and key values to consider when bridging global and local community engagement practices. 

This project was prepared for, and in partnership with, Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph Wellington's Breaking Free Program. The Breaking Free program is a psycho-educational group program for youth ages 13-18 that have been considered high-risk of using abusive behaviours in relationships.

This project was prepared for, and in partnership with, the University of Guelph Student FoodBank. The Guelph Student FoodBank provides students with access to emergency food and anti-poverty resources. This project provides a snapshot of the self-reported food security of student patrons in June 2020.

Read the report: University of Guelph Student FoodBank: A Snapshot of Student Food Security and Wellbeing

This project is the second part of a collaboration between the Research Shop and the Canadian Federation of University Women and Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. Its primary goal was to build on the findings from the Library for All project, which aimed to engage community members, and women in particular, in the planning process for the new Central Library in Guelph.

This annotated bibliography brings together summaries of academic literature on creative and arts-based methods that can be used to engage youth in research. It was compiled as the first phase of a project conducted in collaboration with the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington.

Read the report: PAR and CER with Youth

This literature review was conducted by CESI's Research Associate for the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto as a part of the Canadian Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Committee (MARAC) Model program. It aims to review literature pertaining to risk factors that predict women’s vulnerability to intimate partner violence or intimate partner homicide, as well as identify current domestic violence risk assessment tools and provide an overview of their strengths and weakness.

This report presents the results of analyses of the 2016 and 2017 Active Transportation data collection efforts by the City of Guelph’s Sustainable Transportation Program. This program tracked active transportation (i.e., the number of people wheeling and walking) at various times and sites throughout the city. Results in this report will help inform the City of Guelph’s future policy and planning design decisions.​

A literature review was conducted in collaboration with the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition, the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, and HIV/AIDS Resources and Community Health-Guelph. Its primary goal was to identify best practices for engaging and compensating people with lived experience who provide work for community organizations.

The evaluation of the Targeted Walk-In Service program (TWIS) was conducted in collaboration with Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHA-WW). This evaluation is made up of two components; a key informant interview study and a literature review. The key informant interviews were conducted with TWIS service providers to explore their insights regarding service delivery of the program and the implementation of client satisfaction surveys.

This project is a follow-up to the first phase of a program evaluation conducted in collaboration with Focus on Nature in 2018. The aim of this second phase of the program evaluation was to identify what volunteers gained out of their involvement with Focus on Nature, why they continued to be involved, and why they might discontinue their volunteering commitment.

On Thursday, November 7th the Community Engaged Scholarship Instiutte hosted participants from a range of sectors to learn with and from international community engagement experts Dr. Emma McKenna (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr. Henk Mulder (University of Groningen).

On Friday, November 8th 2019 the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute marked the 10th anniversary of the Research Shop by holding a public symposium to reflect on our work and continue to enhance our knowledge of community-university research practice and impacts.

This literature review was conducted for the Old Growth Forest project at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre. It aimed to develop a deeper understanding of how ecological restoration and conservation programming can lead to changes in individuals' attitudes, feelings, knowledge and behavior. It will be used to inform the development of a program evaluation for the Old Growth Forest project.

Access the report: Indicators of Ecological Behaviour Change

Student learning can reach far beyond the classroom. Through community-engaged learning, faculty, students and community organizations partner to co-create research programs that have a real impact. The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute works to integrate community-driven research into the course context, introducing students to collaborative research and key issues of relevance in our community.

The Research Shop is one of five programs through which the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) fulfills its mandate to bring together community and campus skills and resources to directly support and carry out community-engaged scholarship and develop others' capacities tto do so. At the Research Shop, staff and graduate students work with local and regional organizations to design and carry out projects that address community research priorities.

The impacts and experiences of community engaged research and community-university partnerships can be challenging to share via traditional research and knowledge dissemination methods.

Skills for Research Impact is a workshop series for University of Guelph faculty, research staff and graduate students interested in enhancing the impact of their research. Through monthly sessions facilitated by impact experts, participants learn how to successfully plan, execute and evaluate knowledge mobilization activities. Sessions cover topics key to effective research communications and engagement of non-academic audiences, including policy, industry and community stakeholders.

This project was conducted in collaboration with the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington (CRC). Researchers designed and conducted a literature review to explore strategies or methods that can help identify, reach out to, and connect with youth who are experiencing (or are at risk of) homelessness in rural areas. The findings will inform the CRC's efforts to expand its outreach activities in rural Wellington County to provide support and services for youth who are experiencing or who are at risk of homelessness.

This project was conducted by four Community Living organizations in southern Ontario (Stratford and Area, Guelph and Wellington, Cambridge, and Owen Sound and District) in collaboration with the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute.

This project is a collaboration between the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute and the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership to explore the needs of international students hoping to transition to permanent residents. Through a review of the literature and key interviews with staff of post-secondary institutions and settlement service organizations, this research identified offerings and gaps in services to international students in Guelph and Wellington.

This research explored and compared community energy plans from six single-tier municipalities in Ontario including Kingston, Hamilton, Windsor, London, Peterborough, and Sault Ste. Marie. A Community Energy Plan (CEP) is a publicly available document that outlines different ways communities aim to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and drive economic development (Community Energy Planning, 2018). The goals of this research were to examine initiatives being pursued through CEPs with an emphasis on the role of the municipality, and with an eye toward innovative approaches.

This project is a collaboration between the University of Guelph's Community Engaged Scholarship Institute and Student Life. In the spring 2018, a community needs assessment was conducted to support the University of Guelph's Experiential Learning Hub and the University's strategic priority to expand and enhance experiencial learning for students. The needs assessment saught to better understand community partners' needs and perspectives, and to strengthen experiential learning partnerships between community organizations and the University.

This report was created in response to a request by Victim Services Wellington to examine victims' service use and referrals for Victim Crisis Assistance Ontario (VCAO). The project aimed to highlight the current state of affairs with respect to victims' service use, and better understand the policies and practices that may help increase the number of people using and being offered support by VCAO. Researchers conducted a literature review and a survey of VCAO sites across Ontario.

This project documents the tangible impacts outreach, evaluation, and research have had in the Guelph community where The SEED has created and piloted innovative food-based programming. The ongoing partnership between the SEED and CESI strongly supports the University of Guelph’s reputation as Canada’s food university given the breadth of topics covered, and the number of colleges and departments engaged.

In collaboration with Faculty Affiliates and community partners, the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute is leading the development of a community research agenda focused on the interconnections between community energy and the economy. This pilot explores ways to coordinate activities across the university to meet community research needs in a specific thematic area.

This report presents findings from a literature review of participatory approaches to engage youth in cannabis awareness messaging initiatives. Findings will be used to inform the creation of a local youth-targeted cannabis messaging initiative in the Guelph-Wellington area as well as of a toolkit for the Wellington-Guelph Drug Strategy.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the impacts of a one-day nature photography workshop for students conducted by Focus on Nature. Surveys collected feedback from 154 students to assess what they learned from the program and how their participation affected their sense of connection to nature. Surveys also looked at the experience of volunteers involved in the program. The report is accompanied by a 1-page infographic summarizing the main findings of the survey.

In February 2018, CESI held a poster exhibit at the 10C community hub in downtown Guelph. The poster exhibit at 10C provided a snapshot of the innovative and community-driven research conducted on a breadth of topics by researchers at Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) and the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS).

This project summary offers a short description of a project undertaken by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute in collaboration with local consulting firms. Researchers produced an annotated bibliography and a literature review for the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in order to inform community-based food system planning and evaluation processes within four remote Ontario First Nations communities.

On October 29th, CESI hosted an event showcasing innovative and unconventional approaches to community engagement. Through this event, attendees began to learn more about the multiple ways that people in various roles and locations pursue community-university collaborations. Presenters and participants explored how radical, emergent, and unconventional work can generate significant impact.

The day featured panels, presentations, workshops, and roundtable discussions covering a range of topics, including:

This literature review aims to generate a better understanding of current approaches and best practices for peer support models for harm reduction services. It shares guiding principles and considerations for integrating peers into harm reduction programs, and presents an overview of peer programs developed in North America, Europe, and Australia. It is hoped that findings will be used to inform the creation of a peer support program at the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy.

This poster exhibit was displayed at the 10C community hub in downtown Guelph in February 2018. It features 10 innovative research projects conducted by researchers at the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) and College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS). Projects were selected by CESI and CSAHS Dean's Office and covered a variety of themes, including food waste, violence against women, sustainability, and civic issues (see below for a full list). Together, they provide a snapshot of the innovative research underway on a range of topics at both CESI and CSAHS.

This report highlights key findings from a research study conducted with Focus on Nature (FON) by Mark Shakespear, Undergraduate Research Assistant at the University of Guelph, with the guidance of Jeji Varghese.

This project was conducted to gain a better understanding of how individuals who struggle with hoarding can be better supported by local services and organizations within the Wellington-Guelph area. The Research Shop at the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute led focus groups, online surveys and consultations, and identified several barriers to accessing supports and resources. The report and the accompanying infographic summarize these findings and the recommendations made to the Wellington Guelph Hoarding Response.

This infographic was developed for Family Counselling and Support Services for Guelph-Wellington, and the Canadian Families and Corrections Network. It represents the typical journey of an adult offender when going through the Canadian criminal justice system. It then compares this journey to the process followed when guiding an adult offender through restorative justice and compares costs and outcomes of each process. It concludes that restorative justice is more than six times more cost-effective than traditional criminal justice.

These fact sheets were created to support the City of Guelph Older Adult Strategy. They consolidate key points from existing literature around affordable housing in Guelph as well as alternative housing options. They are intended as positioning documents to encourage the City of Guelph to further investigate age-friendly alternatives.

This research was conducted to assess the value and overall effectiveness of the Ontario Municipal Energy Managers Community of Practice, founded by the City of Guelph. The report summarizes the results of surveys and interviews conducted with members of this community of practice in order to better understand ways in which this group could be improved and expanded in the future.

This report was completed for Farm and Food Care Canada. It analyses six case studies from various initiatives in order to better understand what facilitates the diffusion of innovation and pro-environmental behaviours. Doing so, this report also identifies predictors of behaviour change and popular theories of behaviour change and discusses general trends and potential obstacles for organizations trying to promote environmentally friendly behaviour.

The Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization, developed by CESI in collaboration with Open Learning and Educational Development, is a professional development opportunity offered entirely online. Through three eight-week courses, participants learn to identify and address barriers to knowledge mobilization, and use tools and techniques to enhance the impact of research and facilitate the development of evidence-informed policy and practice.

The Engaged Practitioner in Residence program creates a campus presence for a community expert, generating opportunities for them to contribute to student, faculty, staff, and community-partnered activities. Each Engaged Practitioner in Residence (EPR) brings their own knowledge and expertise to this role, allowing for maximum innovation, creativity, and reach across the University.

The 2016-2017 year of the EPR was focused on evaluation as a form of community engaged scholarship. The 2016-2017 EPR, Andrew Taylor, is a program evaluation practitioner with more than 20 years experience.  He has a particular interest in collaborative approaches to evaluation, and on the link between evaluation and community action. 

The MiC conference organizers and the Guelph Lab partnered with the Research Shop to prepare materials for the conference that would be used to enable attendees to see themselves as “innovators,” and encourage discussion among attendees surrounding their respective experiences with and perspectives on innovation. The community partners identified a need for conference attendees from diverse professional backgrounds to be able to identify different kinds of innovation in order to recognize their work as innovative. 

In February and March of 2017, three workshops were offered collaboratively by CESI faculty affiliates and by the CESI Manager of Community Engaged Learning. These sessions were organized by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute in collaboration with Open Learning and Educational Development as part of the Teaching & Learning Innovations Workshop Series. They were offered as an initiative for faculty to develop their community-engaged teaching and learning techniques.

This report presents findings from a literature review of programs in North America that provide fresh produce in convenience stores. More specifically, this review sought to identify programs that utilized convenience stores as a channel through which to provide fresh produce and healthier food options at more accessible and affordable prices in lower-income neighbourhoods that were situated within food deserts. The main goal of this report was to contribute to the development and expansion of food access programming led by The SEED, a community food project based out of Guelph, Ontario.

Driven by a desire to apply lessons learned at the local level to a global context, discussions around CESI's Global Engagement Strategy began in 2013 out of the work to create a Vision for a School for Civil Society. Currently being piloted, this strategy builds on the University of Guelph's history of international research and programs, and increase the permeability between the university and global communities.

This report was developed for the Guelph Community Health Centre. The needs assessment looks at addressing food insecurity in the Grange Hill East neighbourhood of Guelph through a mobile food market. There is evidence that mobile food markets have been successful in increasing food access, particularly fruit and vegetable intake. Most participants of this community-based research project indicated at least some interest in attending a mobile food market. There were clear findings with respect to participants' preferences for the form and function of the mobile food market. 

These three highlight sheets were created in order to help the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership mobilize the findings and recommendations from its 2016 Immigrant survey report. They present key data on immigrants' 1) basic needs and belonging, 2) employment, education and training, and 3) access to services. The Local Immigration Partnership is using these visual summaries both as hand-outs and large-scale posters in order to share highlights from the report with a variety of stakeholders.

This report presents the results of a needs assessment conducted in partnership with the East Wellington Community Services and the Rural Seniors Advisory Group. The main objective of the project was to understand the needs of older adults (50+) in East Wellington in order to inform future service improvements and allocation of funds received by the Ontario Seniors' Secretariat in the region. A survey was conducted to assess respondents' participation in activities such as social activities, volunteering, health and wellness, support groups and educational activities.

How can municipalities balance innovation, policy goals and citizen protection when faced with the growing popularity of companies like Uber or Airbnb? How can we best understand and respond to this new model of a sharing economy? To help answer these questions, the GuelphLab helped develop a Sharing Economy Toolkit.

This summary provides an overview of a project conducted for the Toward Common Ground collaboration as part of a broader effort to identify indicators and measures of wellbeing for individuals in Guelph and Wellington. The Research Shop researched key indicators of wellbeing and compiled the results in a single document serving as a comprehensive source of data on measures of wellbeing in our community.

Vital Signs provides a meaningful, high-level snapshot of strengths and challenges in Guelph and Wellington County.

The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute hosted its third annual event on March 1st and 2nd, 2017 in Downtown Guelph. 'What We Know' brought together 49 posters featuring diverse research on Guelph and Wellington from community organizations, municipal staff, faculty and students. Attendees learned about feral cats, farmland loss, food waste, the wellbeing of children and more - all specific to the communities that they live, work and play in.

This project was conducted in partnership with the Guelph Chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women. It was conducted to inform the Federation's programs to support women in Guelph-Wellington in seeking public leadership roles and running for political office. The report builds on a literature review produced by the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph. It shares findings from 16 interviews and 3 focus groups looking at obstacles and motivations for the participation of women in politics, as well as possible solutions and supports.

The GuelphLab hosted 25 City of Guelph staff for discussions with Kurtis McBride, CEO of Miovision, a smart city technology company, and Dr. Rozita Dara, School of Computer Science, University of Guelph, about the possibilities and challenges of “Smart Cities.”

This report summarizes the findings from a needs assessment conducted for Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) of Waterloo Region, a non-profit organization offering restorative justice services. Through a focus group and individual interviews with members of various sectors, organizations and businesses, researchers collected information about the need for mediation services in Guelph-Wellington. The report also discusses possible obstacles to the implementation of such a service. 

Systems for faculty career advancement – including promotion, tenure, and professional development – have often not kept pace with changing faculty roles. They further have not met the demands of major funding agencies or the mandate that publicly funded research benefit all citizens. To address this topic, the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences and the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute hosted a 3-hour workshop on May 6th, 2016. This workshop guided participants on how to document and assess engaged scholarship and impact in the context of tenure and promotion application.

The Engaged Practitioner in Residence program creates a campus presence for a community expert, generating opportunities for them to contribute to student, faculty, staff, and community-partnered activities. Each Engaged Practitioner in Residence (EPR) brings their own knowledge and expertise to this role, allowing for maximum innovation, creativity, and reach across the University.

The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute hosted its second annual event on February 25, 2016. A total of 76 individuals representing 22 community organizations and groups joined us to explore the ways by which we can enhance and improve our community-university partnerships. The day consisted of two separate sessions, with the opportunity for all participants to meet and network over lunch.

This report reviews and compares five "peer parenting" models in place in Canada, focusing on their goals, strengths, limitations, resources, and approaches to volunteer training. It was produced to support the development of a volunteer peer parenting program by the Early Years program at the Guelph Community Health Centre.

This report was prepared for the Children's Foundation of Guelph and Wellington's Food & Friends Program. It shares the findings from an evaluation of student nutrition programs in Guelph, Wellington and Dufferin, which will be used to inform, support, and enhance programming moving forward. Specifically, it reports on interviews and surveys which examined the opinions and experiences of students using these programs, as well as of program coordinators, in order to better understand the value and benefits of universal nutrition programs.

This report was prepared for the Guelph-Wellington Poverty Taskforce to inform the creation of an ID Bank for homeless and vulnerable clients. It summarizes information gathered through interviews with with four ID banks in Ontario and provides an overview of the monetary, operational and logistical requirements needed to initiate and maintain an ID Bank.

This report explores practices and strategies that are used to design websites and social media marketing approaches for the purposes of fundraising. It reviews the literature on the subject to understand what brings individuals to donate, and identifies best practices for engaging donors and sharing success stories. It was prepared to inform decisions at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Guelph with respect to the design of fundraising websites and social media marketing approaches.

This report provides key findings from an online survey seeking to better understand the needs of the LGBTQ+ community of Guelph-Wellington. It was conducted as a component of a larger collaborative project at the University of Guelph involving the Research Shop, Out of the Shelf, and the Centre for Business and Student Entreprise (CBaSE).

This report explores the ways in which not-for-profit organizations serving the LGBTQ+ community deliver their services and programming, meet the needs of the community, and adapt to change and difficulties. It summarizes the findings from informational interviews with six not-for-profits across Canada in order to inform the decision-making processes of the Guelph-based organization Out on the Shelf as they undergo organizational restructuring.

This report was produced to help inform the sustainability planning of the North Wellington Coalition for Youth Resiliency over the long-term. It reviews the academic and grey literature regarding program sustainability practices, and shares some real-world examples of strategies that have been used to enhance the sustainability of programs. Finally, it provides some recommendations on which strategies may be most suited or useful for the Coalition, given its mandate and context.

This series of five fact sheets on learning disabilities was produced in collaboration with the United Way of Guelph Wellington Dufferin and the Learning Disabilities Association of Wellington County. It seeks to provide information on common learning disabilities, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia, as well as tips on how to help students who experience those challenges.

The rise of open access and open data publishing has increased the amount of research and data freely available online. However, finding this information and knowing how to access it can sometimes seem impossible.

Lindsey Thomson, our Community Engaged Learning Manager, and Mavis Morton and Jeji Varghese, professors in Sociology at the University of Guelph have been conducting research on student, community, and faculty perspectives of 4th-year and graduate-level community engaged learning experiences.

Starting in 2016, the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute has taken on a number research and knowledge mobilization projects to support the efforts of the Guelph-Wellington community to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment for immigrants in the context of the Syrian refugee crisis. These projects are part of our commitment to provide timely and engaged research supports, and leverage the University's research expertise for community benefit.

This report explores the contexts and emergent themes of food strategies that have been developed or are being developed in Canada, and how each theme pertains to the Guelph-Wellington context. It was created for the Policy Working Group of the Guelph-Wellington Food Round Table, who are currently developing a regional food strategy.

This report is a compilation of work conducted for 10 Carden in support of their ongoing expansion project. It identifies best practices and potential funding avenues for shared space/coworking organizations, and contains summaries of key documents related to social purpose real estate. It also provides insight on how several shared space/coworking organizations began and continued to operate through the results of several informational interviews.

One of a series of cases studies on rural social enterprises, this report shares information about the development, organizational model, successes, challenges, and outcomes of the Aron Theatre Co-Operative.

Prepared with community partners at the Guelph Community Health Centre, this literature review demonstrates why hope is critical in the treatment of individuals with complex needs and pinpoints the best practices and strategies for inspiring hope in these complex clients.

This report is a consolidated profile of the older adult (55+) community in Guelph organized based on the World Health Organization's Age-Friendly City Dimensions. It synthesizes local research and other sources of data to support the City of Guelph in a variety of activities related to priority setting, performance measurement and planning of public amenities, services, programs, and activities for older adults.

The City of Guelph is experimenting with different methods for developing policies, programs, and services. The City asked the Guelph lab to support a series of “Roundtables”. During Summer 2015, staff from Corporate Services and the Office of the CAO held a series of events to ask City staff about a range of challenges faced by the Corporation – from employee engagement to managing physical infrastructure (“assets”) and the City budget process. Teams are worked to address three of the eleven topics identified. Remaining topics will be addressed by future “tables.”

On February 11^th, 2015, CESI hosted a full-day event on community-engaged scholarship to explore themes of complex partnerships, research tensions, and how to structure engaged projects. Over 40 faculty, staff and students attended from various departments at the University of Guelph.

Prepared with community partners at the Guelph Community Health Centre, this literature review identifies promising practices that have been developed and used by community health centres, and other health and community organizations, to increase awareness of their activities and services in their communities.

This report reviews the evaluation mechanisms, including questions, indicators, and methods used to assess the effectiveness of community-based participatory research projects. It was produced to inform revisions to program evaluations led by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute and the Research Shop.

This report provides an overview of the existing literature and evaluations of student nutrition programs (SNPs) and highlights the outcomes, indicators, methods, and results of the evaluations. Conducted as part of a larger program evaluation of SNPs in Guelph-Wellington by Food and Friends, it also provides a summary of the benefits and challenges associated with offering student-wide nutrition programs.

Prepared for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy, this report explores clinical approaches in treating methamphetamine dependence, as well as the history of methamphetamine use and its effects on the body and mind. It is intended for use by frontline service providers and outlines suggested strategies to address dependency to the drug at various stages of the treatment process.

One of a series of rural social enterprise case studies, this report includes information about the development, organizational model, successes, challenges, and outcomes of the Fusion Youth Activity and Technology Centre.

The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute organized and hosted the workshop How to Build a Research Shop on May 26^th, 2015 at Algonquin College as a pre-conference workshop to the CUExpo.

Based on the results of three evaluation research workshops, this report outlines benefits of and barriers to expansion for the Ladies Who Lunch Program, run by the Centre Wellington Social Justice Group on behalf of the Centre Wellington Food Bank.

The Guelph Lab hosted a small group of City staff, University faculty and students to discuss “public innovation” with Jepser Christiansen. Jesper is Head of Research at MindLab, a Danish cross-governmental innovation unit that involves citizens and businesses in creating new solutions for society. Jesper discussed Mindlab’s work and the role of citizens in public sector innovation.

How can procurement be “open” and support innovation?

The City of Guelph’s information technology (IT) department asked the GuelphLab to support the design of alternative procurement processes that can unlock innovative technology solutions for the City and have the potential to create business development opportunities for companies working in “Civic Tech.”

This report is a review of existing literature on collaboration and community change and also contains an overview of models of collaboration and comprehensive community initiatives. It was compiled for Toward Common Ground, a large-scale community initiative, and builds on two previous reports from the Research Shop. 

This report provides an overview of the existing literature to help determine the impact of winter salt road run-off on the rivers, along with possible remediation methods. It was created for Wellington Water Watchers and explores alternatives to salt, community-engaged activities, and best management practices used in other communities that could be brought to Wellington County.

Toward Common Ground is a partnership of 12 organizations working together intentionally and strategically to respond to community needs. This Trillium-funded project builds on Guelph-Wellington's history of collaboration, providing a new structure for local health and social service agencies to work together in an integrated and coordinated way. This initiative weaves together the work of local agencies to gain a greater understanding of the gaps, needs, strengths, and change efforts in Guelph-Wellington.

This report reviews existing literature on compassion fatigue and its effect on caregivers. Prepared for Hospice Wellington, it seeks to enhance understanding of compassion fatigue in hospice and palliative care, and help identify and effectively manage its symptoms for the benefit of both clients and caregivers. An executive summary and toolkit accompany the full report.

One of a series of rural social enterprise case studies, this report includes information about the development, organizational model, successes, challenges and outcomes of the Willow Springs Creative Centre.

This report summarizes and analyzes the programming information available on "The Pod Knowledge Exchange" website. It was developed to contribute to the development of The Seed Community Food Hub in Guelph Wellington.

This report highlights findings from a mixed methods study of the experiences of eating at the Evergreen Seniors' Community Centre. It offers preliminary insight into the experience of communal dining for community-living older adults.

This report provides a compilation of working models, central concepts, and promising practices related to environmentally oriented community hubs, designed to assist planners of the Yorklands Green Hub.

This report presents Student Nutrition Programs (SNPs) in Ontario that have advanced certain aspects of the Healthy Kids Strategy (HKS) recommendations and/or pillars of the Local Food Act (LFA). The case study examples and common themes that are discussed in this report demonstrate how the HKS and LFA priorities could be advanced, as well as how decision-makers and funders could better enable and support such programs.

This report is a comprehensive review of the withdrawal management literature. It was compiled for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy (WGDS) in collaboration with various stakeholders in the Waterloo-Wellington region.

The City of Guelph’s 2014 Open Government Action Plan (attached below) was one of the first of its kind in Canada. The Guelph Lab hosted 30 City of Guelph staff and councillors to discuss Open Government – what it means, its history, and how it has (and hasn’t) been adopted across Canadian municipalities. 

Developed in collaboration with the Ontario Edible Education Network, this report explores the type of information and research that is available on food education in Ontario. It outlines detailed information in support of food education as well as suggestions on how to fill the gaps in research on impacts of food education.

This rapid response report is a bibliography of relevant scholarly resources on eco-poetry, eco-literary theory, Indigenous theory, philosophy, and other related topics at the University of Guelph. It was used to inform the poetry writing element of the ReMediate community art project.

This report explores leading practices of engaging university and college students in municipal government for the City of Guelph. It provides a review and summary of information gathered from the websites of Ontario municipalities.

This report provides a brief overview of a selection of the current literature surrounding congregate dining programs.

In 2014, Professor Mavis Morton lead a community engaged evaluation of the First Response Protocol through a community-university partnership between the Action Committee and the University of Guelph. It explored how well the First Response Protocol was working from the perspectives of service users and providers, as well as the successes and challenges of agencies in Guelph-Wellington responding to sexual assault and domestic violence.

This rapid response report is a scan of available resources related to the history of the Eastview Landfill site, including Indigenous histories of the land, settler relations to the land, and decisions regarding the use and closure of the Eastview site.

Prepared for the City of Guelph, this report reviews educational strategies used by municipalities and community-based organizations to further citizen understanding about civic processes and engagement opportunities.

Many academic products, such as peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations, are inaccessible because of discipline-specific jargon and paywalls. In response to this issue, the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute obtained OMAFRA funding and offered clear language writing training for students and staff at the University of Guelph. Trainees produced over 130 clear language research summaries between 2011 and 2013. These summaries translate academic research into accessible language, creating a description that is easy to understand for all knowledge users.

This report outlines a collaborative project between IMAGEO artworks, Musagetes, and the Research Shop, aimed at exploring 'What is in transition?' in Guelph using dance-based research.

This report was developed and completed by the Research Shop with the support of the Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination. This report explores furniture provision in Guelph and Wellington, the potential need for a Furniture Bank and propose recommendations for moving forward.

This report investigates solutions for an affordable multi-user document-sharing platform to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Local Food Systems Research Group.

This report, adapted from a presentation to the Guelph-Wellington Local Immigration Partnership (LIP), reviews major findings from the focus groups and interviews conducted by Guelph-Wellington LIP to understand the experiences of local immigrant entrepreneurs and provides key recommendations to better support local immigrant entrepreneurship.

Created in collaboration with the Organic Council of Ontario, this report examines existing research to compare the health benefits of organic versus conventional dairy products.

CESI has a longstanding relationship with Dr. Ajay Heble and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI).

Most recently, CESI provided support for IICSI's successful SSHRC Partnership Grant proposal. Awarded in 2013, this 7-year, 2.5 million dollar grant involves a research team comprised of 56 scholars from 19 different institutions and partners with over 30 community-based organizations. IICSI aims to create positive social change through the meeting of improvisational arts, innovative scholarship, and collaborative action.

Carried out for the Wellington-Guelph Drug Strategy, this report investigates services users' experiences of getting to withdrawal management (detox) services through thematic analysis of survey data.

This guide was completed as part of a collaborative project co-led with Sustain Ontario, and is aimed at educators or community organizers who are interested in helping connect children and youth to good food.

Created in collaboration with the Organic Council of Ontario, the underlying premise of this research is the hypothesis that organic farming methods can support healthy soil systems, which in turn, produce healthy food without reliance on chemical inputs.

This report was created in partnership with the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination (PTF), and examines the experiences and opinions of emergency food service users.

This report examines outcomes of integration in children services using a review of the grey and academic literature, as well as informational interviews conducted with four Ontario child welfare agencies.

Based on interviews with representatives from seven non-profit organizations in Canada supporting positive social change and/or social innovation, this report examines how these organizations work in innovative ways with respect to governance, membership, decision-making, and power sharing.

This report presents the results of a study on opportunities for farmer-food bank partnerships in Ontario. Carried out in collaboration with FarmStart, this study was undertaken in order to gain a better understanding of the current status of farmer-food bank relationships, and to identify key opportunities and challenges involved in building and strengthening partnerships.

On April 24^th, 2012, the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute hosted a poster session as a part of the meetings of the Canadian University Presidents' Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada in Guelph. There were 14 posters in total, highlighting collaborative projects led by community engaged scholars, students, and community organizations. 

Created in collaboration with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, this report examines the current state of food security work in Dufferin County, including active stakeholders and the nature of work being carried out.

Rapid response research contributed to a Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination research profile that examines different furniture bank models, the impacts of furniture banks, and the need for a furniture bank in Guelph and Wellington.

This rapid response report prepared for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy examines service providers' perspectives about barriers to clients “getting to withdrawal management services” and use of these services based on distance of client residence from the treatment facility.

Prepared in collaboration with FarmStart, this report focuses on settlement services for new Canadians in four municipalities in Ontario where there is significant potential for agricultural production: Durham Region, London and Middlesex County, Guelph and Wellington County, and Hamilton-Wentworth Region.

Prepared for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy, this rapid response report investigates the question of whether youth and adult addiction services should be integrated or separated. An annotated bibliography is appended to the report.

Rapid response research contributed to a Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination research profile that examines the use of public parks in low income neighbourhoods, including availability, types, and quality.

Prepared for the City of Guelph, this report and its appendices examine policies, frameworks, and tools for community engagement from municipalities across Canada, Australia, the U.K., and the U.S.A.

On May 15, 2012, Dr. Don Lenihan, Vice President, Engagement at the Public Policy Forum ran a workshop on “Rescuing Policy: a public policy forum seminar”, hosted by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute.

On November 9th, 2012, the Research Shop celebrated the many community and university partnerships developed over the last three years!

The posters were presented at the River Run Centre, where remarks highlighting the past three years of partnerships were given by university and community members. There were 26 posters, displaying a variety of topics and partnerships. Some of these topics included:

This report reviews considerations underlying efforts for collaboration and integration in the field of social services including models of engagement, integration frameworks and challenges to integration.

This report summarizes the findings of a mixed methods developmental evaluation of a virtual learning environment (VLE) pilot program.

This workshop was aimed at those interested in creating and running Science/Research Shops or other community-based research offices to link researchers with civil society research needs. The workshop was led by Science Shop directors Henk Mulder (Groningen University, The Netherlands) and Norbert Steinhaus (Bonn Science Shop, Germany), who work with Science Shops around the world, and Linda Hawkins from CESI/the Research Shop at the University of Guelph. 33 participants attended from 11 Canadian universities, 1 American university & 2 foundations. 

This rapid response research for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy addresses the ways in which programs and shelters in cities closer in size to Guelph manage harm reduction and/or needle exchange programs, as well as issues related to health and safety.

Based on a literature review, key informant interviews, and an online survey of collaboration needs and priorities among participating organizations, this report presents the highlights from the research findings, beginning with a definition of collaboration.

This review of the social science literature identifies successful and unsuccessful strategies for promoting community-level energy efficiency. It was conducted to identify best practices for promoting energy efficient behaviour at the community-level, as well as promoting recruitment/outreach to community-level energy efficiency programs.

This rapid response research brief for the Guelph Wellington Food Round Table provides a literature review and environmental scan of communication strategies used for promoting food security in Ontario, identifying methods that have been found to be useful.

This report presents the findings of a research team from the Research Shop on the emergency food service system in Guelph-Wellington. Strengths and weaknesses of the current system, local programs and services to improve food security, and best practices and new strategies in emergency food provision and food security are discussed.

This project emerged from ongoing conversations among a number of organizations in the Guelph-Wellington region about the nature of social planning and decision-making in our current complex web of networks. These conversations led to the development of a more structured partnership, the launch of several interconnected projects, and the joint submission of a proposal for funding called “Engaging for Change: Practicing Collaboration and Planning in Guelph-Wellington”.

This report discusses the process of integrating a sustainable food systems lens into Guelph's Official Plan. In partnership with the Guelph Wellington Food Roundtable, Research Shop interns conducted a literature review of sustainable and local food systems in order to gain a broader understanding of best practices in the policy realm. With these resources, a detailed set of policy updates were compiled and layered over the existing Official Plan framework (see Appendix I).

Partnership practices was a poster display of 52 posters in the old Quebec Street Mall, showcasing how the University of Guelph works with government, community, and industry to apply research knowledge and address social problems.

Research Shop interns developed and carried out an outreach campaign designed to help achieve a successful launch of Transition Guelph in the local community. This report outlines considerations underlying the campaign strategy, the campaign strategy itself, reflections on lessons learned, and recommendations for similar undertakings.

This short research brief was conducted for the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy Committee. Housing First is a strategy focusing on providing non-contingent housing to chronically homeless and the traditionally hard-to-house including individuals with mental illness and/or addictions. The following report outlines existing Housing First programs across the country, detailing their service delivery, depth and, where applicable, funding sources.

Together with the Healthy Communitites Ontario Fund, the Research Shop conducted a scan of the types of collaborations related to healthy communities that exist in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG). This comprehensive report provides insight into the current state of collaborations in WDG, including their key characteristics and strategic approaches, as well as an analysis of strengths and challenges of existing collaborations.

Resulting from a collaborative research project involving the Human Rights and Equity Office (HREO) at the University of Guelph and the Research Shop, this report examines the value of mentoring as a strategy for inclusion for racialized faculty members at Canadian universities.

The rapid response project gathered success stories from representatives of the working/action groups of the Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination. This report outlines the methodologies used in the project, summarizes the major themes that arose from the responses, and provides suggestions for the continued collection of this data in the future.

Rewarding CES was a self-funded partnership comprised of eight universities and an international organization that worked together to address university culture, policies, and practices to recognize and reward community engaged scholarship (CES).

In 2009, faculty members from the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS) at the University of Guelph were surveyed about their community-engaged activities. The survey resulted in a report which documents faculty involvement in community-engaged work and identifies important facilitators of engagement in research, teaching, and service. The report also offers ideas of successful practices which could be used to inform new initiatives intended to recognize and support community-engaged efforts.