Reimaging the Public University: SFU’s CERi Puts Community at the Heart of Research in a new Five-Year Report

Media contact: Dr. Stuart Poyntz, CERi Scientific Director - spoyntz@sfu.ca SFU Community-Engaged Research Initiative www.sfu.ca/ceri

Simon Fraser University’s Community-Engaged Research Initiative (CERi) is celebrating five years of transforming how universities connect with the world. Based at 312 Main in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, CERi has become a hub where scholars, artists, and community organizers work side-by-side to confront issues such as climate inequity, housing precarity, and reconciliation. Our 5-Year Report documents the many accomplishments of this important institute that bridges the university and communities.

Over its first half-decade, CERi has supported hundreds of students, scholars, and community organizations through flexible research space, funding support, graduate training, and media production — all designed to mobilize academic knowledge into action.

Among CERi’s many achievements are:

— 312 Main Research Shop, which offers low or no-cost research services to local non-profits, providing access to academic resources and training to support community-driven projects.

— Quiet Alarm: A Review of CBC’s Climate Reporting, a research project conducted in collaboration with the Climate Emergency Unit aimed at improving the climate reporting of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation

— Indigenous Knowledge Research Exchange (in partnership with SFU’s Faculty of Environment), which matches community-identified knowledge needs and strengths with institutional research support, ensuring research directly benefits and empowers Indigenous communities.

— Horizons: Crises and Social Transformation, an international conference that drew over 200 researchers and community leaders together to explore new approaches to how community-engaged research and knowledge mobilization supports sustainable, inclusive and just futures.

CERi has also contributed to major national and international collaborations and a growing body of publications, including the openly available Community-Engaged Research Handbook Series and the edited volume, Critical Futures: Community-Engaged Research in a Time of Social Transformation (2025), now available open access from University of Toronto Press.

CERi’s approach to research is grounded in partnership and praxis — bringing academic and community knowledge together to understand and reimagine the conditions shaping our shared lives. It is

“Community-engaged research is not a single method — it’s a paradigm of ethical collaboration,” says Scientific Director Stuart Poyntz. “We’ve learned deeply from our

colleagues and community partners, whose leadership continues to shape our direction and deepen our responsibilities.”

BUILDING A CULTURE OF ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP

CERi is nurturing a new generation of community-engaged scholars and artists through its Researcher and Artist-in-Residence and Graduate Fellowship programs. Since 2020, these programs have supported nearly 100 practitioners with mentorship, funding, research space, and a collaborative environment rooted in reciprocity and real-world impact.

Residents and fellows work alongside communities to co-create projects that blend research, art, and lived experience:

“Five years in, SFU’s Community Engaged Research Initiative has shown what’s possible when respect, care, and accountability guide the work. These partnerships don’t just generate knowledge; they reshape how we imagine and build the future.” —Joseph M. Ssendikaddiwa, SFU CERi Fellow (Class of 2020) and Co-Founder of Black Central.

“SFU’s CERi through its 312 Main Research Shop enabled deeply valuable collaboration between a Métis graduate student researcher and multiple small and isolated Indigenous communities, to describe the impact of highly local, Indigenous-led libraries and learning centres.”— Gordon Yusko, Write to Read, Community Partner, SFU CERi 312 Research Shop 2025

"The research support Hastings Crossing BIA received from CERi provided powerful evidence for us to develop and implement policy for our unique business district."— Landon Hoyt, Hastings Crossing BIA, SFU CERi 312 Research Shop 20224

“It’s not about experts giving proclamations—it’s about representing who the community is.” — Khari Wendell McClelland, CERi Artist-in-Residence 2023 and Co-Author Facilitation for Community Transformation

“As we built this project [Indigenous Salmon Stream Caretaking] from the community up, I learned how to research with both my head and my heart,” — Kirsten Bradford, CERi Graduate Student Funding Program Recipient 2023

CERi has awarded more than $320,000 to support community-based projects, and $651,750 to support the research of more than 164 SFU faculty and graduate students since 2020.

One example is the South Vancouver Neighbourhood Equity Project, led by Professor Meg Holden in partnership with South Vancouver Neighbourhood House (SVNH). The research revealed inequities in access to services and resources and resulted in the South Vancouver & Marpole Neighbourhood Equity Report. Their findings equipped residents with the data and stories needed to push City Council in addressing systemic underfunding in South Vancouver.

“CERi’s story is proof that universities can be powerful allies in the movements for change and resilience already happening in our communities,” says Tara Mahoney, Research and Engagement Manager at SFU CERi.

The Graduate Fellowship Program alone has supported 79 students, including projects like Emily R. Blyth’s Community Voices: A Public Primer on News Reporting on Police Violence and her co-created Gallery Gachet exhibit on empathy and safety in media.

LOOKING AHEAD

As CERi enters its next five years, it will continue to expand opportunities to work alongside our university colleagues, Indigenous Nations, communities, and organizations to advance reconciliation and equity in research. CERi acknowledges the leadership of SFU’s Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, its Advisory Board, and the talented CERi staff whose creativity, care, and collaboration have been central to its success. You can view our Five-Year Report on our website.