Horizons Conference: Crisis and Social Transformation in Community-engaged Research

Horizons offers a space to explore the history and future of community-engaged research (CER). At the broadest level, community-engaged research (CER) is a form of praxis, an exercise in knowledge generation and epistemic justice that weaves theory and academic knowledge with the world through collaboration with communities in ways that aim to understand, analyze, reimagine and change the conditions governing our lives.

We are living through one of the most disruptive and transformative eras in living memory, a period when war, health, environmental, social and political crises are challenging our ability to care for each other and imagine a common future. It is a time when these same crises have brought into stark contrast the immense concentration of power and privilege in the hands of the few and the dangers and inequities this poses for many.

In this context, community-engaged research and knowledge mobilization that supports sustainable, inclusive and just futures are more urgent than ever. It is in this spirit that Horizons brings together community and university-based researchers, artists, students, and others to share work that responds to the crises now before us. Our vision is to offer an inclusive and welcoming space for those working in community research, to gather together those who aim to create a world beyond the crises we face today, a world on the horizon that we can dream together, into a new reality for all.