This fall, Da Hood Talks Entertainment is taking over Collaborative Café to host a three-part series about ethical community engagement in research. The first two candid discussions requests that researchers sit back and hear directly from community members about harms caused by academic institutions, which have minimized community expertise and decentered research aims to help. The third event in this series will invite researchers to ask questions about ethical and effective community engagement in research, share challenges in putting community relationship-building principles into action, and collaborate around solutions. Attendees should be prepared to actively listen, examine their own role in distrust created by these systems, and identify ways each of us can move beyond good intentions to build better relationships.

This third event in the series invites faculty and staff attendees back for an open dialogue that supports putting principles of authentic partnership into action. After self-reflecting on the lessons learned in the first two series events, researchers can bring challenges to the table for feedback and brainstorming. The informal discussion space provides dedicated time for researchers to work through questions about accountability, methods of engaging with community, and institutional, systemic, and knowledge junctures that get in the way of productive community engagement and community-academic partnerships.

About Collaborative Café

The Center for Community Health Partnership & Research at the Institute for Public Health and Institute of Clinical & Translational Sciences regularly hosts an informal, discussion-based event called Collaborative Café. Cafés offer opportunities for researchers and community partners to network, share experiences, and learn from each other about community-engaged research. 

Please reach out to meaghan@wustl.edu with any questions!

Learning objectives  

Attendees will:  

• Share their challenges in engaging Black individuals in research or in developing community-academic research partnerships
• Brainstorm strategies and solutions to specific junctures
• Learn from the experiences, challenges, and insights of other participants

Attendance

The third event in the Collaborative Cafe series will take place in the Doll & Hill Room on the second floor of the Taylor Avenue Building. The event is open to all faculty and researchers at WashU seeking to genuinely understand community perceptions of research and to strengthen community engagement in their own work.

Lunch will be provided. Please register to attend.