Research Advisory Committee

About the Research Advisory Committee

Mandate

The Research Advisory Committee is an ad hoc committee of the Canadian CED Network with an overall purpose to strengthen the Canadian CED Network's role in research and evaluation. Specifically, the committee will:

Share information about research opportunities
Suggest responses to research opportunities that advance the strategic objectives of the Network
Propose new research projects that advance the strategic objectives of the Network
Provide feedback on research activities carried out by the Network
Publicize and aid in the dissemination of research findings
Promote the Network's values and philosophy in research, including the engagement of members and practitioners in research activities wherever feasible, and respecting the resolution adopted at the Canadian CED Network's 2002 AGM ‘that the Canadian CED Network integrate a gender, race and ethnicity component in all its research and analysis.’

History

The Research Advisory Committee (RAC) was created in 2002 to provide advice to the Canadian CED Network’s first research project: the Profile of CED in Canada. This group included a mix of practitioners and academics who believed that there was a need for a body within the Canadian CED Network that might better support the research needs of the organization and its member groups. Although many sub-committees and staff of the Canadian CED Network had worked on various types of research projects, there was no continuing body that provided a link between research issues of the practitioners and more long-term academic projects or governments. Following the completion of the Profile of CED in Canada, RAC developed the terms of reference which outline the committee’s focus on building the evidence base for CED in Canada and evaluating CED issues. Their first in-person meeting took place over a working breakfast session at the National CED Conference in Trois Rivières, and is seen as the true beginning of the committee.

Over the past few years RAC has focused primarily on issues related to research being conducted on the Social Economy through Community University Research Alliances and on ways that projects are assessed or evaluated. A number of workshop sessions on evaluation have been held at recent National CED Conferences in Trois Rivières (2005), St. John's (2007) and Saskatoon (2008) and have been some of the most well attended and evaluated workshops at National CED Conferences.

Committee Members

Joy Emmanuel

Co-op Studies/CED Researcher and Consultant

Janette Leung

Get Connected

The Research Advisory Committee hosts a Google Group to share information that is open to anyone interested in CED and social economy research. Join the discussion!