Dr. Shauna MacKinnon is Professor and Chair, Department of Urban and Inner-City Studies at the University of Winnipeg, situated at Merchants Corner in Winnipeg’s North End. Dr. Mackinnon has conducted numerous studies related to public policy, poverty and inequality, typically utilizing a collaborative, community-based research approach. She is author of Decolonizing Employment: Aboriginal Inclusion in the Labour Market and editor of Practising Community Based Participatory Research Stories: Stories of Engagement, Empowerment, and Mobilization.
Dr. MacKinnon has been involved with the Manitoba Research Alliance [MRA] since 2003. In 2020, the MRA was awarded a 7-year, $2.5 million Social Science Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant for the community driven “Solutions to Poverty: Challenges and Possibilities” project. She succeeded her friend and mentor, Dr. John Loxley, as the Principal Investigator of the MRA after his passing in 2020. In addition to her academic work, MacKinnon is actively engaged in community-led social justice initiatives and political advocacy.
