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CRC Research Dialogues Series

CRC Research Dialogues Series

The WVU Center for Resilient Communities Research Dialogues Series welcomes community-engaged scholars to share insights on their approaches, orientations, and efforts to generate knowledge and contribute to social transformation. Our intention is to elevate conversations on key concepts and methodologies used by community engaged scholars while fostering an uplifting atmosphere. All dialogues will take place Wednesday 12:00-1:30pm. Participants should join 5 minutes before start time. All speakers will present virtually. Viewers can tune in via Zoom or in-person at the CRC. Zoom details will be provided to registered participants.

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CRC Research Dialogues Series Spring 2026

February 18, 2026

Ethnography and Engaged Research: From Fieldnotes to Frontlines

Dr. Daniel Renfrew (WVU) and Dr. Maria Perez (WVU) reflect on the ethical and methodological power of ethnography. Drawing on their deep experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, they trace how fieldnotes, interviews, observation, and long-term immersion can traverse public scholarship and environmental struggles while remaining accountable to communities, collaborators, and the situated politics of knowledge and scientific practice.

February 25, 2026

Building Flood Resilience through Community-Engaged Research

Dr. Jamie Shinn (SUNY ESF) and Dr. Aaron Maxwell, Dr. Behrang Bidadian, and Annie Mahmoudi (WVU / WVGISTC) reflect on a mixed-methods, community-engaged research project— the first systematic investigation of lessons learned from the 2016 floods in Greenbrier County, WV — using surveys, focus groups, and participatory GIS to produce community-informed flood-risk mapping and locally identified recommendations for strengthening resilience in rural, high-risk flood contexts.

March 4, 2026

Power, Just Transition and Community-Engaged Research in Appalachia

Dr. Gabe Schwartzman (UTenn) reflects on power, just transition, and community-engaged research in Appalachia, examining how struggles over energy, environments, land, and livelihoods shape possibilities for democratic participation and place-based transformation in the region.

March 11, 2026

Solidarity Cities: Mapping Economic Diversity in the United States

Dr. Marianna Pavlovskaya (CUNY) reflects on her co-authored book Solidarity Cities which examines how municipal movements, migrant justice organizing, and place-based solidarities reimagine urban economic governance, belonging, and democracy from below.

February 18, 2026

Transforming School Meals: Gender Labor, and Research in the Lunchroom

Dr. Jennifer Gaddis (UWisc) reflects on the everyday politics of school meals, drawing on research in lunchrooms to examine how gendered labor, care work, and institutional power shape school food, and how engaged scholarship can illuminate possibilities for transforming public schools and food systems alike.