Stories of Enacting Change in Knowledge Production: Attending to the Ethics of Community Based Research

Both within and outside academia, there is growing interest in research that seeks to engage communities. Increasingly, community based research is seen as a catalyst for social innovation, public policy improvements, and promotion of knowledge democracy whereby local knowledge is valued in building local solutions. While academics are required by their institutions and funders to submit their research proposals to a rigorous ethics review process, there is no such requirement for those outside of academia. As increasingly more research is being conducted by independent researchers, private consulting firms, government departments, and non-governmental organizations, concerns have arisen about the lack of access to a review process to ensure the ethical conduct of community based research in addition to more generalized support for those who engage in such projects, researchers and participants alike. To address this gap and to promote ethical standards for research being done on and with communities, the Community Research Ethics Office (CREO) was established in the Waterloo region in 2011 as an alternative entity to academic research boards. The twelve-member Board of Directors, which represents a model of university-community partnership, provides guidance, consultation, and formal ethics review for researchers and research participants concerned with the ethics of community based research. The purpose of this workshop is twofold: first, to share our story of the consultation and community research processes which led to the creation of CREO, as well as the evolution of the partnership which sustains it. And second, using this narrative as a touchstone, to engage participants in dialogue and exploration of the ethical dilemmas, tensions, and challenges which they have experienced and/or anticipate in their own community based research initiatives