Research & advocacy program
Community-driven research for social transformation
Bridging Concordia’s research capacity with our partners’ advocacy efforts to advance social transformation.
About the Program
SHIFT’s Research and Advocacy Program (RAP) connects Concordia researchers with community partners to drive social change. We help researchers address community priorities, build collaborations, and turn research into actions that make a difference.
Our Fellowship program invites Concordia graduate students into a year-long collaboration with a Montréal community organization in a research project designed to serve the organization’s systems change goals.
Selected students work directly with community partners to understand their needs and create relevant research outputs that serve their work. At the same time, as a cohort, students participate in training and co-learning sessions to hone their capacity to conduct research that contributes meaningfully to social change work. Students also have access to SHIFT staff throughout their engagement for coaching and support.
How it works
The program has two phases.
Phase One: Groundwork
September 2025 - March 2026
Students are guided through the development of three sets of deliverables linked to their partner’s systems change goals:
- Power map
- Policy analysis
- Case studies
Phase Two: Activation
April - August 2026
Based on their work in Phase One, students develop and execute an "activation project” that supports their partner organization to put their findings to use. Examples include drafting public education materials, contributing to a campaign strategy, or creating presentations for community consultations.
DESTA Black Community Network
Strengthening employment assistance for individuals from the Black community who have been incarcerated or are about to be released
This project supports an awareness campaign aimed at expanding employment assistance for formerly incarcerated individuals and those soon to be released in Quebec, particularly within the Black community, through a community-managed pilot employment database. The research and awareness program fellow will use community-based research methodologies to document current barriers to access for DESTA members, understand the political landscape and power dynamics surrounding post-release employment opportunities, and analyze the development of similar pilot programs to inform DESTA's awareness strategy.
DESTA was founded in 2006 with a mandate to address systemic and personal barriers to employment, such as criminal records, housing, and lack of resources. DESTA's mission focuses on education, employability, and entrepreneurship.
Climate Justice Montreal: Beyond Fares
Turning existing popular support for free, expanded, and accessible transit into concrete wins
This project contributes to Climate Justice Montreal’s Free, Expanded, and Accessible Transit campaign. The SHIFT Research and Advocacy Program Fellow will play a pivotal role in the coalition’s project to catalyze existing popular support for the campaign into concrete wins.
Climate Justice Montreal is a group pursuing environmental and climate justice through education, mobilization and collective action in solidarity with directly affected communities. The organization strives to act in solidarity by using anti-oppression and decolonization principles, making decisions by non-hierarchical consensus—these values inform and ground their public transit campaign.
Centre Kapwa
Advocating for more equitable and culturally relevant mental health services for Filipinx youths
This project contributes to the Kapwa Centre’s advocacy for more equitable and culturally relevant mental health services for Filipinx youths within Quebec’s public system. The Research and Advocacy Program Fellow will use research the policy and power landscape around mental healthcare in Quebec, document current barriers to access, and analyze recent campaigns that have effectively moved the healthcare system to inform the Kapwa Centre’s entry into policy advocacy.
Centre Kapwa is a non-profit organization decolonizing Filipinx-Canadian diaspora mental health and wellness through art, movement, and conversations. Its mission is to unlearn, unite, and uplift.
Growing A.R.C. : Flourishing for All
Meeting the needs of neighbourhoods vulnerable to displacement through urban agriculture strategies
This project supports Growing A.R.C.’s call for Montreal’s urban agriculture and community garden strategy to better serve the needs of marginalized communities in neighbourhoods vulnerable to gentrification and displacement. The Research and Advocacy Program Fellow will examine the policy and power landscape around Montreal’s urban agriculture policies and funding decisions, document existing mismatch with the needs of marginalized communities (including cases of green gentrification) and analyze recent municipal green policies to inform Growing A.R.C.’s advocacy strategy.
As a self-described playground to activate, reciprocate, and cultivate relationships with earth and all beings, Growing A.R.C aims to increase biodiversity and strengthen ties with local natural resources.
Platform for the Self-determination of Racialized people in Research
Understanding ethics approval processes for by/for/with Black and racialized communities research projects
This project supports a campaign advocating accountable and community-driven ethics protocols for research projects led by and working with Black and racialized communities. The Research and Advocacy Program Fellow will help PSRR better understand the policies, practices, and decision framework on ethics approval processes within research councils specifically for by/for/with Black and racialized communities research projects. Additionally, the Fellow will analyze recent changes in research ethics protocols to inform the PSRR’s advocacy strategy.
The Platform for the Self-determination of Racialized People in Research (PSRR) creates collective spaces for those whose knowledge and lived experiences are often dismissed or invalidated in the research community, so they can come together, see themselves reflected in one another, and imagine new ways of doing things — together.
Welcome Haven: Family Reunification
Advocacy for decreasing timelines for family reunification for refugee claimants
This project contributes to Welcome Haven's policy advocacy efforts to reduce the timeline for family reunification for refugee claimants and asylum seekers in Canada. The Research and Advocacy Program Fellow will analyze the policy and power landscape around family reunification legislation in Canada and study recent policy shifts to inform an advocacy strategy for Welcome Haven.
The Welcome Haven Project is a community-based, participatory research project that brings regular psychosocial workshops to refugee claimant families in their communities in Montréal.
Brique par brique: Community Finance Knowledge Mobilization
Raising awareness about the transformative potential of community bonds in Quebec.
This research supports the impact and social activation campaign for a futurist documentary, produced using participatory methods, about community economic development. The project explores the history of social finance in Quebec, particularly lessons from local experiences with community bonds. The resulting video uses speculative approaches to explore future pathways for scaling up community bonds campaigns in Quebec. The research student works with the Brique par brique team to develop power maps, create targeted communications plans for the documentary, and support outreach to stakeholders for strategic screenings.
Brique par brique is a nonprofit organization founded in 2016 to respond innovatively to the need for affordable housing in the gentrifying and multicultural Parc-Extension neighbourhood. The organization raises community-based investments to fund the development of affordable housing and cultural spaces for residents facing systemic barriers.
Clark Street Reimagined: the JIA Foundation
Community-led housing and real estate for Montreal's Chinatown.
This research collaboration supports JIA Foundation's Clark Street Reimagined initiative by conducting a comprehensive overview of community-based real estate solutions including land trusts, community bonds, and real estate management co-ops.
Clark Street Reimagined is a community-led vision for housing and real estate in Montreal's Chinatown. The campaign focuses on three plots of land on Clark Street, which have been acquired by the City of Montreal with the intention of reselling to a community partner for developing non-market housing. In response to this opportunity, JIA Foundation launched Clark Street Reimagined to create a concept plan for a mixed-use housing project in collaboration with Chinatown residents, business owners, and non-profit organizations.
The research team will turn findings into community workshops on potential models for the Clark Street development. These sessions will provide space for neighbourhood stakeholders to offer input on JIA Foundation's proposal to the City.
Community Healing Days
Expanding access to alternative health services in Quebec.
This project supports Community Healing Days’ policy advocacy efforts for more equitable access to traditional therapy modalities within Quebec’s public system. The SHIFT Research and Advocacy Program Fellow will examine the policy and power landscape around healthcare in Quebec to inform an activation strategy for the research produced in Year 1 of Community Healing Days’ Research and Advocacy Program Fellowship.
Tkà:nios (It Grows)
A sovereign, sustainable agri-food hub for Kahnawá:ke.
The research collaboration is centered on the work of Tkà:nios, an intergenerational collective of Kahnawake community members working to reclaim traditional Haudenosaunee ways of life by nurturing local foodways and advancing food sovereignty. They are engaged in a collaboration with researchers from the Centre for Engineering in Society to develop technical plans for physical infrastructure (e.g. community kitchen, seed bank, learning pavilion) that will provide a long-term home for their work in Kahnawake.
Keep up with the Tkà:nios project
Plateau Pour Tous: Indigenous Support Work Project
Understanding municipal land use policies and processes to advocate for the Plateau's unhoused Indigenous population.
Plateau Pour Tous is an initiative of the Indigenous Support Work Project (ISWP), a small but tenacious team of Indigenous people supporting the Indigenous Street Community in the Plateau borough in Montreal. The mandate of ISWP is to centre and support the well-being of Indigenous people with lived experiences of homelessness through decolonial advocacy and revitalization practices.
Plateau Pour Tous is interested in understanding municipal land use policies and decision-making processes to inform their advocacy and engagement strategies. The project involves a literature review and case study development leading into a co-created strategy.
Fellows
Ateş Balsoy is a 3rd year undergraduate student at Concordia University specializing in Urban Planning and minoring in Human Environment at the Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment. His research interests include segregation, displacement, urban public policy, and social aspects of urban spaces. Before being the Research and Advocacy Program Fellow of Welcome Haven under the SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation, he worked at Welcome Haven in different positions from communication and outreach to data visualization since January 2024. During this time, he completed a research project on how the spatial locations of the federal temporary accommodation sites contribute to the urban experiences of asylum seekers. When not working on his research or studying for that next exam; you can find him doing ceramics, writing short stories, or scrapbooking.
Erykah Yasmine Kangbeya is a professional passionate about social justice who holds close the belief that policy shapes and structures people’s lives. After completing her studies in political science at York University, she is now pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy and Public Administration at Concordia University. Guided by the vision of creating more equitable communities, she seeks to leverage policy to build a better tomorrow for those who are most vulnerable in our societies. She has extensive experience leading socially responsible efforts across community, corporate, and academic settings. A fervent feminist, writer, and activist, she continues to deepen her expertise at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and community engagement.
Hope Moon is currently pursuing her Master’s in Geography, Urban, and Environmental Studies (MSc) at Concordia University. Interested in the intersections between climate change and social systems, her research focuses on Québec housing security in the context of flood risk and adaptation. Hope received a combined honours degree of Environmental Science and Contemporary Studies from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Hope has worked for environmental non-profits training citizens on municipal climate action and resilience, as well as various food justice collectives and student unions advocating for a liveable future for all.
Marbella Carlos (she/her) is a queer, first-generation Filipina, and Ph.D. student in the INDI program at Concordia University. She holds an MA in Creative Arts Therapies, and her SSHRC-funded graduate research introduced a critical framework for evaluating the therapeutic experiences of BIPOC art therapy clients. Her doctoral work continues to examine the intersections of identity, art, and healing through collaborative and culturally responsive approaches. As both researcher and practitioner, she integrates her background in creative arts therapies with community-based practices to advance equity and representation in therapeutic and artistic spaces.
Rebeca Esquivel is a second-year PhD student whose research focuses on climate change education within both formal and informal spaces in Quebec. She is particularly interested in identifying the supports that educators need to effectively take up this vital work, including professional development, resources, and community engagement. Rebeca's work explores different frameworks used to integrate climate change education into diverse educational settings in just and equitable ways.
Sarah Abou-Bakr is a PhD student in Communication Studies at Concordia University. Her research examines Islamophobia and intersectional oppression, focusing on the media representation of Black Muslim women. Alongside her studies, Sarah contributes to the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University and brings extensive experience in advocacy and public affairs. She has led initiatives with the National Council of Canadian Muslims and contributed to national policy as a Policy and Research Analyst at the Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. Based in Montreal, and as a mom of two, she aspires to bridge research and advocacy to challenge systemic Islamophobia and reshape representation of marginalized communities.
Frédérique Hébert-Mondragon is a current master's student at Concordia University completing her degree in Geography, Urban, and Environmental Studies (MSc). With a keen interest in the intricate relationships between human societies and their environments, she completed her honors undergrad degree in Urban Planning at Concordia. Her current work focuses on adaptive capacity in the context of Canadian real estate and aims to establish a baseline understanding of the capacity of residential developers in Canada to adapt to the ongoing climate shifts as well as their current role in designing and implementing adaptation measures.
Hear from a past fellow:
How do we work with SHIFT partners?
We work according to the needs of participating partners to support research and advocacy projects from conception to activation.
We can help with:
- developing research questions and scoping projects
- recruiting and remunerating research assistants
- engaging faculty members in your projects
- providing administrative and project management support
- accessing relevant training and coaching opportunities
- getting access to financial and in-kind support to activate research findings (e.g. develop campaigns, host events, engage with media).
Want to know more?
Meet the Concordia faculty members already applying their work to address community priorities and turning their research into actions that make a difference.
