As we all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day so there will be a little something special to stimulate conversation as you enjoy breakfast. You will be able to select a poster table if you so choose and be hosted by one of our poster presenters. As you dine, the presenter will provide an overview of the poster and from there the conversation can ebb and flow. This will be a great way to meet other delegates and learn about an important community campus partnership. Don’t skip breakfast!! During the rest of the conference the posters will be on display in the Community Square.

Vanessa Richards, born in Vancouver, has a social arts and facilitation practice that invites us to turn more often to each other than away. Her work focuses on creativity and participatory culture as central to civic and personal health. She earned an MPhil from Cardiff University and her poetry and critical works have been anthologized in the UK, Holland, United States and Canada. Richards is the founder and song leader for the Woodward’s Community Singers, a drop-in, no-cost, low-barrier choir, and Creative Together, a song based facilitation process. In April she started working with Vancouver's new centre for social and economic innovation, 312 Main as the Director of Community Engagement.

What is research, what is knowledge creation and who decides? These questions will animate a dynamic interview that highlights the shared issue and challenges as well as unique perspectives on what it means to do research between campus and community partners. Questions explored include: How do you engage in genuine community building and co-design when resources are limited? How prepared are communities to engage with universities? What are the benefits of community-based research protocols? What are the challenges of working with University Ethics Boards? What are some strategies to navigate power and privilege differentials, and what principles and practices support collaboration in the research space?

Laura Lynch (CBC Broadcast Journalist) has covered Canada and the world for more than 20 years. She has received many awards for her work, including the Nieman fellowship from Harvard University, a British Bar Association award for a two-part documentary series that aired on the BBC World Service, and recognition from Amnesty International, the Overseas Press Club in New York and the Gabriel awards. As a CBC correspondent based in London and Washington DC ., she covered stories that marked crucial moments in world history: the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath, the invasion of Afghanistan, the fallout in Pakistan, and the bombings of transport systems in London and Madrid. Laura also went undercover in Zimbabwe at a time when journalists were barred from the country, and has spent time in the Middle East, most recently in Syria and Iran.

Sarah Banks is co-director, Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (CSJCA) and Professor, School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, UK. She teaches and researches on professional ethics, community development and participatory research. She is involved in several participatory action research projects, including Imagine – connecting communities through research and work on predatory lending in low-income neighbourhoods. She has worked with community partners to develop ethical guidelines for participatory research, and is exploring different ways of working on ethical issues, including dilemmas cafés, Socratic dialogue and Forum Theatre. She is currently working on an edited book of cases about ethics in participatory research. Published books include: Critical Community Practice (Policy Press, 2007, with Butcher, Henderson and Robertson); Managing Community Practice (Policy Press, 2013, 2nd edition, edited with Butcher, Orton and Robertson); Ethics and Values in Social Work, 4th edn (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and Practising Social Work Ethics Around the World: Cases and Commentaries (Routledge, 2012, edited with Kirsten Nøhr). 

Gwen Point is the Chancellor of the University of the Fraser Valley and a respected Stó:lõ leader. Gwen has a long connection with the University of the Fraser Valley as an alumnus, a member of the Board of Governors, a faculty member, and an Aboriginal Curriculum Coordinator. In government, she served as BC’s Chatelaine. She also served in the Ministry of Education, Skills and Training, Aboriginal Services Branch, as the regional coordinator for the Fraser Valley, 1997–99, and for the Northeast and Northwest Regions, 1999–2000. She currently serves on the Board of the First Nation Education Steering Committee (formerly vice-president).

Norbert Steinhaus has been the coordinator and international contact point of LIVING KNOWLEDGE, the international Science Shop network, for the last 10 years. His focus is currently on a European co-operation for the development of tools and trainings for Responsible Research and Innovation, where he is the national hub coordinator. Norbert is also a member of the International Advisory Council of the Institute for Knowledge Mobilization. He has been in the community based research space since 1988. For more than 12 years he has been involved in international projects on training and mentoring Science Shops (TRAMS), citizen participation in science and technology (CIPAST) and Public Engagement in Research and Researchers Engaging with Society (PERARES). He has also coordinated an educational European project for primary schools and kindergartens, as well as SOUFFLEARNING, a project aimed at transfering innovation in training staff of subject matter experts.

Budd Hall is the Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education. He has made significant contributions to the University of Victoria as Professor of Community Development in the School of Public Administration, former Dean of the Faculty of Education, founding director of the University of Victoria Office of Community-based Research, and a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Global Studies. He has conducted both theoretical and practical work for almost 40 years in various aspects of community-based adult education and learning and participatory research in Nigeria, Tanzania, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Thailand, Yemen, Uganda, England, and the United States. As a member of the International Adult Education Hall of Fame, Budd was selected for the 2005 Canadian Bureau of International Education Innovation in International Education Award. He was granted an Honourary Doctorate by St. Francis Xavier University in 2011.

Al Richmond is the Executive Director of Community Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) and has over 25 years of experience in a career that has uniquely blended social work and public health to address racial and ethnic health disparities. As a founding member and past chair of the Community Based Public Health Caucus and the National Community Based Organization Network—both affiliated with the American Public Health Association (APHA)—he helped to foster effective partnerships focused on community-identified health concerns and to increase the number of community leaders actively involved in APHA. For the past three years, Al has played significant roles locally and nationally to advance community engagement in health research, in particular through the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program. In 2012, Al became the first community leader to serve as co-chair of the national CTSA Community Engagement Key Function Committee.