RCDC II: Building capacity and Momentum for Community-Engaged Scholarship: Maximizing the Transformative Potential of Social Work Research

Research can have a variety of purposes. On one hand, research may attempt to build generalizable knowledge. On the other hand, research may attempt to solve a specific problem for a community. Community-engaged scholarship aims to understand or solve a specific problem or advance a specific cause for a specific group of people. Community engagement has long been at the heart of social work practice and research. Social work scholars have had a rich tradition of using community-engaged research and partnerships to respond to significant social issues that are considered to be important to the communities that they work with. Indeed, community-engaged scholarship and social work have a number of things in common, including centering the community in pursuing research, amplifying the voices of the marginalized and the oppressed, a commitment to social justice and social change, and partnership between higher education and the community (Dalavega, Lennon-Dearing, & Soifer, 2017). Noting the convergence of such values, social work scholars have rightfully called for community-engaged research to be considered the “signature research methodology of social work� (Dalavega et al., 2017).

Academic institutions have slowly started embracing the value of community-engaged research and partnerships, especially in response to a growing desire to remain relevant and under increasing pressure to clearly demonstrate their societal benefits while producing high-quality, high-impact scholarship. There have also been external incentives for institutions to develop more community-engaged educational and research platforms. For example, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, starting in 2015, initiated an elective process through which institutions could be classified as a community-engaged institution, a clear indication that community engagement is important to the assessment of academic institutions. However, despite the progress made, there are still a number of gaps that need to be addressed in order for community-engaged scholars to feel supported, such as an institutional culture and reward system that can nurture and sustain community-engaged scholars.

In contrast to traditional research, community-engaged research is more intensive and time-consuming and may not lead to the typical measures of productivity that institutions often rely on in making promotion and tenure decisions. Social work schools are uniquely positioned to be leaders in this area and model and document concrete tools and policies that can help contextualize the scholarly rigor and impact of community-engaged research. This roundtable will bring together a group of community-engaged scholars at various stages of their academic careers to talk about their experience with institutional practices and policies that have assisted or constrained them in their pursuit of community-engaged scholarship. Additionally, the roundtable discussion will be designed to yield actionable strategies that researchers can utilize to advocate for institutional support and recognition. By increasing the visibility and appreciation for community-engaged scholarship at all levels of the academy, social workers can help to maximize the transformative potential of community-engaged scholarship.