Theme-Centered Research
The AJRC will house projects centered on specific research themes derived from regional community-articulated needs and priorities. Understanding that these issues require long-term collaborative work, our commitments in research are not semester-long nor time limited projects, but rather focal commitments and problems that we tackle piece-by-piece across time, projects, classrooms, and communities. Four themes have emerged through community discussions as our current focal points, often overlapping across projects.
Community Safety
Land Justice
Housing & Community Stability
Health Justice
Output and Deliverables
Our dedication to developing community research insists that our work be accessible to and actionable by the community through data deliverables that exceed the traditional academic model: open data repositories; digital public facing spaces, maps, and data dashboards; justice curricula for schools, workplaces, and governance; podcasts and media platforms; and so much more. We aim to provide a pipeline of research into and out of communities.
Research Support
The AJRC is dedicated to amplifying the reach of research for community, faculty, and students. Our goal is to funnel robust and world class research into clear deliverables and innovative solutions. We do so by bringing exemplary combinations of transdisciplinary faculty, students, and directly impacted community members together around the key problems in the region. We have in-house grant advising with grant and funding lists that support the mission of the AJRC, we facilitate IRB preparation for AJRL projects, we host public facing digital data repositories, and our curriculum specializes in on-the-ground community justice research experiences for students.
About Community Collaborative Research
Community collaborative research is based upon the participatory action research (PAR) model. PAR is a collective process of investigation, empowerment, and action. The people most affected by the problem of study are the key experts in their own experiences, present across the research process, investigating and analyzing the issues, and ultimately acting together to bring about meaningful, long-term solutions. PAR has an important legacy in the Appalachian South in the work of former UT sociologist John Gaventa and the legacy and ongoing work of civil rights icon Highlander Research and Education Center.
“It was my first time doing work for the university that felt like I was truly having an impact. Knoxville has given me so much and my time working with program professors and the rest of that team allowed me to start giving something back. Research had never felt so rewarding and I hope to continue being able to serve the Appalachian community for the remainder of my graduate and professional career.”
—Cole Green, MA student in Child and Family Studies