Appalachian Justice Research Lab
The Appalachian Justice Research Lab (AJRL) is an interdisciplinary course designed to conduct and disseminate actionable research deliverables to Appalachian communities.
The AJRL is modeled on the structure of clinical legal education. As is the case in legal clinics, the project work conducted by students and faculty research teams is at the core of the curriculum. These teams work closely in and outside of class time with community partners in the co-creation of deliverables. The course runs each fall semester and is open to undergraduate, graduate, and law students in any discipline; students must apply and be selected in order to register.
The AJRL is made up of a 1-credit Lecture (JUST 460 or LAW 860) and a 3-credit Lab (JUST 461 or LAW 861) which run as co-requisites. Every fall semester a new group of faculty develop lab projects; the lab runs in sections, and each section houses one project. These faculty supervise the student research team in their section. The lecture is coordinated by the co-directors of the Appalachian Justice Research Center who, in collaboration with the semester’s faculty cohort, design the curriculum and deliver the AJRL. In the lecture, students will participate in the following activities:
Conceptual and Theoretical Modules
Students will study and discuss foundations in sociolegal and justice theories, concepts, and emergent debates. Every semester will launch with instruction around what community collaborative and participatory action research is and how it differs from other modes of research and engagement.
Skills Modules
In any given semester, projects will require methods and skill sets instruction on specific topics. For example, students may study oral history, legal research and reasoning, interviewing and focus groups, qualitative analysis, and archival research.
Rounds
All AJRL students, regardless of project team, will meet together regularly in AJRL rounds. During those sessions, student teams will present their work to each other and will engage the entire class in collaborative problem solving applicable to their ongoing work.
How to Apply
The 4-credit hour AJRL course is taught every fall semester, with applications opening the spring semester prior. Each fall, the AJRL encompasses 4-5 new research projects – which make up the course’s ‘lab sections’ – and are led by a multi-disciplinary cohort of scholars and community partners. Students apply to participate in the AJRL by completing an application and ranking their preferred lab section. If selected, students will be notified and assigned to one lab section.
Applications for the Fall 2026 Appalachian Justice Research Lab have CLOSED.
Applications for the Fall 2027 course will open in Spring 2027. Sign up for our mailing list and follow us on social media for updates. Email us at [email protected] with any questions.
Examples of Past AJRL Projects
Community Safety Interventions with ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ/Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Fall 2024
Project Description
In collaboration with co-researchers from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), students led by Michelle Brown (Sociology) developed a community safety toolkit focused on domestic violence risk assessment and intervention. The project examined organizational gaps, legal considerations, and best practices for creating a culturally responsive assessment tool grounded in the structural, legal, and cultural contexts of the EBCI.
As part of the project, students traveled to Cherokee, North Carolina, to participate in listening sessions with EBCI representatives, including behavioral health providers, legal professionals, and community advocates. Students also interviewed key actors involved in domestic violence cases, reviewed research on domestic violence risk assessment and violence intervention models, and conducted legal analysis related to tribal sovereignty, tribal law, and its intersections with U.S. law. In addition, the team worked closely with scholars, organizers, and survivors to identify promising practices in violence intervention.
This collective work resulted in an 88-page report that would serve as a foundation for developing a risk assessment tool for use in domestic violence arrests and prosecutions. The tool is currently nearing an implementation and evaluation phase. Through this work, students gained hands-on experience in community-engaged research, legal and policy analysis, qualitative interviewing, and applied research designed to support community safety.
Amplifying Rural Voices: Cultivating Community Vibrancy in Morgan County
Fall 2025
Project Description
What does community-engaged research actually look like? For eight students in the Fall 2025 Appalachian Justice Research Lab (AJRL), it meant spending a semester working alongside a rural Tennessee community to investigate a question that community members themselves identified as important to their future.
The Morgan County Vibrancy Group asked Janine Al-Aseer and Megan Mundie (Theory & Practice in Teacher Education and the Boyd Center for Community Schools) to help examine what influences whether young people choose to stay in, leave, or return to rural Morgan County. Rather than studying the research process only in the classroom, AJRL students became part of the research team, visiting the county and taking a hands-on approach to data collection. Throughout the semester, students traveled to Morgan County ten times, conducted structured listening sessions with educational leaders and community representatives, and facilitated discussions with young adults about their lived experiences, aspirations, and future trajectories. Back on campus, students worked together to analyze qualitative data, identify themes across participants’ experiences, and translate what they learned into findings and recommendations that could be useful to community partners.
The semester culminated in students presenting their work over a meal with more than 30 members of the Morgan County Vibrancy Group, giving them experience communicating research directly to the people it was intended to serve. Students also had the opportunity to present the research at the Southwestern Social Science Association Conference in April 2026. This resulted in amazing work to move our community partners forward but also provided students with lifelong friendships, connections to faculty and, of course, to the AJRC.