Section 8: Community Driven Research Days

Coming Soon!

Check back soon for a toolkit on considerations and how-tos for hosting community-driven research days.

Penn State CTSI believes that community-engaged research produces better health outcomes by encouraging collaboration between researchers and community partners throughout the research process. Community-engaged research prioritizes community needs by directly involving those who have a stake in improving health and providing opportunities to build strong foundations for community-academic partnerships. This section will provide a comprehensive background and resources on how to forge and sustain meaningful partnerships.

The community-engaged research team works to:

• Connect communities and research teams in partnerships that will translate research into policy and practice.

• Ensure communities can participate as full partners throughout the research lifecycle, are consulted for their research priorities, respected, valued and rewarded for collaborative activities.

• Foster successful university-community partnerships.

• Nurture opportunities for scientific discoveries.

• Develop community health coalitions.

One evidence-based approach to planting the seeds for successful community-academic partnerships is , which cultivate collaborations between partners with the overall goal of addressing health needs within a specific county. Community organization leaders and other partners are in the front seat, driving the discussion around pressing community health issues with researchers and clinicians, who work together towards innovative solutions. By identifying the community’s assets and challenges, researchers are better positioned to engage in a research agenda that is reflective of health gaps and places community partners at the center of the solution. While typically a one-day event, the planning and needs assessment performed within the community leading up to the CDRD is vital to authentic and impactful partnerships.