It is not uncommon to meet researchers who are also activists in their own field, due to their desire to encourage social change and their desire to meaningfully engage with socio-political environments to solve a problem (Sharkey et al., 2019). While research on the positionality of the researcher-activist has been amply developed, literature on how advocacy and research can inspire each other to deliver positive change has not been explored. How can the gap between research and advocacy be bridged? How can these two fields work together to strengthen the human infrastructure of cycling? Why and how should academic language be translated into everyday discourse to foster social awareness and bolster political will for transforming our cities?

This workshop aims to answer these questions by building a framework that will explore the tensions, synergies and strenghts that can arise from the collaboration of activists and researchers.

Source:

Sharkey, M., Lopez Franco, M., Mottee, L. K., & Scaffidi, F. (2019). Activist Researchers: Four Cases of Affecting Change. plaNext–Next Generation Planning, 8, 10-20. https://doi.org/10.24306/plnxt/42