Building community connections

Over 100 students, staff, faculty, and local community partners recently came together to celebrate the university’s progress in advancing community-engaged research, teaching, and partnerships.

Bridging Campus and Community: Collaborating for Impact marked the official launch of the Queen’s Community Engagement Framework, a new institutional guide designed to strengthen collaboration across campus and with local, national, and global partners. The framework and related resources are available on the new Community Engagement website, offering tools and guidance to support meaningful partnerships.

Hosted by Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane and Michelle Searle, Special Advisor to the Principal on Community Engagement, the afternoon featured speakers, presentations, and discussions aimed at deepening relationships and identifying new opportunities.

“Community engagement is fundamental to how Queen’s contributes to a better future,” said Principal Deane. “This framework will help ensure that our partnerships continue to be grounded in mutual respect and trust, collaboration, reciprocity, and shared purpose.”

One of the goals of the Queen’s Strategy is to deepen the university’s commitment to community engagement. Guided by a vision of building respectful and mutually beneficial partnerships, students, staff, and faculty are working with local organizations and regional collaborators to address shared challenges. This is demonstrated by many initiatives connecting academic expertise with community priorities such as collaborative health projects, sustainability efforts, and educational partnerships. By listening to community needs and co-creating solutions, Queen’s fosters research that matters, learning that extends beyond the classroom, and partnerships that create lasting, positive change.

Principal Deane speaking at the Bridging Campus and Community event.

An interactive gallery walk was a highlight of the event, featuring poster displays that brought to life a range of the across disciplines. Examples include Garnet Families, a network of the Family Matters Research Group that supports defence and public safety personnel families by providing resources and a supportive community and Revved Up, a community-based exercise program for adults experiencing disability. Participants explored the initiatives addressing a range of topics, each demonstrating how collaboration between Queen’s and its community partners is having real-world impact.

"I've been fortunate enough to participate in multiple community engagement initiatives here at Queen’s and these have allowed me to work in and with community to answer questions that matter and get a much richer co-learning and co-research experience,” remarked graduate student Jennifer Thompson. “It is amazing to see the renewed commitment to formalizing and sustainably supporting these kinds of endeavours moving forward."

Discussion over a poster featured in the interactive gallery.

The gallery encouraged conversation, idea sharing, and new connections, showcasing the creativity and commitment driving community engagement at Queen’s.

“This event reflects the strength of partnerships that already exist between Queen’s and the many organizations, groups, and individuals who share our commitment to positive change,” said Dr. Searle. “While the framework may be new, our history of partnership is long and rich, working with community is a linking of what we value to how we act, and we look forward to building on this momentum as we put the framework into action.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Searle is leading the development of a Partnership Network to make collaboration easier and more visible, alongside expansion of the community engagement website as a shared hub of resources. Work is also underway on a Community Engagement Record for students to capture their involvement with communities through coursework, extracurriculars, and research, encouraging goal setting, reflection, and skill development. A new Community Engagement and Sustainable Development Goals course that connects learning with action is also forthcoming.