(Re)Searching from within: arriving at a scholarly approach to social innovation in higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Office of Social Innovation undertakes transformative initiatives that challenge systemic issues and create a space to imagine alternative pathways and perspectives. Our team of staff, students, and faculty has undertaken an intentional process to reflect on these initiatives and elaborate a scholarly approach: one that enters into dialogue with existing scholarship and identifies potential avenues of further research. We explore the guiding principles, areas of research focus, and knowledge mobilization to identify the values and distinguishing features of our approach to social innovation. Guided by our commitment to collaboration and transformation, we identify four research areas of interest: systems thinking pedagogy, community engagement, challenging institutional boundaries in knowledge generation, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. We reflect on each and explore ideas and methods for future research. Finally, we examine how we share research findings, expanding our understanding of staff, students, and faculty as key actors. Our reflection highlights the importance of collaboration and the expanded networks of belonging in research partnerships and knowledge mobilization. This entails positioning ourselves within the broader framework of action research and working from a place that centres community, collaboration, and openness. .