CUP Collaborators
CUP Collaborators are a network of community and academic experts dedicated to community-engaged research.
With interdisciplinary expertise and cross-sectoral partnerships, CUP Collaborators work together to co-create community-driven projects that drive meaningful social impact.
The CUP Collaborator model
CUP Collaborators is the name of CUP’s research affiliate model. Our Collaborators have a “two-way street” relationship with CUP, meaning they provide various forms of support to promote CUP’s mission while benefitting from CUP’s networks, resources, and knowledge mobilization.
CUP Collaborators contribute to the following types of activities:
- Act as lead or co-lead on a project with CUP
- Contribute to funding proposals with CUP
- Supervise or co-supervise CUP students
- Build capacity for community-engaged research on campus
- Mobilize knowledge from CUP research projects
- Respond to requests for support through CUP Connect.
In turn, CUP Collaborators access benefits such as:
- Networking with community-engaged experts and partners, with opportunities to collaborate
- Letters of support from CUP to access funding
- Support in mobilizing research for practice, program, and policy impact
- Opportunities for student engagement
- Bi-monthly community of practice (CoP) sessions
To learn more about the CUP Collaborator model, see our Terms of Reference.
Collaborator Voices
Ozlem Cankaya
Associate Professor - MacEwan University, Department of Early Learning and Curriculum Studies
Being a CUP Collaborator has created opportunities to bridge research, community engagement, and knowledge mobilization. My initial collaboration with CUP around a play-focused workshop grew into an ongoing partnership that has strengthened my research program and community impact. CUP helped bring together researchers, educators, and community organizations to share evidence and perspectives on children’s play in accessible and practical ways. Our partnership also expanded through the StoryWalk initiative at MacEwan University, where CUP supported the evaluation of the project’s pilot phase.
Overall, my experience with CUP demonstrated the value of reciprocal partnerships in which research informs community practice and community perspective informs my research program.
Alexa Ferdinands
Assistant Professor - University of Alberta, Faculty of Agriculture, Life, and Environmental Sciences
Being a CUP Collaborator means being part of a research community that feels like home. It’s a community built on shared values and a commitment to meaningful community engagement. As an early career researcher who is building my research program, being a CUP Collaborator gives me access to a diverse network of researchers and community partners whom I can turn to for both methodological expertise and mentorship. It helps me feel like I’m part of a broader network that genuinely wants to see one another succeed.
When I was developing a SSHRC Partnership Grant, I included CUP as a collaborator because of their strong reputation and leadership in community-engaged research. CUP’s support strengthened my proposal and helped demonstrate a commitment to ethical community-engaged scholarship. More importantly, it laid the foundation for an ongoing relationship that continues to enrich my research through shared learning and opportunities to connect with others.
Roxanne Felix-Mah
Managing Partner - Social Impact Collective
The Social Impact Collective has built a relationship with CUP in which we have a mutual understanding of each other’s contexts, skillsets, and values. This relational approach provides grounding for co-thinking through complex issues, which is a big part of trying to address inequities in communities. When working on things like social policy, poverty, and community responses, you need colleagues to help you consider different implications and perspectives you haven’t seen before. These conversations require trust, depth, and shared values, rather than a transactional approach.
We love being a CUP Collaborator (and we think they love collaborating with us) because it offers a safe but productive space to think through new approaches to community-centred research, equity processes, and purposeful networking.
List of CUP Collaborators
CUP Collaborators come from diverse areas across the community and university. Here is a list of Collaborators currently affiliated with our centre:
| Name | Affiliation | Interests and specializations |
|---|---|---|
| Alexa Ferdinands | Assistant Professor - University of Alberta - Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences (ALES) | youth health, nutrition, school food programs, food environments, participatory research, qualitative methods |
| Bethan Kinglsey | Research Associate - Women and Children’s Health Research Institute (WCHRI) | women’s health, child health, knowledge translation, knowledge mobilization, qualitative research, program evaluation |
| Cheryl Shinkaruk | Manger (Programs and Project) - Edmonton Catholic School Division | youth wellbeing, wraparound services, newcomers, early learning, mental health |
| Claire Benny | Assistant Professor - University of Alberta - School of Public Health | social epidemiology, health inequities, injury prevention, vulnerable populations, community collaboration, qualitative methods |
| Elaine Hyshka | Associate Professor - University of Alberta - School of Public Health | substance use, homelessness, health inequities, public health, policy research, qualitative research, survey research |
| Emily Milne | Associate Professor - MacEwan University - Faculty of Arts and Science | education equity, sociology of education, policy, reconciliation, social inequality, qualitative research, knowledge mobilization |
| Geraldine Cahill | Director - UpSocial Canada | social innovation, facilitation, partnerships, community engagement, systems change, community engagement |
| Holly Mathias | Assistant Professor - University of Alberta - Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES) | family health, substance use, housing insecurity, caregiving, rural health, community-based research, health policy, knowledge mobilization, policy, mixed methods |
| Jeffrey Bisanz | Council for Early Learning and Care (CELC) | child development, early learning and child care, policy, statistics |
| Lori Sokoluk | Urban Indigenous Collaborative Network (UICN) | Indigenous studies, urban Indigenous community engagement, interdisciplinary community engagement, policy, community research |
| Mackenzie Martin | Assistant Professor - MacEwan University - Department of Early Learning and Curriculum Studies | program evaluation, implementation science, parenting programs, early years, intervention methods, policy, community-based research, global health |
| Maira Quintanilha | Principal Researcher - Quali Q Inc. | qualitative methods, research methodology, school partnerships |
| Mary-Frances Smith | Director - Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta (AECEA) | early childhood education, early learning and child care, workforce, policy, professional practice, community research, membership engagement |
| Melissa Tremblay | Associate Professor - University of Alberta - Faculty of Education | child psychology, early childhood, Indigenous families, Indigenous health, school mental health, program evaluation |
| Michelle Maroto | Professor - University of Alberta - Faculty of Arts (Department of Sociology) | social inequality, stratification, disability, employment discrimination, social class, policy, experiential learning |
| Natalia Rohatyn-Martin | Associate Professor - MacEwan University - Faculty of Health and Community Studies (Department of Health and Human Services) | inclusive education, deaf education, educator professional development, student wellbeing, accessibility, education research, mixed methods, social justice, disability |
| Nicole Glenn | Manager, Strategic Initiatives - PolicyWise for Children & Families | child and youth wellbeing, early learning and child care, youth mental health, labour market, workforce development, data systems |
| Ozlem Cankaya | Associate Professor - MacEwan University - Faculty of Health and Community Studies | cognitive development, early learning, literacy, play-based learning, STEM, development psychology, quantitative methods, knowledge mobilization, project management |
| Rob Buschmann | Manager, Impact Assessment - Edmonton Community Foundation | community-engaged research, public policy, nonprofits, philanthropy, foundations, mixed methods, quantitative methods, qualitative methods |
| Roxanne Felix-Mah & Ashima Sumaru-Jurf | Managing Partners - Social Impact Collective | equity, participatory research, community development, anti-oppressive practice, nonprofit capacity building, community-based methods, research translation |
| Sharlene Wolbeck Minke | Owner & Director - SWM Consulting Services Inc. | program evaluation, applied research public health, Indigenous communities, mixed methods, program evaluation, knowledge translation |
| Sherry Ann Chapman | Emeritus Professor - University of Alberta - Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences (Department of Human Ecology) | human ecology, experiential learning, ecological resilience, sustainability, community wellbeing, partnership development, practicum coordination, cross-sector collaboration |
| Tehseen Ladha | Associate Professor - University of Alberta - Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (Department of Pediatrics) | refugee health, health equity, EDI, social justice, public health, advocacy, health systems |
| Wendy Hoglund | Professor - University of Alberta - Faculty of Arts (Department of Psychology) | social-emotional development, marginalized youth, classroom interactions, academic learning, social and emotional learning (SEL), community-engaged research |
| Patrick Ndlovu | Assistant Professor - Concordia University of Edmonton - Faculty of Management | applied economics, labour market analysis, quantitative methods, income policies, economic conditions, social wellbeing, labour participation, program evaluation, knowledge mobilization |
| Pieter de Vos | Owner - Pieter de Vos Consulting | facilitation, public engagement, documentary photography, social innovation, human-centred design, ethnographic research, community organizing, strategic planning, change management, equity, affordable housing, opioid epidemic, narrative inquiry, evaluation |
Becoming a CUP Collaborator
We are looking for individuals who bring deep expertise in community-engaged and cross-sectoral work, a commitment to CUP’s values and ethical research practices, and a desire to collaborate to solve complex community challenges.
To learn more about becoming a CUP Collaborator, please write to us at cup@ualberta.ca.