I believe in the transformative potential of community driven research.
Under the direction of Dr Brittany Luby at the University of Guelph, I am working on a project that aims to equip Indigenous nations and communities to demand better from the Academy and engage in research partnerships on their own terms. The First Nations Guide to the University will help make the inner workings of academia accessible to community leaders and advocates so that they can negotiate and interface more successfully with researchers and research institutions. By addressing knowledge barriers and sharing struggles, strategies, and lessons, the guide hopes to make more equitable, collaborative, radical, and genuinely community driven research possible.
The First Nations Guide to the University
I volunteer with the organization Research for the Front Lines, which offers pro bono research to movements fighting extractive, colonial capitalism and promoting just, flourishing alternatives. RFL tries to meet the research needs of front line communities and organizers, making clear the connections between knowledge creation and liberatory struggle.
Research for the Front Lines
For years, I worked as a research coordinator at the Women and HIV Research Program at Women’s College Research Institute. I brought critical feminist and anti-oppressive frameworks to the team, and supported the development of CHIWOS, a Canada-wide, community based research project on HIV and women’s health that was oriented towards policy change, accessible knowledge dissemination, and improved services for women living with HIV.
I gained skills in community-based research administration and coordination, and a robust understanding of how sexism & patriarchy, homophobia & transphobia, racism & anti-Blackness, the stigmatization & criminalization of drug use & sex work, poverty, and more, impact the health and well-being of women living with HIV and their wider communities. Community based research that takes directions from impacted communities can be part of the fight for a world in which everyone has the freedom, resources, and supports to survive and thrive.
The Women and HIV Research Program
“‘I just didn't think they would because of my status’: Experiences of people with HIV within the Ontario adoption system,” Underhill, A., Kennedy, V. L., Lewis, J., & Loutfy, M. R. Adoption Quarterly. (2020)
“Cohort Profile: The Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS),” Mona Loutfy, Alexandra de Pokomandy, Logan Kennedy, Allison Carter, Nadia O’Brien, Karene Proulx-Boucher, Erin Ding, Johanna Lewis, Valerie Nicholson, Kerrigan Beaver, Saara Greene, Wangari Tharao, Anita Benoit, on behalf of the CHIWOS research team. PLOS One. (2017)
“Envisioning Women-Centred HIV Care: Perspectives from Women Living with HIV in Canada.” Nadia O’Brien, Saara Greene, Allison Carter, Johanna Lewis, Valerie Nicholson, Gladys Kwaramba, Brigitte Ménard B, Elaina Kaufman, Nourane Ennabil, Neil Andersson, Mona Loutfy, Alexandra de Pokomandy, Angela Kaida, and the CHIWOS Research Team. Women’s Health Issues. (2017)
“Establishing the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS): Operationalizing Community-based Research in a Large National Quantitative Study.” Mona Loutfy, Saara Greene, V. Logan Kennedy, Johanna Lewis, Jamie Thomas-Pavenal, Travel Conway, Alexandra de Pokomandy, Nadia O’Brien, Allison Carter, Wangari Tharao, Valerie Nicholson, Kerrigan Beaver, Danièle Dubuc, Jacqueline Gahagan, Karène Proulx-Boucher, Robert S. Hogg, Angela Kaida, on behalf of the CHIWOS Research Team. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 16:101. (2016)
“Assessing access for prospective parents living with HIV: An environmental scan of Ontario’s adoption agencies.” Angela Underhill, V Logan Kennedy, Johanna Lewis, Lori Ross, and Mona Loutfy. AIDS Care. 28: 10. (2016)
“’Hear(ing) New Voices’: Peer Reflections from Community-Based Survey Development with Women Living with HIV.” Kira Abelsohn, Anita C Benoit, Tracey Conway, Lynne Cioppa, Stephanie Smith, Gladys Kwaramba, Johanna Lewis, Valerie Nicholson, Nadia O’Brien, Allison Carter, Jayson Shurgold, Angela Kaida, Alexnadra de Pokomandy, and Mona Loutfy. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action 9: 4. (2015)