Note - this content is under construction as part of a workshop series this spring on developing a ‘handbook’ and set of norms and values for a research group. If you are interested in this initiative, please be in touch.

Vision for the TEST Lab

The Towards Equitable Sustainability Transitions Lab (the" “TEST” Lab) is a collaborative research practice that will conduct community-based transdisciplinary research that prioritizes accountable and reciprocal relationships with community partners on the frontlines of social and ecological change.

The TEST Lab has the primary goal of supporting just sustainabilities through transdisciplinary research. The Lab’s work is grounded in community relationships and takes place in short- and long-term collaborations for just sustainabilities.

The Lab’s members will come from different disciplines (primarily critical social sciences) and include trainees and students at different career stages (Undergraduate, Master’s, and eventually PhDs and Postdocs). It also extends to include collaborators from other disciplines, including the natural sciences. The TEST Lab prioritizes the use of visual social science research methods which incorporate videography and photography into the research and collaboration process wherever possible (see for example, Bowness et al., 2024).

The word “Lab” usually conjures up images of bright rooms with stainless steel equipment where scientists in labcoats conduct experiments. Increasingly, with larger social science research teams, and especially for teams with aspirations of collaborating with natural scientists, it’s common to refer to social science research groups as “Labs.” This is a Lab in the sense that it is a research team.

The TEST Lab is a “collaborative research practice” which suggests taking a disciplined approach (like “practices” in medicine or law, or the idea of “best practices”) but also combines the commitment to cultivate a shared, evolving space for learning (like a “Community of Practice”), but with a more formal set of goals and objectives (like a “Research Team”).  It is also more structured than a “research collective.” 

That being said, much of this work will be conducted in a physical office on campus, the Fostering Repair through Audio-visual Media and Engaged Scholarship Space (the “FRAMES” Space - under development).

We’re currently located at the Trent School of the Environment, in Room B316 in the Environmental Sciences Building and acknowledge that our work takes place on Michi Saagiig territory and the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig and Chippewa Nations, collectively known as the Williams Treaties First Nation, which include Alderville, Beausoleil, Curve Lake, Georgina Island, Hiawatha, Rama and Scugog Island First Nations.