Producing Shared Discoveries

Abstract:

When academics and non-academics sit around the same table, exciting and new discoveries often arise! In this talk I draw upon my own extensive and unique set of experiences partnering with civic organisations in order to describe how these discoveries can emerge. Knowledge exchange resulting from participant observation, grant-writing collaborations, shared hypothesis generation and data collection, and co-led seminars and workshops are several of the many possible opportunities.

I also talk about how I’ve seen these interactions inform the actual day-to-day decision-making of many civic organisations as well as how they have shaped my own research trajectory. For example, my current work on how civic organisations empower citizens first developed after observing training sessions and interviewing civic leaders. Subsequently, my observations motivated new hypotheses, new data collection, and ultimately new strategies for empowerment that civic leaders now employ.

About the Speaker:

Adam Seth Levine is an Associate Professor of Government at Cornell University. He studies civic engagement. He is the author of several papers as well as a book entitled American Insecurity: Why Our Economic Fears Lead to Political Inaction, published by Princeton University Press in 2015. That book won the 2016 best book award from the American Political Science Association for a book using experimental methods to answer a substantively important question. In addition, in 2011 he won the E.E. Schattschneider award for the best dissertation on the study of American government. Finally, he is also the president and co-founder of research4impact, a nonprofit founded in 2017 that connects scholars and practitioners in order to solve important problems and answer meaningful questions.