Back in February, you may have seen the announcement that Food Secure Canada (FSC) won a government contract to coordinate a Northern Food Systems Study funded by the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).

Typically, government contracts are given to academic institutions rather than community organizations, which makes this announcement stand out. We asked Amanda Wilson, Coordinator of Policy and Community-Academic Engagement for Food Secure Canada, what motivated them to respond to this call for proposals.

FSC motivated to expand community-academic collaborations

According to Wilson, there were a few reasons that drove FSC to bid on this contract.

©The Arctic Institute of Community-Based Research, 2017.

First, the research contract would help FSC further their work around Northern food insecurity, an issue they’ve worked on before as part of their (FSC co-hosts this with the Arctic Institute of Community Based Research-AICBR).

Second, the research contract would advance FSC’s work in building community-academic collaborations and allow FSC to help prioritize community needs.

“As a result of our work with CFICE, we’ve been thinking about, and reflecting on, how Food Secure Canada can broker and better support community-academic collaborations within the food movement and food sector,” says Wilson.

Through the contract, FSC has been able to coordinate a strong research team of Northern community organizations such as the Arctic Institute of Community Based Research, Ecology North and the Northern Farm Training Institute, and academics experienced in Northern and Sustainable Food Systems.

Members and supporters of Ecology North. ©Bill Braden, 2012.

“FSC was in a unique position to coordinate this study in a way that would put the needs and perspectives of the community front and centre,” says Wilson.

Finally, the INAC project strongly aligned with FSC’s initiatives, one of which is “to build the capacity of the food movement to engage in public advocacy.” Since the contract had a strong focus on developing policy and program recommendations, it provided an opportunity for FSC’s academic research and analysis to be brought directly into the public policy and advocacy realm.

FSC’s strengths fit INAC’s evaluation criteria

As mentioned before, a government granting this sort of contract to a community organization is not common. However, when FSC saw the evaluation criteria for the Call for Proposals, they felt they would be a great fit to carry out the study.

Masterclasses taught at the Northern Farm Training Institute. ©NFTI

The proposal was geared to be evaluated on the basis of applicants’ academic orientation, which is common for government contracts. Wilson suggested that FSC’s proposal was attractive to INAC because, “we were able to put together an impressive academic team, while also proposing community-based research methods that would bring in the voices and perspectives of Northerners themselves.”

During the application process, INAC representatives indicated they were not looking for community consultation or engagement as part of the study. However, FSC kept community consultation as part of their application. As Wilson notes, “Community-academic collaboration and community-based research are valuable data collection and analysis strategies.”

FSC shares tips for other community organizations to bid on contracts

When asked if other community organizations should try to take advantage of government Calls for Proposals, Wilson provided some helpful tips.

She highlighted that a major precondition for FSC being able to take advantage of this funding opportunity was their capacity to build and coordinate community-academic collaboration, specifically through their involvement in CFICE and the MITACS Postdoctoral funding. Wilson emphasized the importance of building strong, and mutually beneficial relationships with academics if you are interested in harnessing these opportunities.

Another key pre-condition to FSC being ideal for this funding was their strong relationships with organizational members and partners in the North.

“We didn’t want this to be another academic study where a bunch of academic researchers from the South did a bunch of research on the North,” Wilson explained. “We wanted to work with community organizations in the North to synthesize research reflecting their experiences as well as community knowledge and to co-develop policy and program recommendations to support their work moving forward.”

After hearing about Food Secure Canada’s successful response to this Call for Proposals, do you think your community organization will seek a government contract? Let us know in the comment section below!

Engaging in community-first campus-community engagement (CCE) is an opportune way for faculty to achieve their goals as researchers and teachers. Charles Levkoe, an academic co-lead for CFICE’s CCE Brokering Working Group and Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at Lakehead University, offers a good example of what can be accomplished with a community-first approach.

Listen to the podcast below, or continue scrolling to read the full story! Download a PDF of the podcast transcript.

Prior to entering academia, Charles worked in several community organizations, including non-profits and an agroecological farm. This activity was highly rewarding but also demanding. One of the biggest challenges however, was not having the time to ask the bigger questions about ‘why we do what we do’.

These bigger questions, in part, are what led Charles to pursue a career in academia. His passion for and experience working as part of various community organizations are what gave him the motivation and skills to put community first when engaging with communities from the other side of the community-campus engagement partnership. According to Charles, being community-first is all about maintaining a close relationship between professors and community partners that is ultimately mutually advantageous.

Charles has had the opportunity to take a community-first approach to all of his research, focusing on the needs and interests of the community. This approach is often extremely demanding; however, if done correctly, it can lead to greater impact. Being community-first allows both parties to build lasting partnerships, which can extend far beyond the short-term intentions of the initial research initiatives.

Being involved with CFICE has also helped Charles’s work as an academic. As an early career academic, CFICE has given legitimacy to his craft.

“With academia, you are often driven to address social needs,” explains Charles. “CFICE has given me the legitimacy to be able to say that this work means something, that it is valuable.”

Furthermore, the connections coming out of CFICE have provided a powerful network that helps Charles further drive community-first engagement.

Food Secure Canada team in 2016. ©Abra Brynne

An example of successful community-first practices in action can be seen with recent Canadian national food policy work. Charles led a team that worked closely with Food Secure Canada to help engage civil society contributions towards a national food policy to help support a healthier, more just and sustainable food system.

According to Charles, the community-first collaboration between community and academia has had a big impact on the project’s success. “Collectively, we have a lot of opportunity to move the needle on some of these issues.”

As for how other faculty members could take that first step in becoming community-first in their engagement efforts, Charles suggests starting with an issue that sparks passion within. “Being community-first is a serious time commitment, but it can be very rewarding. Take some time to think about how you can have an impact, what your interests are, and the skills you can mobilize. It’s not just a short-term endeavor, but something made up of longer-term relationships. It is all about working together to make a collective impact.”

Become more community-first!

To learn more about how to make your work more community-first, check out our list of actions for all community-campus engagement practitioners!

Podcast Sound Clips used under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0:

(Also Credit Mike Koenig)

Are you an avid researcher hoping to showcase your work? Are you involved with a community project? Are you looking for a way to ensure that you get credit for your research? ORCID can help!

What is ORCID?

ORCID is a service that is growing in popularity within the research community. ORCID stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID and is an alphanumeric identifier that uniquely connects authors and contributors to their research, scholarship, and innovation.

ORCID itself is a not-for-profit organization that aims to eliminate the name ambiguity faced by many researchers and contributors. By supplying everyone with a unique ID, ORCID allows you to get credit for your work without having to worry about the other researcher also named Jane or John Doe.

ORCID creates a comprehensive profile for you and your research efforts. It collects biographical details, your educational background, employment background, funding information, and a database of your works.

How ORCID can help you?

Signing up for ORCID is as easy as entering your name, email, and password; but why should you start this process? ORCID has many benefits to you as a researcher, as well as to the way your research is shared on a global scale.

First and foremost, the ORCID identifier will last the lifetime of your research career and beyond. These unique identifiers are used to maintain a transparent and trustworthy connection between you the researcher, your contributions, and academic projects you may participate in. It is used in conjunction with your name to enforce your tie to your work.

Additionally, the ORCID infrastructure brings the researchers together by helping to maintain connections. Have you ever had to switch institutions or community organizations? Chances are you may have lost your work email, making staying in touch with your colleagues that much harder. ORCID, if you allow it, can share your most up to date email with your network making staying in touch a breeze.

Furthermore, ORCID is becoming integrated into the world of research through journals, grant applications, and institutions. Already, over 3,000 journals have begun to require the use of the ORCID identifier, and some American funders have already integrated ORCID into their grant applications. And this is a good thing for busy researchers. The information ORCID holds will help save you time. Rather than filling out countless forms, simply attach your ORCID identifier when registering for journal submissions, funding applications, and institutional identification and ORCID will share your past research efforts with one swift move.

And ORCID is not just for academics


ORCID provides a platform to store your research, scholarship, and innovation; however, this is not limited to university-affiliated academics. ORCID helps all individuals archive and track their projects. Community members across all fields, especially those working in community-campus engagement (CCE), could benefit just as much from having a platform to document their efforts. ORCID’s approach creates an environment that encourages information and research findings to be shared not only across borders, but also across fields. From a CCE perspective, ORCID is especially beneficial as it helps to further connect community partners with academics.

Why should you embrace ORCID?

Overall, ORCID is an innovative concept that aims to provide a platform to connect research internationally. Research involves the “the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions”. ORCID increases the pool of investigable materials by allowing research to reliably be shared across disciplines, borders, and time. With over 4,000,000 registrants to date, ORCID is growing into a necessary tool for any researcher hoping to further their research initiatives and share their findings.

If you are interested in creating an ORCID identifier, check out their website: