1.) Conversations on Community Based Research: Engaging Communities with College Faculty and Students, May 8 & 9, 2008, Douglas College, Vancouver, BC

The historically rich relationships between communities and colleges and institutes provide the context for mutually beneficial research through
the practice of Community Based Research (CBR). Trends to engage faculty and students with the community through service learning and the desire
for many community organizations to identify their own research needs and seek research partnerships with colleges converge to enrich this practice.

With sponsorship from the Canadian Council of Learning through the Health and Learning Knowledge Centre, Douglas College will host a two-day symposium on college scholarship and community based research. CBR involves College and Institute partnerships with community groups for the purpose of research where there is shared responsibility for:

*identifying research problems,
*developing methods and applications,
*analyzing data and
*ownership of research products

Goals of the Symposium:

*Enrich participants understanding of Community Based Research
*Present exemplary work in CBR
*Provide networking opportunities for CBR practitioners
*Provide a forum to meet with agencies prepared to fund CBR

There will be four cross-cutting themes for the Symposium. Community Based Research related to:

*Health and Learning
*Social Justice and Gender
*CBR and service learning
*Sustainability and environmental issues

Proposals outside these themes are also welcome.

The symposium will be held in the new Health Sciences Building on the David Lam campus of Douglas College in Coquitlam BC. The event will be national in scope with presenters and participants from across Canada. It will serve as the context for the release of a recent national survey of CBR at Colleges and Institutes. The survey has been funded through the Health and Learning Knowledge Centre of the Canadian Council on Learning.  The symposium will also serve as the official launch of the new Centre for
Health and Community Partnerships on the David Lam campus.

For details, visit the web.

2.) 6th National Conference Public involvement in research: getting it right and making a difference',
November 11th and 12th 2008, East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, England

INVOLVE's national conference is an event for everyone who is interested in supporting and promoting public involvement in National Health Service, public health and social care research. This includes members of the public, service users, researchers, research commissioners and
representatives of voluntary sector organisations.

This year's conference will focus on what is happening now, as well as looking to the future. They are inviting presentations from people who
have knowledge and experience of public involvement in health and/or social care research.

They also hope that many of you will want to respond to this CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS and apply to present at one of the sessions. The choice of presentations will be decided by members of the INVOLVE conference planning group. They are inviting five different types of presentations:

Posters, Poster Talks, Papers, Workshops and Other approaches.

 
If you are interested in applying to make a conference presentation you may find the following documents useful, available here.

The closing date for applying to do a presentation is Monday 7th April 2008

Details here. 

"INVOLVE was established to promote public involvement in research, in order to improve the way that research is prioritised, commissioned,
undertaken, communicated and used. We believe that the active involvement of the public in the research process leads to research that is more
relevant to people and is more likely to be used. Research which reflects the needs and views of the public, is more likely to produce results that can be used to improve practice in health and social care."