COMBATTING POVERTY, HOMELESSNESS THROUGH EXPERT RESEARCH Dr. Naomi Nichols’s work drives social justice in the Peterborough community
Encampments in Peterborough’s Victoria Park
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hen Dr. Naomi Nichols ’97 researches social issues, she always tries to hire those with lived knowledge of these issues, including young people who have been involved in the drug trade, expelled from school or involved with child-welfare agencies, as well as those who’ve experienced homelessness. The Trent University biology and English graduate, now associate professor in Sociology and Canada research chair in CommunityPartnered Social Justice, says she values the expertise these participants bring to the table, which is different from, but just as important as, the expertise of other researchers, social
services managers, child-welfare directors and municipal councillors. “People with direct knowledge about a social issue have insights that are essential to the development of targeted, feasible, and effective strategies for alleviating the problems they face every day,” Professor Nichols says. Prof. Nichols’s social-justice research interests and activities reflect her collaborations and partnerships with community-based organizations, youth-serving institutions, and young people. Her research collaborators also include graduate students, researcher practitioners, community advocates and institutional partners.
Driving social change in Peterborough and beyond Since returning to Peterborough in 2020 to take up the Canada Research Chair position at Trent, Prof. Nichols has sought to drive social change in the local community, with research that often ends with several calls to action. She often serves as a social-justice issues spokesperson in the media; recently appearing on CBC Ontario Morning and in the Peterborough Examiner. She’s passionate about her research into youth inequality, poverty, and homelessness, and exploring the social, institutional and policy systems that produce conditions of inequity in the public sphere. Currently, this work
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