Participatory Action Research Workshop
Learn the fundamentals of PAR and develop practical skills to drive meaningful change.
New dates coming soon.
Want to bring PAR Workshop to your organization?
Participatory Action Research Workshop
Learn the fundamentals of PAR with The Regenerative School.
Develop practical skills to drive meaningful change.
New dates coming soon.
Want to bring PAR Workshop to your organization?
What is PAR?
PAR is a co-constructed approach to research which works with communities and marginal groups to create action and change based on their deep knowledge and capacity for analysis.
Sponsored by the Regenerative School, in partnership with the Highlander Research and Education Center, this 5-day workshop will provide an intensive grounding in the theory and practice of participatory action research (PAR).
What is PAR?
PAR is a co-constructed approach to research which works with communities and marginal groups to create action and change based on their deep knowledge and capacity for analysis.
Sponsored by the Regenerative School, in partnership with the Highlander Research and Education Center, this 5-day workshop will provide an intensive grounding in the theory and practice of participatory action research (PAR).
Who is this workshop for?
This is an introductory course on PAR with an emphasis on responding to the current moment in the United States.
It is a welcoming space for learning for various kinds of change leaders, including: movement organizers, community leaders, non-profit folks, university staff and academics, as well as independent researchers. Previous research experience is welcomed and appreciated, but not required or necessary.
PAR 2024 Workshop
Conceptual and historical origins of PAR
Key sessions include:
Recognizing multiple paradigms of knowledge in research
Reconceptualizing power in research
Participatory methods for generating data
Techniques for collective analysis and sensemaking
With support from Skip, Ashlei and your colleagues in the group, you will also explore ideas for what a PAR inquiry on your campus or in your community could look like and where to start those conversations.
Measuring learning and change in PAR
Key sessions include:
Conceptual and historical origins of PAR
Recognizing multiple paradigms of knowledge in research
Reconceptualizing power in research
Participatory methods for generating data
Techniques for collective analysis and sensemaking
With support from Skip, Ashlei and your colleagues in the group, you will also explore ideas for what a PAR inquiry on your campus or in your community could look like and where to start those conversations.
Measuring learning and change in PAR
About your guide:
Felix Bivens
Lead Facilitator
Felix is a co-founder and collaborator of Rē. His professional background is in rural community development, political organizing, service-learning in higher education, university teaching, community university partnerships, monitoring & evaluation, and participatory research and facilitation. Felix completed his PhD in International Development Studies at the Institute of Development Studies in 2011. He also holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. From 2011-2012, he served as Acting Assistant Dean of Students at the University of the South. In 2014, he served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research at the Future Generations Graduate School. Felix has research, teaching and facilitation experience in the US, Canada, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central America, South Asia and East Asia.
Read Dr. Felix Bivens Academic Research
Ashlei Laing
Co-Facilitator
Ashlei Laing is co-founder and current director of Rē: The Regenerative School. Her background is in art & design, conservation, community development, agroecology, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable food systems. She completed her MA in Applied Community-Based Conservation at Future Generations University in 2014, where she was a Peace Corps Coverdell Scholar. She also holds a BA in Studio Art-Ceramics & Education from the University of New Hampshire, a degree in Interior Design from Wentworth Institute of Technology, and a Teacher Certification from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education. From 2010 – 2012, Ashlei served as a Peace Corps volunteer based in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, where she focused on educational development, teachers’ leadership, and women & Roma youth empowerment initiatives.
In 2012 – 2014 she co-created a community based Participatory Action Research project, focusing on how experiential education through a permaculture framework could enhance the livelihoods of family farms facing challenges within rural Tuscan Agriturismo economy, including the challenge of ongoing societal pressures to move towards conventional means of production. Starting in 2015, Ashlei began to work alongside rural Tennessee farms and in community-based initiatives locally and globally. These efforts, a culmination of lifetime learning, were brought to collaboration with the efforts of Dr. Felix Bivens, resulting in the co-founding of Rē in 2018. Ashlei Laing has teaching, facilitation and research experience in the US, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and South Asia.
Introductory Workshop Participatory Action Research for Resistance and Resilience is made possible in collaboration with Rē: The Regenerative School and Highlander Research and Education Center
Register
Date: April 13 to 17
Location: 1959 Highlander Way, New Market, TN 37820, United States
Registration fee: $500
As a community-based nonprofit leader dedicated to social and environmental justice, Rē believes in the power of collective action and local knowledge to drive regenerative change. Please join us for this powerful and inspiring event.
PAR Workshop 2025
“Thank ya’ll so much for facilitating this workshop! I’m looking forward to implementing a lot of these tools and practices into my work here at home. I appreciate your guidance now and into the future, and am excited to see how the use of PAR (hopefully!) spreads here and in nearby areas. Grateful for your time and energy on this workshop, the materials, location facilitation, etc. Looking forward to being in touch about PAR and our related projects!”
