Partnering with students in research treats them as co-creators—not just learners—which strengthens both the quality and the relevance of the work. When community partners help shape questions and methods, students apply theory to real needs, and organizations gain fresh analysis, energy, and capacity they often lack in-house. Co-curricular research activities (placements, community projects, labs, fellowships) are especially powerful because they build practical skills—ethics, data stewardship, facilitation, and plain-language communication—within authentic timelines and constraints. This partnership model grows a pipeline of practice-ready talent, embeds community priorities into academic agendas, and produces outputs that are immediately usable (briefs, scans, tools). It also cultivates shared accountability and reflexivity: students learn to work with—not on—communities, and partners shape how knowledge is produced and circulated. In short, co-curricular, community-engaged research turns education into impact while advancing equity and better evidence.

We’ve worked with

Why supporting student research as community partners matters

Partnering with students turns academic work into practical value for your organization while building future talent and visibility.

• Bridges campus and community for real-world problem-solving
• Builds capacity (lit scans, data tidying, interviews, toolkits)
• Develops a hiring pipeline through ethical, community-engaged practice
• Centers community priorities in the research agenda
• Unlocks resources (faculty expertise, software, libraries, micro-funding)
• Strengthens advocacy with credible evidence and stories

What support looks like

We co-design a right-sized scope and keep momentum through light-touch checkpoints and clear roles.

• Co-design scope and deliverables
• Provide context (background docs, intros, “why this matters”)
• Checkpoints at start/mid/end with quick feedback windows
• Ethical guardrails (consent, data agreements, trauma-informed practice, plain language)
• Access/logistics (recruitment help, meeting space, community review)
• Recognition (co-authorship, participant honoraria, acknowledgements)

What support looks like

Good practice (non-negotiables)
We commit to usefulness, shared ownership, and sustainability.

• Community first; realistic timelines
• Clear deliverables (1–3 outputs, defined audience, page limits, format)
• Shared ownership (MOU on data, credit, storage, dissemination)
• Feedback loop before anything is public
• Sustainability (handover notes and next steps)

Want to talk more? Email us at hello@solenacollective.com