The Action Research Podcast

In this episode we explore the inspiring concept of Critical Hope with Tara Mahoney. Co-authored with Kari Grain, their article “Not All Hope is Created Equal: Climate Action Research as a Source of Critical Hope” is a rich resource for how to find your way when dealing with complexity in climate work and action research. Joe and Blane first introduce Tara and begin by asking her to define critica...

Today we sat down with Cher Hill and Neva Winters, authors of the article “ I Hate the Global Warming Factory! Caring for Tadpoles During the Climate Emergency .” This article is also co-written with Ching-Chiu Lin who could not join us for the recording. The three authors are all researchers at Simon Fraser University. As part of the Eco-Justice and Climate Action mini-series, we explored the rol...

In this episode, we invite authors from the Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch university and collaborators from McGill university to discuss their article “ Radical Incrementalism in Action Through Institutional Work: Case Studies of Embedded Research in South Africa ”. As part of our special Eco-Justice and Climate Action series, the authors explore the complexities of navigatin...

In this episode in the Eco-Justice and Climate Action Mini Series, we sat down with four members of the Climate Education and Teacher Education (CETE) team, which is based at the University of Northern British Columbia. Authors of “ Mapping Climate Change Education: Reflections from an Education Design-Based Research Project from Northern British Columbia, Canada ,” the CETE team created this proj...

Welcome to the second interview in our special mini series, Eco-Justice and Climate Action . Today our guest, Céleste Pepin, graduate of the Gender and Social Justice Studies Honours program at McGill University, joins Blane and Joe, to share their work: “ Politics of Resilience-Building: Explorations of Community-Based Interventions in Trinidad and Tobago ”. An inspiring researcher, Queen Elizabe...

Welcome to the first author interview in our mini series, Eco-Justice and Climate Action , where we aim to explore inspiring projects at the intersection of climate justice and action research. This series highlights work featured in the 2025 special issue of the Canadian Journal for Action Research, guest edited by Dr. Blane Harvey. We are excited to share these thought-provoking contributions wi...

What does it look like when research doesn't just study a crisis, but actively works to respond to it? To answer this question, Action Research Podcast hosts Joe Levitan and Shikha Diwakar invite Blane Harvey to be a special co-host for this exciting mini-series on Eco-Justice and Climate Action, growing out of a 2-part special issue of the Canadian Journal of Action Research (2025), which Blane g...

Join us for this inspiring and thought-provoking discussion. Adam and Joe sit down with three members of the Restorative Community Solutions (RCS) team based in San Francisco: Earl Simms (executive director), Kezia "Zia" Martinis (community engagement lead) and Couper Orona (community engagement operations). RCS is a nonprofit founded in 2022, led by a group of dedicated professionals with a deep...

Guess what? It’s summer, July 2024, and the team is distracted doing summer things. So we are taking a little break this month before we sit down and get back into recording conversations with our upcoming guests for the episodes ahead. We also realized that we are in our fourth season, and we can now do what seasoned podcasters do: look back and share with you one of our team’s favorite past epis...

In this episode, Adam and Cory co-host while Joe joins as our guest alongside Dr. Catherine Potvin. We learn about Catherine’s career as a biologist working on climate issues in solidarity with Indigenous communities. Together, Catherine and Joe explore their collaboration doing action research in both culturally grounded health care and education.  First, [2:50] Catherine and Joe center rela...

Adam and Joe sit down with Dr. Lisa Levinger, an educator with over 30 years of experience at all instructional levels. She also completed her PhD at Northeastern University in May of 2023 doing action research around poverty-induced trauma (PIT) and literacy. She is currently acting as the Dean of Literacy at a Diversity by Design charter school in Queens, New York. To start, Adam and Joe spend s...

Adam and Joe sit down with Dr. Joseph Winberry to talk about information sciences and community-based participatory action research (CBPAR). Dr. Winberry is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science. Much of his teaching and research revolves around critical librarianship, information marginalization, and older adults. ...

In the exciting second part of our discussion on YPAR and arts-based methods, new grad student co-hosts Shikha and Cory continue their conversation with Dr Kristen Goessling, Dr Dana Wright, Dr Amanda Wager and Dr. Marit Dewhurst, researchers and editors of Engaging youth in critical arts pedagogies and creative research for social justice: Opportunities and challenges of arts-based work and resea...

In the first episode led by our new co-hosts(!) Cory and Shikha sit down with Dr Kristen Goessling, Dr Dana Wright, Dr Amanda Wager, and Dr. Marit Dewhurst, researchers and editors of Engaging youth in critical arts pedagogies and creative research for social justice: Opportunities and challenges of arts-based work and research with young people, which came out in 2021. This special two-part serie...

Welcome to Season 4 of the Action Research Podcast. In this launch episode for Season 4, we find out what the team has been up to during their fall pause. (Hint, it was some time to consider new goals and orientations for our podcast, and bring in more voices!) Join Joe and Adam who welcome Shikha and Cory to the table as new co-hosts alongside their roles as producers. Now that Adam is exploring...

In this episode, our team of hosts and producers debrief Season 3 of the Action Research Podcast. (2:33) Co-producers Shikha and Cory introduce themselves as students in different stages of their PhD work while working on this podcast and (5:09) discuss lessons from the podcast influencing their research —especially when it comes to the productive messiness of the AR process. (9:47) Adam and Joe r...

In this episode, our team follows up with Dr. Danny Burns and Dr. Marina Apgar who first joined us in Episode 4 to discuss systemic action research. Danny Burns is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) a think tank affiliated with the University of Sussex in England. He has directed more than 25 action research projects and programmes. His work focuses on pa...

Part 2 of this two part episode concludes the conversation between Adam, Joe and our guest Alfredo about the “what?” and “why?” of research in action research. Dr Alfredo Ortiz Aragón is an Action-Researcher and Associate Professor in the PhD Program at the Dreeben School of Education at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and co-author of Action Research (Fifth Edition) wi...

 In this episode, Adam and Joe speak again with Adam’s close friend, professor, and mentor, Dr Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, an Action-Researcher and Associate Professor in the PhD Program at the Dreeben School of Education at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and co-author of Action Research (Fifth Edition) with Ernie Stringer.  This episode explores the “what?” and “w...

To our listeners! Here is a quick update on the podcast. The ArPod team have been busy with exciting projects running across globe. We can’t wait to share an update soon with upcoming exciting episodes. Stay tune!

If you haven’t listened to episodes one and two of the series, find the links below!  We are excited to bring the third installment of this exciting mini-series that brings you “behind the scenes” of action research projects to demonstrate what action research looks like, in action. In this episode, Adam catches Joe up on what has been happening in Café Orígenes, and there are some exciting u...

In this episode, we welcome two guests, Patricia Canto and Miren Larrea, who recently published a paper together titled “Rethinking the Communication of Action Research: Can we Make it Dialogic?” Adam and Joe bring you an enriching conversation with the authors. Patricia Canto is a researcher at Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences from University of Deu...

Welcome back to Part 2 of the episode; Ethical Relationship Building in Action Research with Joe. In this episode, we are continuing our conversation from last season on ethical relationship building based on an article that Joe published. If you haven’t heard that one, it is episode 10 of season 2. It’s great when friends of the podcast engage with our conversations, and in this episode, our good...

In this special episode, the AR Pod team discusses an amazing new book by our very own Joe Levitan and friend of the Podcast, Marc Brasof. The book, Student Voice Research: Theory, Methods, and Innovations from the Field, discusses the “how” of useful and quality student voice research to make schools better places to learn. The book has a lot of overlaps with Action Research.  This firsthand...

In this special, first episode of season 3, Joe interviews our very own, newly "minted," *Dr.* Adam Stieglitz! The co-hosts discuss his Action Research dissertation and his experiences as a PhD student. Tune in to learn about the ups, downs, and adventures of Dr. Stieglitz! References Herr, K., & Anderson, G. L. (2014). The action research dissertation: A guide for students and faculty. S...