Apply now: Community-Engaged Research Micro-Credential Program

Gretchen Minekime — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 20:21:50 +0000

Apply now: Community-Engaged Research Micro-Credential Program Gretchen Minekime Wed, 08/05/2026 - 14:21

CIRES PhD Student Rebecca Mesburis gave a community talk at Knotted Root Brewing about how to clean your home after smoke exposure following the Caribou Village Fire in Nederland, Colorado in fall 2025.

The University of Colorado Boulder Equitable Approaches to Community-Engaged Research Micro-Credential program equips researchers with the knowledge and skills required to meaningfully partner with communities. Applications are now open for the Fall 2026 inaugural cohort.

Program details & application

Eligibility: Open to all ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� graduate students, staff and faculty members

Format: Hybrid (combining remote, asynchronous access to the toolkit and dynamic, in-person workshops)

Requirements: Participants will complete four written assignments and host a public event (for example, a talk and discussion at a library or brewery); upon completion, these artifacts may be displayed digitally alongside their micro-credential badge

Timeline: All requirements must be completed by the end of the 2026-2027 academic year, with flexibility on the timeline

Application form: Submit your interest via the CER Micro-credential Application Form

Application deadline: Sept. 14

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� the program

At its core, community-engaged research is a collaborative approach to knowledge production that actively involves community members, organizations and researchers in all phases of the research process. A central focus on inclusion helps build and sustain equitable partnerships. As part of this program, learners will develop a practical skillset for building partnerships and advancing meaningful change in communities.

Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship, part of the Office for Outreach and Community Engagement and ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� lead unit supporting engaged scholarship, is proud to offer this program after developing and piloting it in partnership with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the Environmental Studies Department (ENVS) and Masters of the Environment Program (MENV).

“The CER toolkit and micro-credential program are excellent examples of the type of resources and programs that build our campus capacity for high-quality engaged scholarship,” said David Meens, assistant vice chancellor for public and community-engaged scholarship. “We’re excited to see how these workshops and the toolkit serve the needs of ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researchers, and to continue developing programs and opportunities based on their feedback.”

Grounded in the principles of the Shared Equity Leadership Model, this program provides educational training for researchers—primarily faculty and graduate students—to sustainably address issues that affect communities, in partnership with those that are impacted, often disproportionately.

Last year, a pilot cohort of early-career researchers from several units across campus--including CIRES, the Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS), the Environmental Studies Department (ENVS), and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)-- provided feedback that led to substantial improvements to the micro-credential program's open-access toolkit and workshops.

Insights from the pilot program

Participants in the 2025-26 pilot cohort noted that the gap in traditional training filled by the toolkit provides practical skills for long-lasting partnerships.

“It is as important,” one participant said, “to learn how to interact with communities as it is to learn about scientific processes.”

Another shared their hope that the toolkit would be utilized widely, especially for researchers who do not typically seek community engagement training: “I’d love for this program to be marketed to the hardcore STEM researchers. This is not universal knowledge, and it is so important.”

Others described how the program challenged them to think differently about the purpose and practice of research. One researcher noted that while community-engaged research has the potential to strengthen many scientific projects, it is often overlooked in favor of more traditional dissemination methods.

“We conduct research that will benefit from community-engaged research all the time, and I know we don’t invest in it. It is frustrating for me because our engagement stays limited to publishing our data,” said the participant. “I would love for colleagues to use this toolkit and learn how they would benefit from community-engaged research – to incentivize a change.”

These reflections provide just a sample of participants’ enthusiastic responses to the toolkit, and suggest this resource should be available to a broad swath of researchers across many disciplines.

Open-Access Toolkit

The toolkit is available online and open to all ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researchers. It is comprised of several unique modules, which can be copied into other Canvas courses to supplement course curriculum. Instructions for using the toolkit are provided on the home page of the Canvas course.

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