Please join Nitya Venkateswaran and Jay Feldman, two researchers in RTI International’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE), as they discuss their newest publication, Bringing an equity-centered framework to research: Transforming the researcher, research content and practice of research. The paper presents an integrative, holistic framework that synthesizes the approaches of leading experts to present key steps researchers should take to integrate equity principles into their work, which include:

• Understanding the importance of acknowledging and reflecting on their own biases
• Valuing authentic partnerships with communities most affected by the research they are conducting and examining the power dynamics involved
• Considering the equity implications of many methodological decisions we make

They will also discuss how we as researchers can operationalize these concepts in our practice so that we can create knowledge and evidence in service of liberation and social justice.

About the Speakers

Nitya Venkateswaran is a trained evaluator and researcher in the field of education and adult learning. She leverages culturally responsive and equitable evaluation methods to ensure the evaluation process and outcomes are in service of equity. At RTI, Dr. Venkateswaran is part of the Transformative Research Unit for Equity, where she leads TRUE’s Equity Training, developing and implementing professional development for RTI staff to use an equity lens in their research work. With expertise in program evaluation, qualitative methods, and multi-site studies, she has worked with a wide range of local, federal, and private foundation clients. Her evaluations focus on dismantling systems to improve post-secondary persistence for students furthest from educational justice.

Jay Feldman specializes in equity-centered transformative research approaches and conducts evaluations across K-16 and community-based organizations. A senior researcher in RTI’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE), he is committed to research guided by social justice. In his practice, he prioritizes the experiences and perspectives of community members and practitioners, focusing on research that will have practical and immediate value toward disrupting inequities and identifying new equitable systems. He works toward the co-development of policies and practices that will improve outcomes and access, particularly for people of color, who are often among the most disenfranchised by current systems that perpetuate discrimination.