Ravita Surajbali named as the 2022 Research Fellow of the Research Cluster for the Study of Racism and Inequality

May 5, 2022 by Eunillyne Lazado

CrimSL Ph.D student Ravita Surajbali has been named the 2022 Research Fellow of the Research Cluster for the Study of Racism and Inequality. 

Ravita researches the institutional governance of campus sexual violence in Canada, focusing on risk and actuarial governance. She works as a Planning and Program Evaluation Specialist within the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO) at the University of Waterloo. In this role, Ravita develops evaluation strategies to assess the effectiveness of campus sexual violence interventions, including policy, training, and on and off-campus programming. She is passionate about conducting research that can help advance equity in higher education – through research, evaluation, pedagogy, and institutional practice. Ravita will be establishing a database that presents information on institutional initiatives by post-secondary institutions in Canada that address systemic racism and inequality.

Research for the database will be conducted using mixed-methods – Ravita will synthesize findings from the following research tasks.

  1. A literature review, including scholarly and grey literature, on anti-racist, anti-colonial, and anti-oppressive programming in higher education – identifying trends, best-practices, and key findings from evaluation research.
  2. An inventory of university-initiated initiatives (research projects, clusters, working groups, communities of practice) centered around equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism in Canada.
  3. An inventory of the presence, approach (guiding principles, commitments, frameworks), and institutional capacity (funding, resourcing, staff) of equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism offices at post-secondary institutions in Canada.
  4. A content analysis of institutional policies or inter-institutional charters that address anti-black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and systemic barriers to equity and inclusion across post-secondary institutions in Canada.
  5. An inventory of the programming, training, education, and awareness-raising initiatives offered by offices at post-secondary institutions that address anti-racism and structural inequality – categorized by type (subject matter/issue), purpose, format/delivery, target population(s), and intended outcome(s).
  6. A logic model and evaluation plan that can assess institutional initiatives on anti-racism and structural inequality, both research and praxis-oriented.
  7. Qualitative findings from interviews with institutional stakeholders across Canadian post-secondary institutions who (1) develop institutional initiatives addressing anti-racism and structural inequality; (2) deliver such initiatives; and (3) evaluate such initiatives.

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