Expertise from the field: Strengthening Knowledge and Community Engagement - Incite at Columbia University

Expertise from the Field: How Academic Knowledge is Strengthened by Community Engagement

Expertise from the Field: How Academic Knowledge is Strengthened by Community Engagement

This event is co-sponsored by the Columbia Center for Political Economy at Columbia World Projects and Incite @ Columbia University.

Responding to the challenges we face today requires innovations in the way research is carried out, communicated, and acted upon. Systemic, complex problems—such as rising inequality, climate change, and the loss of trust in democratic institutions—cannot be solved by one discipline or by one sector of society. Instead, we need to enable improbable connections between theoretical, practical, and artistic voices, with a focus on co-creating actionable knowledge for the collective good.

This event will bring together two scholars who are creating spaces for engaged/participatory research, actionable knowledge, communications approaches, and social participation to better understand development challenges and advance community-based solutions.

Welcome and Introduction

Madeline Neighly, Executive Director at the Columbia Center for Political Economy

Panelists

Allison Benson Hernández, Obama Foundation Scholar and founder, director, and principal researcher of Re-imaginemos (Reimagining)

Ariam L. Torres Cordero, postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia World Projects and co-founder of Urbana Planifica Inc.

Moderator

Michael Falco, Executive Director at Incite at Columbia University

About the Speakers

Allison Benson Hernández (Speaker)

Allison Benson is an Obama Foundation Scholar at Columbia University and the founder, director, and principal researcher of Re-imaginemos (Reimagining), an action-research center that works to reimagine inequality in Colombia. Allison has a PhD from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Los Andes in Colombia.

Ariam L. Torres Cordero (Speaker)

Ariam L. Torres-Cordero is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Columbia World Projects at Columbia University and co-founder of Urbana Planifica Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on planning research, education and civic support in Puerto Rico. Ariam has a PhD in Regional Planning from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a Master’s Degree in Planning from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Puerto Rico.

Michael Falco (Moderator)

Michael is the Executive Director of Incite and has served in various leadership roles since its founding in 2012. In 2023, Michael helped oversee the formation of a new institute that merged the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) with The American Assembly, a Columbia-affiliated organization founded by Dwight Eisenhower in 1950. Incite’s new mission is dedicated to producing knowledge and activating it in the world by elevating all forms of expertise. Michael plays a leadership and design role on several projects, including the Human Rights Campaign Oral History project, the Obama Presidency Oral History project, Logic(s) Magazine, and Assembling Voices.