Community
Research That Meets People Where They Are
Community-engaged research starts with listening. Real challenges faced by real organizations—nonprofits, civic groups, municipalities, and mission-driven institutions—provide the grounding that turns promising findings into deployable solutions.
The Auster Center connects Tufts researchers with community collaborators who bring authentic problems, on-the-ground expertise, and access to the people and contexts that make research meaningful. In return, community collaborators gain access to world-class research capacity, student talent, and the analytical tools to tackle challenges they couldn't address alone.
What Community Collaboration Looks Like
Applied Research Projects
Work directly with community organizations to address challenges they are actively facing—from food access and public health to civic engagement, housing, and economic opportunity. Research questions emerge from real needs; findings feed directly back into practice.
Student Fellowship Placements
Deploy student fellows into community organizations for immersive applied research experiences. Fellows contribute real analytical and project capacity while developing the skills and perspective that define purpose-driven careers. See the Auster-Tisch Summer Fellowship as an example.
Co-Design and Participatory Research
Involve community members as active participants in defining research questions, interpreting findings, and shaping solutions. Participatory approaches produce research that communities trust—and that actually gets used.
How the Auster Center Supports Community Collaborations
Match Researchers to Missions
We identify Tufts researchers whose expertise aligns with a community organization's challenges—and help frame collaboration in a way that works for both parties.
Design Collaborations That Work for Everyone
Community collaborations require flexibility, mutual respect, and clear communication. We help structure engagements with realistic timelines, appropriate scope, and shared goals.
Connect to Broader Resources
Community partnerships can open doors to civic innovation funding, foundation grants, and government programs that support community-engaged research. We help you identify and pursue these opportunities.
Amplify the Impact
Community research findings deserve an audience. We help translate results into accessible formats—reports, presentations, policy briefs—that community partners can use and that demonstrate the real-world value of your work.
Auster-Tisch Summer Fellowship
In the summer of 2025, Smit Patel, an inaugural Auster-Tisch Summer Fellow, worked with In Her Shoes, Inc.—a nonprofit tackling food insecurity and reducing food deserts in the Mississippi Delta. Smit contributed a financial sustainability model, a corporate presentation for Walmart, customer survey development, and a full website redesign. His work demonstrated how applied research can create scalable social impact in under-resourced communities.
