Applied research, published openly, designed to be used.
We conduct and support research on what actually works in knowledge mobilization, capacity building, and community-driven innovation — and we release the frameworks, tools, and findings free for anyone to adapt.
Four lines of inquiry.
- Line 1
How evidence travels
What makes research get used in practice and policy: intermediaries, formats, timing, trust, and the conditions under which a finding changes a decision.
- Line 2
Capacity that persists
Which training and support models leave durable capability behind, and which produce a certificate and no change six months later.
- Line 3
Community-driven innovation
Participatory and community-led approaches: how communities set research agendas, hold data, and share in the benefit of the work.
- Line 4
Equity and access in knowledge systems
Who is represented in evidence, who can reach it, and what accessible, inclusive research practice requires in the field rather than in principle.
Free to download, adapt, and reuse under Creative Commons BY 4.0.
Each item below is a different kind of thing, and the label says which. A framework organises your thinking, a toolkit hands you the templates, a checklist stops steps being skipped, a brief series answers one question at a time, a template gives you a starting document, a guide shows you how — and the research reports carry our own analysis.
Knowledge mobilization planner
A framework sets out how the parts of a problem relate to each other before you act on it. This one turns a finding into an audience, a product, a channel, and a reach measure you can actually check.
Evaluation starter kit
A toolkit gathers the working templates a whole task needs in one place. This one covers theory of change, indicators, consent, interview guides, and a reporting outline for teams with no evaluator on staff.
Accessible research practice
A checklist makes the steps that are easiest to skip impossible to skip quietly. This one runs from recruitment through consent, session design, and dissemination, so a study is accessible by design rather than by accommodation.
What works notes
A brief series answers one recurring question at a time, in about a page. Each note states in plain words how much confidence the evidence supports, so a thin answer is never mistaken for a settled one.
Community partnership agreement
A template gives you a defensible starting document instead of a blank page. This one covers roles, data ownership, authorship, benefit sharing, and how either party can end the partnership well.
Plain-language writing guide
A guide explains how to do the work, with worked examples rather than rules alone. This one turns technical findings into something a busy decision-maker will finish reading.
The full report library
Research reports carry our own original analysis, with the question, method, limits and confidence stated up front. All twenty CometX publications are free to read online, and a copy in any format is sent on request — including both AI series.
Requesting a resource
Resources are released as they are finalised. Where one is not yet posted, email contact@cometx.ca with the resource you want and the format you need — including accessible and plain-language versions — and we will send it. There is no charge and no form to fill in.
Short on time?
Every publication is summarised in two plain-language paragraphs on the summaries page, and what we are working on next is set out in our research agenda.
Ways to work with us on research.
Co-applicant on grants
We join applications as a knowledge mobilization or training partner, and take responsibility for that component of the work plan.
Community research partnerships
Community organizations set the question; we bring methods, ethics support, and analysis capacity, and the community holds the data.
Student placements
Supervised placements and practicums for graduate students in applied research and evaluation settings.
Recognition programme
We profile innovative research and practice with demonstrable social, economic, or community impact through our briefs and events.
Rules we set before a study starts.
- Studies involving people follow TCPS 2 principles, with formal ethics review through a partner institution where required.
- Consent is specific, revocable, and explained in the language people actually use.
- Communities hold their own data. Where a partner organization contributes data, the agreement says who may use it and for how long.
- Small cells are suppressed so no participant can be identified by combination.
- Findings go back to participants before they go to a conference.
- Authorship credit follows contribution, including for community co-researchers.
Every publication carries the same four things.
- Question
What was asked, who wanted to know, and what decision it was meant to inform.
- Method & limits
Sample, approach, and an honest statement of what the design cannot tell you.
- Confidence
How strongly the evidence supports each claim, stated in plain words rather than implied by tone.
- Use
What a practitioner could reasonably do on Monday, and what would be over-reading the finding.
Formats
Each publication ships as an accessible PDF, an HTML version, and a one-page plain-language summary. Alternative formats on request, at no cost.
Amplifying work that deserves a wider audience.
One of the centre's stated purposes is to recognise, celebrate, and amplify innovative research and practice that creates measurable social, economic, and community impact. In practice that runs three ways.
- Profiles
Practice notes
Short written profiles of initiatives that work, with enough method detail that another organization could adapt them rather than simply admire them.
- Platform
Speaking slots and convenings
Sessions at our institutes and events are reserved for community-led and early-career work, not only for established institutions with communications budgets.
- Support
Write-up assistance
Where a promising initiative has no capacity to document itself, we provide plain-language writing and evaluation support so the evidence exists at all.
Nominate something
If you know work that deserves this, write to contact@cometx.ca with a paragraph on what it does and who it helps. Self-nominations are welcome and are not treated less seriously.
Three doors into the research programme.
Commission a study
You have a question, a timeline, and a budget. Start with a scoping call and we will tell you what is answerable within it.
Start a conversation →Partner on an application
You are assembling a grant and need a research, training, or knowledge mobilization partner named in the work plan.
Discuss a partnership →Request a resource
You want one of the open tools above, in an accessible or plain-language format. There is no charge and no form to fill in.
Ask for it →Tell us what you are trying to change.
Most engagements begin with a 30-minute scoping call. Bring the problem, the timeline, and whatever evidence you already have — we will tell you honestly whether we are the right partner, and what a realistic scope looks like.
- Fixed-fee scopes with deliverables agreed in writing before work starts.
- Not-for-profit and community rates, plus pro bono capacity each year.
- Bilingual delivery (English and French) and fully accessible materials.
- Every engagement leaves behind tools your team can use without us.