About the CCRN

Mission, history and the current management committee.

Mission of the CCRN

The current goals of the CCRN-CCRC are: connecting the Canadian co-operative research community together; facilitating co-operative research for students and; providing comprehensive resources on current co-operative research.

This website was developed to create a bilingual, online space that will serve as a central hub for:

Co-operative research news, opportunities and events
An inventory of co-op research that can be easily navigated and searched
A portal for recent conference materials and outputs
A meeting place for researchers to collaborate and determine research priorities
An interactive space where researchers can comment on posts and contribute to discussions
A free, open information source for co-op practitioners and the public
A central site that directs people to other co-op sites, centres, resources and research activities

History of the CCRN

History

From 2010-2012, the Rural and Co-operatives Secretariat in partnership with the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) and the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité (CCCM) engaged the Canadian co-operative research community in a consultative process to shape the agenda for cooperative research in the coming years.

The purpose of these projects was to engage researchers and practitioners in dialogues about current co-operative research, gaps in the research and priorities for future research. There were two papers that were completed in June of 2012 to summarize the survey and consultation findings: Strengthening Collaboration for Co-operative Research and Synthesis Report on Co-operative Research Priorities. Another component of these projects was to gather co-operative research and publications to form a comprehensive inventory of co-operative research.The project is now resourced by Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada.

The Steering Committee who directed the development of this Network was comprised of:

John Anderson (Canadian Co-operative Association),
Marie-Joëlle Brassard (Conseil québécois de la coopération et de la mutualité),
Denyse Guy (Ontario Co-operative Association),
Lou Hammond Ketilson (University of Saskatchewan),
André Leclerc (Université de Moncton)
Fiona Duguid and Anne-Marie McInnis (Rural and Co-operatives Secretariat).

The Steering Committee and coordinators reviewed other online network models and found the Canadian Rural Research Network (CRRN) had much the same goals as was envisioned for this network. These two research networks now have a relationship where they share any new technologies created on their website for free with the other partner and cross refer members where applicable.

This portal was created as the second phase of a project that aims to support co-operative research by:

Gathering information from researchers (via survey and panel discussions) that help determine the priority co-operative research areas for future focus and funding;
Creating a space to encourage dialogue and collaboration between co-operative researchers; and
Establishing a portal of co-operative research for easy access by researchers, the co-operative sector and the public.