What is Community Based Participatory Research?
Community-Based Participatory Research, or CBPR, is “a collaborative research approach that involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings.”
Instead of researchers just studying a community from the outside, CBPR brings everyone together, researchers and community members alike. This helps to ensure that the research really matters to the people living in Arkansas and addresses the issues they face every day.
By involving community members in decision-making, CBPR connects scientific research with real-world solutions that can truly make a difference. This method puts community voices at the forefront and utilizes local insights, which can help improve health outcomes for everyone in the community.
What is CBPR Scholars?
The CBPR Scholars program is designed to help both community members and researchers work together effectively. It has two main goals: first, to teach them how to build strong, two-way partnerships for research, and second, to help them create and carry out research projects that benefit the community.
Program Format
Part 1 – CBPR Academy
The CBPR Scholars Academy includes lectures, engaging discussions, and hands-on activities that help people learn how to connect with communities, build trust and create research projects that meet community needs. It focuses on respectful ways to enter communities, maintain long-lasting partnerships, and ensure that research makes a real difference in people’s lives.
The content sessions are scheduled for the first and third Wednesdays of August, September, and October 2025. These bi-weekly sessions will be held in person at the UAMS main campus in Little Rock, with the option to join via the Zoom platform.
Topics to be covered during CBPR Academy:
- Entering the community – Week 1
- Building meaningful partnerships – Week 2
- Working with community partnerships – Week 3
- Sustaining partnerships – Week 5
- Dissemination of results – Week 6
Part 2 – CBPR Coaching
The CBPR Coaching Program provides valuable mentorship for community-academic partnerships seeking funding to support CBPR research. This program connects teams with both an academic mentor and a community partner mentor who provide one-on-one guidance on the principles of community engagement. Through this coaching, teams will learn how to collaboratively develop research questions, choose appropriate methods, create dissemination plans, and develop budgets that reflect shared decision-making. The ultimate goal of the coaching program is to support teams in preparing a strong funding application for the TRI Pilot Program, ensuring that their research is both rigorous and community centered.
Program Format
Each team will receive:
Pre-proposal support:
- Access to examples of co-developed research proposals
- Monthly mentorship meetings with academic and community mentor
- Written feedback on the funding proposal
Post-proposal support:
- Monthly mentorship meetings with academic and community mentors (for up to one year)
- Access to examples of IRB protocols and subaward agreements for community-partnered projects.
CBPR Coaching Eligibility Criteria
Each team IS REQUIRED to have the following members:
- UAMS faculty with a terminal degree (assistant professor or above)
- Academic Researcher
- Must have sufficient time to dedicate to the project
- Sufficient human subjects research expertise to guide the science (may or may not be UAMS faculty)
- Community Partner:
- Must have a 501c3
Multi-Disciplinary Team
We encourage multidisciplinary teams to apply, but this is not required. Each team may have additional researchers/clinicians within and outside UAMS (e.g., UAPB, UALR, etc.)