Research to Action Collaboratory (RAC)

The Research to Action Collaboratory serves as a catalyst for research teams, building their transformational collaborative capacity to address today’s most pressing urban challenges.

Learn more about the second cohort of RAC awardees!

Program Overview

The recently launched Research to Action Collaboratory (RAC) develops collaborative research teams, building their transformational capacity to address sustainability and resilience across urban areas and the Pacific Northwest. The RAC, seeded by a catalytic $500,000 grant from the Bullitt Foundation, will bring together teams of UW scholars and community partners and supply them with seed funds, intensive workshops to build team cohesion and collaboration skills, and peer support through the project cycles. The RAC will foster high-impact projects, resourced scholars and practitioners, and an increasing capacity at University of Washington for successful and long-term collaboration to address today’s and tomorrow’s complex challenges.

In its first two years, cohorts of RAC teams will take on issues of regional ecosystem health, in alignment with the mission of the Bullitt Foundation. In the inaugural cohort, teams are addressing environmental injustices in the Duwamish Valley environmental injustices by developing community-owned and managed infrastructures, and establishing a collaborative network to advance public health and improve community resilience in the face of increasing extreme heat. The second cohort is exploring a microforest in the City of Tacoma, and green stormwater infrastructure in South King County. As future funding allows, the scope of the RAC and its programming will expand to reflect a broad range of urban challenges and opportunities.

The Research to Action Collaboratory will host year-long cohorts of research teams.

Contact

For more information, please contact urbanuw@uw.edu.