Coming Soon

Title|

Hope in Times of Intersecting Crises: Community-based Research and Practice in Complex Contexts.

Special Issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology

Call for Papers

The American Journal of Community Psychology invites submissions for a special issue: Hope in Times of Intersecting Crises: Community-Based Research and Practice in Complex Contexts.

This special issue examines how Community Psychology theory, research, and practice respond to the realities of the polycrisis: interconnected social, economic, political, and environmental challenges that intensify systemic inequities and require transformational approaches to research and action.

This special issue is focused on the landscape of community psychology in the contemporary moment, as well as acknowledging 50 years of these conversations in Canada and beyond, hence the theme of this proposed special issue is Hope in Times of Intersecting Crises: Community-based research and practice in complex contexts and Hope in the time of polycrises. At a local, national, regional and global scale, we are amid unprecedented and intertwined social, economic, political and environmental crises, described as a polycrisis – a complex situation where multiple, interconnected crises converge and amplify each other, creating a situation that is difficult to manage, requiring new approaches, frameworks, and solutions to address them, something that the field of Community Psychology is well suited for. The proposed special issue will critically explore how the lived experiences of communities experiencing structural oppression and marginalization are embedded within this context as these crises disproportionately impact marginalized groups who are already experiencing various forms of systemic disenfranchisement, and how communities are increasingly engaged in forms of advocacy and activism to build broad public support for transformative system change.

The special issue will bring together academic and community knowledges – with an emphasis on lived experiences of marginalization and oppression – in research, practice and policy, aligning with AJCP’s aims and scope in publishing original quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research, theoretical papers, empirical reviews, reports of innovative community programs or policies, and first person accounts of stakeholders involved in research, programs, or policy, with a focus on underrepresented populations and issues of human diversity, social welfare, social justice, and human rights. Involving community and academic perspectives, this issue will integrate social, cultural, economic, political, environmental and international influences to understand and promote positive change, quality of life, health, well-being and empowerment at individual and systemic levels, guided by systems-thinking and frameworks to mobilize knowledge and foster collective resistance and resilience.

This call for papers seeks scholarship and practice that highlights how communities, especially those facing marginalization and structural oppression, cultivate hope, resilience, and collective action in response to complex and overlapping crises. Submissions that are original quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research are welcome. This may include theoretical papers; empirical reviews; reports of innovative community programs or policies; and first-person accounts of stakeholders involved in research, programs, or policy, with a focus on underrepresented populations and issues of human diversity, social welfare, social justice, and human rights.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

• Fifty years of Community Psychology in Canada and beyond
• Community-based research and practice in complex contexts
• Reinvigorating Canadian and international Community Psychology networks
• Theorizing hope, resistance, and systems change in times of polycrisis

Estimated Timeline

Journal special issue completion is estimated to be in December 2027.

• May 2026 – July 2026 – Solicit abstracts and expressions of interest from the conference program + review
• July 2026 – November 2026 – Solicit and receive full manuscripts.
• December 2026–September 2027 – Review process commences, including assigning reviewers, completing reviews, and communicating decisions to authors.
• September 2027–December 2027 – Finalize revisions, copyedits, and the introduction for the special issue, and prepare the final set of articles for publication.

Submission Details - TBA

Name and Contact Information of the Guest Editors

Guest Editors

Ciann L. Wilson
Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
ciwilson@wlu.ca

Alexis Buettgen
Assistant Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
abuettgen@wlu.ca

Student Editor
Erin Dekker, PhD Student, Community Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University

Action Editor
Leo Wilton, State University of New York at Binghamton
lwilton@binghamton.edu

Submit to: CCRLA@wlu.ca

With subject: Call for Papers - AJCP Special Journal Issue