ActionDignity, in collaboration with the Newcomer Research Network (NRN) at the University of Calgary, successfully hosted the Newcomer Research Symposium 2025: Living Knowledge with Newcomers on Friday, November 14, 2025, at the Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza and Conference Centre.
The symposium brought together over 150 researchers, community members, policy influencers, service providers, and partners to highlight research and lived experiences that centre newcomer voices. The event emphasized the importance of ensuring newcomers can assert agency over their own stories and contribute meaningfully to equitable systems change.
Living Knowledge with Newcomers: A Collective Approach to Equity and Systems Change
This year’s theme, Living Knowledge with Newcomers, invited participants to explore how community wisdom, academic research, and collaborative action can transform the systems that shape settlement, integration, and belonging. Using the Water of Systems Change model (Kenia, Kramer, and Senge, 2018) as a guiding framework, attendees examined the conditions that reinforce inequities and explored collective strategies to shift policies, practices, and power.
“The NRN has been cultivating this shared space for dialogue and collaboration since 2019, having hosted three prior symposiums that brought together hundreds of participants from across disciplines and sectors,” said Dr. Tanvir Turin Chowdhury, Associate Professor, CPD Director, and co-founder of the Newcomer Research Network. “The 2025 symposium continues this tradition, enriched by the co-leadership and community wisdom of ActionDignity and other actors who work tirelessly toward systems change. In this collaboration, research is not seen as something done on, about, or for communities, but rather with them — rooted in mutual learning, respect, and co-creation.”
“ActionDignity’s strategic role in this year’s symposium lays the foundation for its vision of establishing a Centre of Excellence — a dynamic hub dedicated to advancing human dignity by transforming inequitable policies and practices,” added Francis Boakye, Executive Director of ActionDignity. “This hub will promote community-led innovation, strengthen policy advocacy, support leadership development, and foster excellence in citizen-engaged research and data practices.”
One of the keynote speakers, Kesavan Sreeharan discussed the topic of newcomer employment and the unexpected challenges newcomers face when they try to enter the Canadian workplace. “One of the biggest barriers we are facing is that our work experiences in our home country are not recognized, and many immigrants like me are struggling with finding or doing survival jobs”.
Program Highlights
The symposium featured over 50 presentations, poster sessions, performances, and interactive dialogues that expanded conventional forms of knowledge sharing. Artistic expression, storytelling, embodied knowledge, and research-based inquiry all played central roles in shaping the day’s conversations.
Sessions explored a wide range of themes that influence newcomer experiences and outcomes across Canada, including:
- Settlement
- Culture and Integration
- Social Inclusion
- Health and Wellness
- Public Safety
- Education
- Connections through Policies, Programs, and Practices
- Grassroots Community Collaboration
Participants examined how these interconnected themes inform equitable systems and policies, and how collaborative, community-engaged approaches can drive lasting change.