Keisha Maloney holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Critical Development Studies from the University of Toronto, a Master’s in Global Urban Development and Planning from the University of Manchester, and a PhD at UBC SCARP.
- Her Master’s research in Medellín, Colombia focused on asset-based climate adaptation strategies for informal settlement dwellers and the participatory process underpinning the city's 'social urbanism' transformation.
- During her PhD at SCARP, she worked with young adult learners to craft pathways through institutional complexity to support youth in advancing transformative change.
Rehearsals for Transformation: How Community-Engaged Learning Builds Transformative Capabilities
Keisha's research agenda advances our understanding of how planning praxis generates transformative shifts in society. She asks: What capabilities enable communities and planners to create transformative change using democratic processes?
Her PhD research focused on the training side of this challenge, to evaluate the impact of community-engaged learning in advancing transformative practitioners. Keisha is a primarily qualitative researcher whose extensive experience with interviews, focus groups, and ethnography is underpinned by methods and principles of community-engaged research.
She is also in an active community-engaged research project with a local youth-led organization, which aims to co-design youth-centered modes of civic engagement.
- Public Scholars Initiative Award
- Landscape Research Group Fund
- President's Academic Excellence Award (2020, 2021, 2022)
- SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
- UBC Doctoral 4-Year Fellowship
- British Colombia Government Scholarship
- B A Haywood Medal
- Royal Town Planning Institute Best Dissertation in North-West Planning
