Learning to Build Research Partnerships That Last: Insights from UT Austin’s Community Engagement Panel
Panelists discuss building research partnerships with communities, UT Austin, February 4, 2026
On February 4, 2026, The University of Texas at Austin’s Office of the Vice President for Research, within the PI Skill-Building Series, hosted a panel discussion on establishing ethical partnerships between researchers and community organizations. For those of us working on community-engaged research projects like the Southeast Texas Urban Integrated Field Laboratory (SETx-UIFL), the conversation offered invaluable guidance on building relationships that truly serve communities.
Dr. Katherine Lieberknecht, Associate Professor in UT’s School of Architecture and co-PI on the SETx-UIFL project, joined university community engagement leaders and Carmen Llanes, Executive Director of Go Austin/Vamos Austin (GAVA), to discuss what makes partnerships genuinely reciprocal.
Trust Requires Consistency, Not Credentials
The panel opened with frank acknowledgment that universities have not always been good neighbors. Decades of broken promises and extractive research have left communities skeptical of academic partnerships. Rebuilding trust requires showing up consistently over time, not arriving with impressive titles or good intentions.
Stephanie Lang, Director of Community Engagement at UT, brought this lesson home with striking honesty. As a seventh-generation Austinite whose family was affected by UT’s expansion, she assumed her local roots would open doors immediately. They did not. “Even for me, it did not work that way,” she shared. The path forward required attending community events, identifying trusted local leaders, understanding neighborhood dynamics, and returning again and again.
Communication as Accountability
Katherine Lieberknecht has learned these lessons through multiple community-engaged research projects, including her NSF-funded work with GAVA and the multi-institutional SETx-UIFL project spanning Port Arthur and Beaumont. Her insights on communication were particularly valuable for researchers managing long-term collaborations.
This seemingly simple step creates accountability. When researchers disappear after collecting data, communities remember. Katherine’s work with GAVA involved regular bi-weekly meetings to discuss next steps, but she emphasized that approaches must adapt to each partnership. In another project, community partners told her they would lead the work and check in monthly. Her willingness to step back showed respect for community capacity.
For the regional-scale SETx-UIFL project, Katherine has learned from Texas A&M’s Texas Target Communities office, which has worked with under-resourced Texas communities for 35 years. Learning from their experience helps avoid repeating past mistakes.
The Community Organizer’s Perspective
Carmen Llanes brought two decades of grassroots organizing experience to the conversation. Her core message: healthy partnerships require reciprocity, curiosity, and authentic human connection.
Successful researchers, Carmen noted, do their homework about community history before making contact. They understand past institutional harms and current neighborhood dynamics. They ask about community priorities beyond any specific research project and listen to the answers.
In productive partnerships, everyone grows and perspectives shift. Researchers learn from community expertise. Community members access new tools and opportunities. Neither party remains unchanged.
She also stressed that funding must flow to communities, not just universities. In Katherine’s NSF project with GAVA, the majority of funds went directly to the community organization, which used them to reimburse residents for their time, missed work, and childcare. This financial recognition of community expertise matters, especially during challenging times.
Practical Steps Forward
The panel offered concrete guidance for researchers building community partnerships. Before reaching out, research community history and identify trusted leaders. Make first contact by attending existing community events rather than scheduling formal meetings. Once partnerships form, ask about preferred communication methods and meeting logistics. Provide childcare if needed. Use local vendors. Let community partners make real decisions about project direction.
Applying These Lessons in Southeast Texas
For the SETx-UIFL team working across multiple communities in the Beaumont-Port Arthur region, these insights reinforce our commitment to co-design and long-term relationship building. The regional scale of our work makes communication particularly critical, as Katherine noted during the discussion.
As we continue research on air quality and community resilience in Southeast Texas, this panel reminds us that excellent science requires excellent partnerships. That means listening first, adapting approaches to community preferences, ensuring reciprocal benefits, and recognizing that trust builds through consistency over time.
The work is challenging, but as the panelists demonstrated, it allows universities to fulfill their public mission and researchers to generate knowledge that truly serves communities.