Our Methodology
There are “no safe levels” of air pollution, meaning that community health is at risk regardless of PM2.5 reading.
Therefore, our work does not focus on “proving” whether or not air pollution affects community health, as we now know that it does, it is indisputable.
Instead we focus on co-creating healthcare and healing pathways for and with frontline communities, so they can withstand the poor health effects of air pollution as they advocate for healthy air.
We have carefully crafted our methodology and principles over the last five years, which we share below. Please have read if you want to know more details.
Our Ethical Principles
While enacting a living lab brings an efficacy to the type of science produced, there are still dynamics that we must acknowledge when working in partnership within the context of those with lived experience of the health impacts of air pollution.
We propose our Air is Kin project ethics to recognise our parameters, boundaries, and considerations when working with communities. The ethics that we propose should be considered principles that guide our methodology and practice
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Our processes are reactive to existing communities and those who organise and steward within these communities.
All stakeholders are participating in the community research as expert witnesses of the community's lived experiences.
Centric Lab does not get involved in mediation of community group dynamics.
Communities have the opportunity to maintain agency by being offered grants.
Onboarding processes are applied for clarity and consent on community agency.
Our methodologies establish a rolling consent model with supporting protocols.
We hold ourselves accountable in updating our principles iteratively based on our work with communities.
We do not participate in work that furthers inequalities, even unintentionally.
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Research and activities must move at the speed of the communities involved.
We cannot employ community partners in activities that will likely compromise their psychological and/or physical safety.
We acknowledge and advocate for representation of the most vulnerable people in a neighbourhood/community when supporting communities.
Lived experience data is fundamentally recognised as relevant and valuable to community research and activities.
Communities maintain agency by being presented with tools with their context that they can (but are not obligated to) use.
We implement intermediate check-ins with communities as spaces to reduce burden while maintaining agency.
We work within our means to be flexible on the ways communities are compensated for their participation in research and outputs.
We do not engage in work processes that require or advance the use of artificial intelligence.
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We do not participate in research methodologies/practices that create a dependency on us for continued healing infrastructure and justice.
The research and tools produced with communities must be applicable to the community needs.
Communities are entitled to carrying and building on the works that we have collaborated on without the need for explicit permission by Centric Lab.
We provide reasonable opportunities for communities to be presented as peers in research and outputs.
We default to anonymising information when producing for the healing commons, unless the community explicitly requests.
Our Methodology Lab Book
We have created an ongoing methodology that will guide our work going forward.
However, this is our first year of onboarding multiple community partners, which will inform how our methodology develops. It is important that community feedback directly informs the changes to the methodology that is intended to work safely and effectively within their health and justice contexts.
At the end of this year, we will be publishing version one. In the meantime, communities, funders, and collaborators are invited to read this working version as it gets updated in real time.