Research
Over four years, we funded 30 research teams investigating themes of the polycrisis — from mapping emerging challenges to investigating systems-level solutions to understanding how narrative shapes social change. This page outlines their findings.
Join Our Research Leads in Conversation
Join us on February 15, 2026 for a live panel discussion with three of our research leads at Commonweal. Hear directly from the teams who have been investigating how ecology, arts & culture, and technology serve as pathways to resilience rooted in collective wisdom and ancestral knowledge.
Coming Soon…
RESEARCH ZINES
Our final three research teams are translating their learnings into practical, dynamic zines—clear, accessible guides drawn from four years of global collaboration and dozens of interviews with ORA fellows. These free, downloadable resources will be released digitally throughout spring 2026 across the following categories, offering tools community-based activists can build upon.
Ecology
Arts & Cutlure
Technology
MEET OUR RESEARCH LEADS
Three research teams spent months in conversation with ORA fellows across India, Africa, and Latin America. Each brought deep expertise and collaborative, participatory approaches to understanding how communities create resilience. We want to give a special thank you to their team leads.Three research teams spent months in conversation with ORA fellows across India, Africa, and Latin America. Each brought deep expertise and collaborative, participatory approaches to understanding how communities create resilience. We want to give a special thank you to their team leads.
Dr. Urmitapa Dutta
Arts & Culture Team Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell | Chair, UMass Lowell Greeley Peace Scholar Program\
Dr. Dutta is a community psychologist and scholar-activist whose work is rooted in transnational feminist and decolonial frameworks. Her research centers the everyday experiences of marginalization and resistance, using participatory and arts-based methodologies. She has collaborated with community organizers, artists, and activist collectives across India, the U.S., and South Africa.
Alejo di Risio – Ecology Team
Journalist, Environmental Consultant, Cultural Strategist | Founder, elSur.Global | Communications Coordinator, AAdeAA-CAJE
Alejo is a journalist and cultural strategist whose research focuses on the intersection of political communication, environmental culture, and ecological imaginaries—especially how communities articulate and share visions of life worth fighting for. He is the founder and curator of Club de Futuros, a cultural project exploring desirable ecological futures.
Dr. Susan James – Technology Team
Chair, Community, Liberation, Indigenous, & Eco-Psychologies, Pacifica Graduate Institute
Dr. James’ work focuses on the theory and application of coloniality/decoloniality frameworks to current social and environmental conditions, exploring the role of African diasporic Indigenous spiritualities in resistance. She is an experienced qualitative methodologist working across narrative, participatory, and visual approaches, and translates research findings into contemporary communication formats.
stay connected
We look forward to sharing insights from all of ORA’s research throughout 2026. Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on new publications, zines, essays, podcasts, and insights as they emerge.