The Maré Research Group is a multi-stakeholder, international research and artistic partnership led by Professors Desirée Poets, Max Stephenson, and Nicholas Barnes, as well as community organizers Henrique Gomes de Silva and Andreza Jorge. The team has been conducting ongoing research documenting the lives of residents of the Complexo da Maré in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, through library exhibits, roundtable discussions, and written works.

VTIPG and the City of Roanoke will provide nonprofit and local government capacity-building training programs in order to help create a thriving community where collaborative efforts lead to more effective programming and enhanced democratic processes.

The online essay series “RE: Reflections and Explorations” allowed Virginia Tech graduate students to share articles concerning their evolving research, interests, and experiences on topics relevant to the VTIPG mission. These essays analyze the critical issue of democratic agency and its challenges, the difficulties of self-governance in inter-governmental cooperation and in racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, and challenges resulting from rapid widespread economic, social, and technological shifts.

Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement is the name of a traveling Photovoice exhibition based on a multi-year, feminist visual ethnography project led by Ariel Otruba. The research project examines the emotional impact of abject housing infrastructure conditions on internally displaced persons (IDPs) forced to flee the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhaz war.