Peruvian Amazon

Course Title and Schedule

ENT 499: Community-Engaged Research in the Peruvian Amazon

Spring 2027 Course, 3 credits: Timing TBD

Travel: During Spring Break

Course Description

Research Beyond the Classroom: What does community-engaged research look like in practice?

Start the semester by exploring different approaches to working with communities, from the benefits to the challenges and ethical considerations. Then, take your learning into the field! Over spring break, travel to the Peruvian Amazon to experience community-engaged research firsthand.

• Visit ongoing Penn State projects
• Spend several days in a rural community
• Get hands-on experience with efforts to reduce pollution and mosquito-borne disease through innovative solid waste management.

Back on campus, reflect on your experience and critically assess the projects you encountered—what’s working, what isn't, and how community-engaged research can be even stronger.

What Will You Learn?

Students who complete this course will understand the power of involving community members in research, as well as the challenges of this approach. They will be able to critically assess the quality of community engagement in ongoing studies and effectively communicate strategies for improvement.

For assessment purposes, this resolves into three demonstrable outcomes. Students will be able to:

• Locate a given research project on the spectrum of community engagement and explain the consequences of that position for the community, the data, and the findings.
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of specific community-engaged methods as they are actually practiced in the field, not as described in published protocols.
• Communicate concrete, feasible recommendations for strengthening engagement in an ongoing study, in terms a research team could act on.

Tentative Itinerary

• Day 1: Depart for Lima.
• Day 2: Lima to Iquitos. Orientation and walking tour of the city.
• Day 3: Travel to the rural community.
• Day 4 and 5 Participate in a mosquito control and solid waste management project alongside community members and the research team.
• Day 6: Return to Iquitos.
• Day 7: Visits to community-engaged projects based in Iquitos.
• Day 8 and 9 Rainforest lodge visit and interaction with affiliated NGO, to learn about community projects conducted from a non-research lens.
• Day 9: Return from lodge; flights Iquitos–Lima and Lima–Pennsylvania.

Cost and Payment Deadlines

Approximately $3000, exact costs TBD

Application

Apply here: Application Form for ENT-499: Community-Engaged Research in the Peruvian Amazon – Collaboration.  Application due October 31, 2026. 

More Information

Contact course leader for more details. Dr. Kara Fikrig, karafikrig@psu.edu or Dr. Jacob Ford, jmf7693@psu.edu

or contact Ketja Lingenfelter, Assistant Director for Student Global Engagement, ketja@psu.edu

Sustainable Development Goals This course is most closely aligned with SDGs:

• 3: Good Health and Well-Being
• 6: Clean Water & Sanitation
• 10: Reduced Inequalities
• 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• 17: Partnerships for the Goals