Brett Fairbairn

Biography

A historian by training, Brett characterizes his recent research as interdisciplinary social science and history with a focus on democratic governance, community-based enterprise, and co-operative social movements. He is an accomplished practitioner of community-engaged scholarship and qualitative research methods. Brett is a Rhodes Scholar and Oxford University graduate, and has held an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the Freie Universität Berlin. Brett has more than one hundred publications of all types (peer-reviewed and community-oriented) including his two most recent books, Co-operative Membership and Globalization and Living the Dream: Membership and Marketing in the Co-operative Retailing System. He is co-editor of a forthcoming volume on co-operative enterprises and globalization in Canadian communities, the result of one of the largest collaborations ever undertaken to research co-operatives in Canada. In public policy Brett has worked with the Policy Research Initiative of the Privy Council of the Government of Canada on social policy and social enterprise, and with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada on co-operative alternatives for public services. In addition to these projects, he was also appointed twice by the province to chair the Saskatchewan Archives Board. In 2002 he received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for his university and public contributions. Brett has held a number of leadership roles including provost and vice-president academic at the University of Saskatchewan (2008-14).

Research Interest

Governance and innovation in non-profit enterprises Membership, participation, and organizational identity History of democracy and democratic movements Co-operatives in the new economy