About

The CBR Lab is building community and capacity around comics-based research, a rapidly growing research methodology that can be applied to virtually any academic discipline.

Group of eight cartoon humans, who are diverse in age, skin color, ability, gender, and interests, sitting around a table. The table is labeled CBR lab. Clockwise, starting on the lower left, the characters are labeled as: researcher learning about art, learning to draw, wants to support student projects, curious about CBR, working on a grant application (two characters), artist learning about research, K-12 teacher, and wants to build community.
Cartoon character in magenta dress with medium brown skin and black curly hair sitting on a stool and drawing on an easel. Character is saying, “My butt still hurts, but I’ve found a creative research community at CBR Lab!”

The Comics-Based Research Lab

The Comics-Based Research Lab began in 2023. It is the first of its kind, supporting creative research methods for students, faculty, and staff at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and beyond. Since then, we have produced pathbreaking comic-based work, including dissertations and book-length manuscripts. Our international membership has increased to over 200 members, and daughter labs have sprung up at four other institutions. The CBR Lab aims to continue spreading comics-based research throughout the land.

We do this by:

• Supporting scholarly and nonfiction comic work

• Participating in academic conferences and art residencies

• Supporting and producing cutting edge comics-based scholarship

• Providing a forum for support, community and scholarly engagement

• Supporting our one-of-a kind speakers series

Join us!

CBR Lab meets monthly on Zoom (and occasionally in-person) during the academic year to share our work, bring in guest speakers, and create comics together!

Email us to learn how to get involved and join our mailing list!

Meet Our Members