ResearchImpact Is Mobilizing Knowledge in Canada

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expand the program to a national level, they later founded the ... Health Research (YIHR) to help evaluate the success o
ResearchImpact Is Mobilizing Knowledge in Canada What is this research about?

What you need to know:

Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) is a suite of services that enhances the two-way connection between researchers and research users. By connecting researchers to research users, KMb ensures that research has an impact on decision-making. It turns research into action. Working together from grants awarded in 2006, both York University and the University of Victoria established KMb Units. These KMb units had three goals:

ResearchImpact (RI), piloted by the Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) Units at York University and the University of Victoria, successfully connects research to research users. York and UVic have become key hubs for KMb activities. They are poised to become national leaders in KMb. RI has the potential to make a larger impact on future decision-making in Canada.

1. Increase the dissemination of academic research to the community 2. Increase the uptake of academic research by the community 3. Increase the impact of research on the community. Initially, the KMb Units focused on the area of “Health and Society” in York Region and on Vancouver Island, respectively. They wanted to increase the extent to which research in “Health and Society” is used by policy-makers and community groups to develop more effective, efficient, and responsive public policies and social programs. They also aimed to ensure that graduate students and post-doctoral fellows had a chance to gain valuable experience working with various stakeholders. To support their goals and expand the program to a national level, they

later founded the ResearchImpact (RI) program, a joint effort that aims to link research with research users across Canada. In 2009, they turned to the York Institute for Health Research (YIHR) to help evaluate the success of their efforts.

What did the researchers do? Researchers from the York Institute for Health Research (YIHR) at York University evaluated the activities and outcomes of the KMb Units at York and the University of Victoria. Their goal was to look at how effective the Units had been in carrying out what they intended to do and how they could be improved. More specifically, the researchers aimed to:

1. Demonstrate the need for the KMb Units to continue 2. Determine how the KMb Units could improve their performance 3. Suggest how the KMb Units could expand into a national network. Using surveys and interviews, the YIHR team collected info from KMb staff, students, faculty, and community members who had participated in KMb activities. They also reviewed documents produced by the KMb Units. Information collected included data on the number of faculty, community, and students involved in KMb; the number of collaborations formed; the number of activities (such as presentations and meetings) undertaken; the amount of funding leveraged as a result of collaborations; community members’ and faculty’s perceptions of the success of their partnerships; students’ perceptions of knowledge acquired through KMb activities; and data on Web activity.

What did the researchers find? Researchers found that the ResearchImpact (RI) program and the KMb Units at York University and the University of Victoria have been very successful. The KMb Units have helped to connect research with research users by:

 Hiring knowledge brokers who work to match researchers with members of the community  Delivering information sessions on KMb to community and university stakeholders  Creating a Research Translation Helpdesk (at UVic)  Delivering courses for studentgovernment research partnerships (at UVic)

 Offering grants for student internships and faculty-community partnerships  Developing a Web site (www.researchimpact.ca)  Creating brief, clear-language research summaries (such as York’s Research Snapshots, www.researchimpact.ca/ researchsearch)  Developing a social media strategy Organizing research and networking events. Early on, the KMb Units focused on the dissemination of research. More recently, they have concentrated on building partnerships, with an interest in larger, less geographicallycentred networks. These national networks can help to overcome some of the limitations of smaller agencies and local faculties. The goal of the KMb Units to train graduate students, however, has remained a constant, especially at UVic. The KMb Units have engaged over 500 faculty, student, and community partners in 2½ years. The local KMb and national RI programs have yet to make a large impact on decisionmaking and program delivery in Canada, which is not surprising for 2½ year programs. But they have brought together faculty, students, and community partners to create knowledge. Community partners report that they have increased their research capacity and students have gained research skills and, in some cases, jobs. In general, the KMb Units have awakened an enthusiasm for KMb in both academic and non-academic communities. In particular, they have helped to change the image of the university in the eyes of community health and service agencies. There may be a limit to how many faculty members are interested in KMb; not all faculty wish to partner with community or government agencies. But the interest among

students is very strong, and many faculty have been enthusiastic about engaging in KMb activities. Many people have applied for internships with the KMb Units or participated in RI initiatives. Community partners also continue to contribute resources. Stakeholders believe that the partnerships they have engaged in and the research they have created will lead to changes. In terms of their original aims, the researchers demonstrated strong interest in the continuation of the KMb Units’ work from community, student, and faculty partners, and the importance of the KMb knowledge broker model to support these partnerships. Secondly, they found that the KMb Units can improve by engaging in long-term tracking of outcomes and impacts, building on some of their student educational opportunities, and seeking sustainable funding models. Finally, they suggested that the KMb Units should strengthen existing multi-site, multiinstitutional partnerships to support the building of a larger, national network through social media, institutional support, and larger scale partnerships.

How can you use this research? Anyone who is interested in connecting research to research users can benefit from these findings. The KMb Units at York University and the University of Victoria have created the conditions that will enable them to make an impact on public policy and the larger community for years to come. It may just be a matter of time for evidence of this impact to be available. Lessons learned from this research can inform decisions about creating KMb Units at other universities and about successful community-university partnerships in general. Future studies of KMb activities should try to maximize

response rates. They should also engage people who are not involved in KMb activities. In order to identify the impact of the KMb Units, evaluations should allow for a long-term follow-up. Ultimately, methods of evaluating social and policy impact need to be developed and applied to confirm the impact of these activities. Government grants, matched by institutional and community support, continue to fund the KMb Units and the RI program. But sustained funding will help to support the focus and capacity that have already been generated. More funding will also help to grow national networks for KMb. Two-way partnerships, in which specific needs can be met, will maximize the impact of research.

About the Researcher Michaela Hynie is Associate Director of the York Institute for Health Research (YIHR). This ResearchSnapshot is from her study, “Evaluation of the University of Victoria and York University Knowledge Mobilization and ResearchImpact Programs.” [email protected]

Knowledge Mobilization at York York’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit provides services and funding for faculty, graduate students, and community organizations seeking to maximize the impact of academic research and expertise on public policy, social programming, and professional practice. It is supported by SSHRC and CIHR grants, and by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. [email protected] www.researchimpact.ca

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.