Talking about Social Innovation / En parlant d’innovation sociale

by David Phipps, RIR (York) Knowledge mobilization is a process that enables social innovation (outcomes) but social innovation remains a persistent gap in Canada’s innovation agenda.  Recent conversations in Ottawa and Montreal suggest that there’s a new voice that is speaking to Canada’s innovation agenda. La mobilisation des connaissances est un processus qui rend possible […]

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A Knowledge Mobilization Lunch at UVic / Un déjeuner de la mobilisation des connaissances à UVic

Dale Anderson, RIR-UVic Knowledge mobilization and the public: That was the theme of the inaugural event in our KMb Lunch Series held on October 19 at UVic. La mobilisation des connaissances (MdC) et le public: tel était le thème de l’événement inaugural de notre série Déjeuner de la MdC à UVic du 19 octobre. Our […]

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Learning from International Knowledge Intermediaries

The follow blog post by David Phipps, RIR-York, was originally posted on Research into Action’s KTExhange Knowledge Translation Weblog on November 17, 2011. It is reposted here with permission. On October 6, 2011 I wrote about knowledge intermediary organizations in Canada, US and UK:  York University’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit (KMb Unit, Canada), The Research Into […]

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Why Knowledge Mobilization? / Pourquoi la mobilisation des connaissances ?

By David Phipps – RIR (York) Why is knowledge mobilization emerging as an institutional paradigm for community university collaboration? Limited resources and increasing public accountability require that university researchers and their non-academic partners collaborate to accomplish more with less. Pourquoi la mobilisation des connaissances émerge-t-elle en tant que paradigme institutionnel pour la collaboration université-milieux ? […]

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Meet Karen Follett, KMb Coordinator at The Harris Centre

The following blog story was first published in The Harris Centre’s newsletter The Regional, Fall 2011. It is reposted here with permission. When I started with the Harris Centre three years ago, I remember being very confused at my first meeting by the onslaught of acronyms and strange terms. KMb, brokering, knowledge transfer, stakeholder, lay […]

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Mobilizing Knowledge Inside the University / Mobiliser les connaissances dans l’université

Mobilizing knowledge inside the university
Bugs and ballet make for an interesting combination and they illustrate that knowledge mobilization can happen within the university as effectively as between university and community.
ResearchImpact-RéseauImpactRecherche (RIR) has posted 279 blogs on Mobilize This! Our readers have viewed the blog 73,133 times (as of November 6, 2011). Every single one of them dealt with some form of knowledge mobilization (KMb) and advocated connecting university research and talent with non-academic audiences to inform decisions about public policy and professional practice.
Until now.
KMb is a process that connects researchers to decision makers. Sometimes decision makers are other researchers. Sometimes knowledge brokers need to broker relationships inside the ivory tower. That’s where Bugzzz comes in.
On August 25, Y File published, “Dance and theatre professors begin work on ‘Bugzzz’”. As reported by Y File “Bugzzz aims to challenge the notion of progress, particularly our uncritical obsession with technology. The project proceeds as if human civilization has self-destructed because of our over consumption of resources. Only insects remain and it is they who take an archeological look at the value of civilization through art, specifically through Giacomo Puccini’s opera, Tosca.”
Side bar: my PhD was in invertebrate (ie bug) immunology and I recently started dancing again after a 7 year break from the ballet studio. That’s why Bugzzz caught my attention.
I contacted one of the principals behind Bugzzz, Gwen Dobie, and asked if she had ever spoken to any of York’s entomologists (bug experts) to inform her creative work. Gwen replied “We’d be pleased to meet with any bug researchers you may know. It would certainly enrich our process.” I was offering to help her connect to scientific research and expertise to inform her creative and artistic decisions about movement, sound, behavior and design (costume, lighting, stage etc.). Very knowledge mobilization. All inside the university.
On October 13 I had the pleasure of introducing Gwen Dobie (Theatre) and her colleagues William Mackwood (Dance), Barbara Evans (Film) and Teresa Przybylski (Theatre) to three faculty from the Department of Biology: Andrew Donini (mosquitoes and midges), Amro Zayed (bees) and Laurence Packer (dead bees…with over 100,000 specimens of bees he has the largest bee collection in Canada with bees the size of the head of a pin and bees bigger than 3 cm….some black and yellow…some black…some blue!!!).
The scientists showed off their facilities, pictures and bugs and the artists asked lots and lots and lots of questions, about colony vs. individual behaviours (do bugs have empathy?), what/how do bugs hear and the waggle dance (see video below).
The scientists were incredibly giving of their time and expertise. The creative artists were engaged, intrigued, enthralled. I had a blast since it allowed me to reflect on two interests: bugs and ballet. The scientists and artists all felt that the morning was valuable. Feedback from participants included:
I’m so pleased we were able to have this opportunity to receive a small insight into your very interesting investigations. It will deeply inform our own research/creative process (Gwen Dobie).
It was fun. Best wishes for your production and feel free to visit again if you wish (Andrew Donini).
Thanks to all for their interest. Thanks to Amro who gave us honey from his bee hives and thanks to Barbara Evans for the pictures from the morning. Be sure to check out the following video about how bees communicate and manage to give directions all without a GPS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg
[…]

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Validation of the Conceptual Research Utilization Scale: An Application of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing in Healthcare

Squires, J. E., Estabrooks, C. A., Newburn-Cook, C. V. & Gierl, M. (2011). Validation of the conceptual research utilization scale: An application of the standards for educational and psychological testing in healthcare. BMC Health Services Research, 11(1), 107 -152. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-11-107 Abstract Background: There is a lack of acceptable, reliable, and valid survey instruments to measure conceptual research utilization (CRU). […]

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Mobilizing Knowledge to Parliamentarians / Mobiliser la connaissance pour les parlementaires

by David Phipps (RIR-York) Philip Kelly was on Parliament Hill recently speaking about his research and its policy implications for New Canadians seeking employment and social mobility. Phil was mobilizing knowledge to Parliamentarians. Philip Kelly était récemment sur la colline du Parlement afin d’y présenter ses recherches et les implications politiques de celles-ci pour les […]

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