By David Phipps (ResearchImpact, York)
ResearchImpact-RéseauImpactRecherche (RIR) is new but it is founded on established practices of knowledge brokering: linking researchers and decision makers who can co-produce knowledge and information to inform decisions about public policy and professional practice. The idea might not be new but we are implementing it in new ways.
Le réseau Impact Recherche est nouveau, mais est fondé sur des pratiques éprouvées en courtage de connaissances : mettre en lien des chercheurs et des décideurs qui peuvent co-produire des connaissances et de l’information pour éclairer les décisions en matière de politiques publiques et de pratiques professionnelles. Cette idée n’est peut-être pas nouvelle, mais nous la mettons en œuvre d’une façon novatrice.
I was in London, UK recently and I saw “Blood Brothers“, a story of twins separated at birth. It’s not a new story. This archetypal storyline was seen in The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, the film Start the Revolution Without Me and The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas. As much as I enjoyed the show I realized there really are no new ideas (did you notice that Avatar was just Dances with Wolves in space?).
The next morning I came across an article titled Using Knowledge Brokering to Promote Evidence-Based Policy-Making: The Need for Support Structures by Jessika van Kammen, Don de Savigny and Nelson Sewankambo. The article examined two case studies of knowledge brokering, one from the Netherlands and one from The Regional East-African Community Health (REACH)-Policy Initiative. The article concludes that knowledge brokering functions organize “the interactive process between the producers and users of knowledge so that they can co-produce feasible and research-informed policy options” (does this sound familiar?). This article was published in 2006 which means the work was probably done in 2004-2005 before RIR was anything more than a bright idea. The article also summarizes these functions which I reproduce below and align them with the brokering roles we provide at RIR-York.
| Knowledge Broker Functions (2006) |
RIR-York Functions (2011) |
| Organizing and managing joint forums for policy-makers and researchers |
KM in the AM; Lunch & Learn |
| Building relationships of trust |
Supporting research collaborations |
| Setting agendas and common goals |
Supporting research collaborations |
| Signaling mutual opportunities |
Research translation help desk |
| Clarifying information needs |
Research translation help desk |
| Commissioning syntheses of research of high policy relevance |
|
| Packaging research syntheses and facilitating access to evidence |
ResearchSnapshot clear language research summaries |
| Strengthening capacity for knowledge translation |
KMb interns; Peer-2-Peer KMb |
| Communicating and sharing advice |
Social media; telling our stories |
| Monitoring impact on the know–do gap |
Data collection; evaluation |
Many of the KMb services we offer at RIR-York were anticipated or described in 2006. We think we’re being innovative but as you can see, there really are no new ideas (see my blog post about this referencing an even earlier paper from 2003). In fact, according to an article written by Jonathan Lomas in 2007, the concept of knowledge brokering can be traced back to the dye industry in Germany in the 1800s. Even though the idea of knowledge brokering isn’t new, RIR is expressing this idea in new ways.
- RIR universities are investing in an institutional capacity to support knowledge mobilization the way most universities support technology transfer.
- RIR universities intentionally connect KMb activities to local United Way/Centraide partners to foster local community-university collaborations
- RIR is a pan-Canadian network of knowledge brokers working to ensure the best research in Canada is available to decision makers throughout the country
At least I think this is new.
I’ll probably end up reading something, somewhere, sometime that anticipates an RIR model before we did. I’ll then write another blog just like this one. There really are no new ideas, just new ways of expressing them. In the meantime, we will continue to practice the old ideas (like knowledge brokering) in new ways (like RIR) that create public value from public investments in research.
If you’ve got any new ideas, let us know.