By Michael Johnny – ResearchImpact York
While 2011 is only 9 weeks old, York’s KMb Unit has had lots of outreach activity designed to promote Knowledge Mobilization services at York University.
Bien que l’année 2011 ne soit entamée que depuis 9 semaines, l’Unité de mobilisation des connaissances de York a planifié toute une série d’activités de sensibilisation afin de promouvoir les services développés à l’Université de York.
While I am not an avid viewer of the Antiques Roadshow, the concept is a fascinating one for me; people lining up with their unique ‘treasures’ to share with experts in hope of finding what they possess is of significant value. I can’t say that our efforts in promoting York’s Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) Unit are significantly different. When we present our KMb services people approach us to learn about who we are and what we do. Through this exchange, people develop a greater sense of what we can do to support them. With a clear and common understanding of our capacity to broker research and knowledge based collaborations, quite often people visiting our booth will then share a specific need or expertise they have within their organization, research unit or area of study.
Similar to the experts behind the desk at the Antiques Roadshow, we work with them to polish the idea and seek a relevant collaborative match to provide value for the person who made the initial inquiry. Our colleagues at RéseauImpactRecherche – UQAM have a great word for this in French- valorisation. But we don’t have an equivalent word in English. People sometimes dismiss their ideas feeling they may not fit our mandate or their work may not be attractive to collaborators. But like the ‘treasures’ of the Antique Roadshow every project opportunity holds the potential to be extremely valuable for all involved!
Since the start of the New Year, York KMb has been involved in 11 unique events/functions where we’ve been able to demonstrate and showcase the services York has available in knowledge mobilization:
January 19 – Annual United Way Gala Dinner
January 25 – KM in the AM – Food Security
February 3 – Launch of Markham Convergence Centre
February 5 – PREVNet Knowledge Mobilization meeting
February 8 – KM in the AM – Neighbourhood Happiness
February 9-10 – Ontario Education Research Symposium
February 15 – York Autism Research Alliance
February 19 – Canadian Business Ethics Research Network
February 19-20 – Mobilizing Minds annual meeting
February 22 – York Region Conference – ‘Beyond the Boomers: Aging Workforce Strategies’
March 1 – Climate Change Policy and Research Day
Lots of treasures here over the past two months, and many more to uncover! We are delighted that we can support established opportunities like Mobilizing Minds, PREVNet and CBERN while we make new friends in climate change, education and York Region. So contact us, we would love to learn about the research and knowledge based needs of your organization. Our road show is open for you!