On April 8, 2015 the ResearchImpact-RéseauImpactRecherche (RIR) Executive Leads committee made a conditional acceptance to the University of New Brunswick to become the 12th RIR university. On August 24, 2015, those conditions were met and we were pleased to welcome UNB as our newest RIR member.
Le 8 avril 2015, le comité directeur du RéseauImpactRecherche-ResearchImpact (RIR) avait accepté, moyennant certaines conditions, que l’Université du Nouveau-Brunswick devienne le 12e membre du réseau. Le 24 août 2015, les conditions étaient remplies, et c’est avec plaisir que le RIR accueille aujourd’hui son tout nouveau membre.
UNB has a long tradition of supporting knowledge mobilization. UNB leads the New Brunswick Social Policy Research Network (NBSPRN) which supports evidence-based public policy by bridging the gap between those making decisions, those conducting research, non-governmental organizations and New Brunswick citizens. NBSPRN envisions a New Brunswick that is a leader in evidence-based public policy development through Networked Governance. NBSPRN achieves this mission through knowledge mobilization connecting UNB researchers with public policy stakeholders from the public, private and non-profit sectors.
UNB also leads the Pond Deshpande Centre, a catalyst to grow and support a stronger culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the province of New Brunswick. It seeks to ensure that New Brunswick communities are the location of choice for aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs because they are start-up friendly and our post-secondary institutions have best in class entrepreneurship programming. Part of their work includes connecting UNB researchers and students to the social innovation and entrepreneurship community in New Brunswick.
Both NBSPRN and the Pond Deshpande Centre build on a track record of engaged scholarship and community engagement at UNB.
David Burns
“UNB is delighted to join ResearchImpact”, says David Burns, VP Research for UNB. “We have already established our knowledge mobilization practices on campus by leading a number of entrepreneurship initiatives such as the NB Social Policy Research Network and the Pond Deshpande Centre which are helping us connect our campus to innovation and entrepreneurship across New Brunswick. We look forward to learning from the diverse knowledge mobilization practices of the ResearchImpact members across Canada and sharing our work here in New Brunswick.
UNB is an important university for RIR. UNB and the Harris Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland are two of Atlantic Canada’s leading knowledge mobilization universities. This is as much a wonderful opportunity for RIR as it is for UNB.
RIR welcomed Nick Scott (Managing Director, NBSPRN) as RIR Director for UNB and Sasha McEachern-Caputo (Research Coordinator, NBSPRN) as RIR Knowledge Broker for UNB at our annual RIR meeting in St. John’s on September 10-11.