RIC was recently featured in the Network of Advancing & Evaluating the Societal Impact of Sciences (AESIS)’s January 2025 newsletter under “AESIS Member Contributions.” Please see below for the post.
Another great year for the Research Impact Canada (RIC) network
Author(s): David Phipps, York University & Research Impact Canada, Canada
RIC was founded in 2006 to build institutional capacity for knowledge mobilization and the non-commercial pathways to societal impacts of research. Our 2024 Annual Report can be found in English and French. Some highlights include membership growth, the Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum and the annual meeting.
The RIC network continues to grow and in 2024 we welcomed a record number of new members. We are pleased to welcome eight new members to RIC in 2024. We now have 37 members in the RIC Network, including universities, colleges, and research hospitals including 3 UK universities (yes, we welcome non-Canadian members). Due to the volume of new member requests, we have instituted a once-per-year call deadline for new members every December. In early 2025, we will also review our new member application criteria and process to ensure that RIC has appropriate diversity in membership across regionality in Canada, language, and size of institution.
In June 2024, we hosted the biennial Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum in Montreal. We invested in simultaneous translation and programmed French-first content to embody the bilingualism policy developed in 2023. We aimed to attract 150 participants and were delighted to cap attendees at over 170. The next Forum will be in Toronto in July 2026.
We held a very successful Annual Meeting jointly hosted by University of Ottawa and Carleton University in September 2024. This is always a highlight for the network, with members reporting that networking and connecting with peers across our diverse membership is essential to their growth and further future collaborations. This year, we held a world café where RIC members presented on projects underway at their institutions. Attendees gained practical insights and affirmed our collective commitment to create impact.
RIC is one of the voices driving knowledge mobilization to maximize the impacts of research for Canadians. If you are interested in learning more, you can sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the RIC home page and/or you can send a message to info@researchimpact.ca.