KT Post Cards from #BRAIN2013 – Day 1 – Diversity

By David Phipps (RIR-York, writing as NeuroDevNet KT Core Lead)
The Knowledge Translation (KT) Core for NeuroDevNet, a network of centres of excellence focused on research, training and KT for childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, is busy making connections at the 2013 Brain Conference. Hosted by York University’s Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) Unit, David Phipps (KT Core – Lead) and Anneliese Poetz (KT Core – Manager) are presenting KT services, live tweeting (#Brain2013) and capturing the KT of the conference using a speakers corner.
Life at the booth is steady with many deep conversations about how the KT Core can support different research projects.
Health economics: how can we connect a graduate student investigating health economics in Cerebral Palsy with policy makers.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: how can we support two students seeking to use their research to inform high school science curriculum through a teachers’ workshop during a Professional Development Day. How can we use on line collaborative communities to enable quick and ready publishing on on line resources.
Neuroethics: we will be writing some published peer reviewed articles in 2 page ResearchSnapshot clear language research summaries.
Social media: youtube vs vimeo, blogging, twitter, twitter, twitter, slide share, event brite…lots of appetite for understanding how different social media tools can support KT and scholarship. The KT Core (with help from Krista Jensen of York’s KMb Unit) delivered a workshop on social media. There is also lots of reticence from some unsure about the relationship between academic author and academic blogger. For more on this please see a recent blog on Mobilize This.
This diversity, not only of subject matter but also of KT method, is testament to the appetite for KT among researchers, students and partners. We’re busy. We have meetings from 6 am to dinner after 6 pm. And we’re excited at this level of energy because we want to fulfill our mission of maximizing the impact of research and training on families and children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.