Thank you Peaches and Herb for this sentiment but we don’t have to go back to 1978 to feel this way. For the third year in a row ResearchImpact was featured at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of University Research Administrators held in lovely Calgary. ResearchImpact was reunited because Joaquin Trapero, former Knowledge Transfer Specialist at ResearchImpact-Victoria has re-assumed responsibility for the KMb portfolio. Thank you Laura Milne for 2 years of KMb service as KT Specialist until she left her job on May 1, 2010 and welcome back Joaquin (who never really left as he has been managing the UVic KMb courses even though he was managing UVic’s CFI and CRC portfolio).
Being reunited does feel so good.
The theme of this year’s CAURA was “Partnerships Work”. Many of the sessions featured discussions of partnerships between researchers and between researchers and their research collaborators from industry, community and government and it was generally accepted that supporting these relationships throughout their cycle (from identifying partners to disseminating research results) is an emerging role for research administrators – and it is emerging fast. The role of contracts managers and their fit between grants managers and technology transfer managers was discussed in the panel “Look before you leap – check in with your TTO before you sign on that dotted line”. The university-industry interface was explored from diverse perspectives of funders, researchers, institutions and companies in the session “Make your grant money go further – working with industry leveraged funding programs”. The session “The CAURA of Tomorrow” explored (among many other things) the emerging partnership roles for research administrators.
And the ResearchImpact universities were reunited after only 2 weeks since spending 2 days together (see here for our report on the ResearchImpact United Way meeting). Michael Johnny, Manager of Knowledge Mobilization (ResearchImpact York) hosted Dominique Robitaille (ResearchImpact – UQAM), Fiona Haynes (ResearchImpact – U. Saskatoon, also reuniting with ResearchImpact after leaving UofS Research Services for their College of Nursing) and Joaquin at the session “Support for faculty based knowledge mobilization”. Our RI colleagues at MUN were present in spirit and in video and our Guelph colleagues joined ResearchImpact too late to make the panel but we look forward to them joining us in the future.
Being reunited does feel so good.
Each of the RI presenters prepared a brief presentation on how KMb is being implemented in their institution but quickly moved to videos of faculty and community partners answering the following questions:
Researcher: Please briefly describe your community or partner engaged research program.
Partner: How might this research help your organization?
Partner: Please describe the role that knowledge mobilization (or knowledge transfer or translation) plays in your organization. How important is it to connect your organization to research?
Researcher: Similarly, how important is it for you to connect your research to end-users?
Partner: What support, if any, could universities play in facilitating the type of relationship building that you have experienced with your collaborator?
Researcher: If you could dream in knowledge mobilization technicolour, what kinds of support services for knowledge mobilization would you like to see from your institution?
You can watch the videos on the ResearchImpact YouTube channel (and when you do, don’t forget to comment on the videos using the comment feature on You Tube). Veuillez regarder les videos à la chaîne YouTube de Réseau Impact Recherche.
York: Project Teens Moms Speakers Corner
MUN: Harris Centre – David Yetman; Harris Centre – Pam Ward
UofS : Earth Day Part One; Part Two; Part Three
UQAM: À la croisée des savoirs; La mobilisation des connaissances
This presentation complemented the ResearchImpact booth in the Exhibitors’ Fair where those interested in KMb as an emerging institutional capacity could explore KMb in more depth with Michael and Joaquin.
So what’s next? Look for ResearchImpact at Congress where the theme is “Connected Understanding – le savoir branché” a close cousin to “Partnerships Work”. In order for your research-based partnership to work you need to first connect your understanding. Remember that knowledge mobilization is your support for effective partnerships and the ResearchImpact knowledge brokers are your source for KMb expertise. Connect to the ResearchImpact knowledge brokers at by completing our on line opportunity form that tells us what you need. Complete the form here and we’ll be in touch – promise.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glC9_8Ijt9k&hl=en_US&fs=1&]