Insights from RIC Members Working in the Field of Knowledge Mobilization

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These insights were drawn from Research Impact Canada (RIC) members who participated in Dr RIC on December 18, 2024.

Dr RIC? What’s that you say?

Dr RIC is one of my favourite parts of RIC and that’s saying something because I love most things to do with RIC. Dr RIC is a monthly video call where we discuss items identified by RIC members, we profile some RIC members, and we sometimes have breakout groups to do a bit of a deep dive on topics and make some connections between participants.

At the request of RIC members, we have discussed KMb related to all sorts of things such as tenure & promotion (always of interest), staying safe on social media, EDI, DORA, impact evaluation. And much more.

Dr RIC arose out of the 2018 RIC Annual Meeting in Vancouver. We recognized that in 2018 many of us were solo practitioners in our organizations, but we kept running into common issues. Dr RIC was named because the monthly call was like a group therapy session. No single person is Dr RIC. We are all Dr RIC, and we bring our experiences and expertise to benefit RIC members.

What a treat in December 2024 that RIC staff member extraordinaire, Sandy Chan, organized a Dr. RIC around ice breaker exercises that asked participants about their work. All exercises were on slido and Sandy collected the responses and made this amazing infographic. Thank you, Sandy.

One thing that comes through for me on the infographic is that knowledge mobilization in general and RIC in particular is about community. Dr RIC started as a place where mobilizers can find their peeps – find their community.

  • What’s your favourite thing about working in KMb: Meeting like-minded folks who care about the community and being a force for good and who want to make a difference/impact.
  • An under-rated skill: Partnership development
  • RIC in one word: COMMUNITY – by far the most cited word

Each month RIC sends a note to hold the date for Dr RIC, usually held toward the end of the month. Why not come out to the next one, and the one after that and then one after that…you get the idea.