On March 12, 2026, CIHR launched their new Knowledge Mobilization Strategy and Action Plan. It is a new vision for how CIHR will catalyze improved health, health systems and services, health products and health policies through four priority areas:
- Enhance
- Transform
- Invest
- Learn
Together, these support the overall goal of: “Working alongside the research community and valued partners, our goal is to ensure excellent health research contributes to positive health (including health services and health care systems), societal and economic impacts.”
A small but personally happy note: CIHR has moved from knowledge translation (the words used in the CIHR Act of 2000) to knowledge mobilization. Welcome to the KMb Tent, there is room enough for all!
CIHR has been listening to different groups to get feedback on the Strategy and Action Plan. On October 23, 2026, RIC hosted a workshop for CIHR to not only present the Strategy & Action Plan but to hear feedback from knowledge mobilization professionals. CIHR is used to hearing from researchers, clinicians, students, university and hospital executives, but when do they ever listen to the professional staff who will be working to support research and knowledge mobilization supported by the Strategy & Action Plan? RIC was delighted to be invited to participate. We brought approximately 30 staff from different RIC member institutions to the virtual event. We participated in breakout groups to identify suggestions that could be low-hanging fruit and big, bold ideas.
The ideas from the breakout groups were presented back to the larger group and then the participants voted on a Zoom poll to pick their favourites. The results are below. CIHR was very grateful for the opportunity. We don’t know what they will do with the feedback, but everyone who participated, and even those who didn’t, feel gratified that we are on the radar of CIHR and we get to have input into a national initiative with the potential to amplify the work of both RIC and CIHR.
Huge thank you to CIHR for the invitation and for helping facilitate the breakout groups. As always, thank you to Sandy Chan, RIC Operations Manager, who was the backbone of the event doing all the work in the background.
Discussion Question: What is one change in the KM ecosystem that, if successfully implemented over the next five years, would have the greatest impact on moving research into action?
Bold = Top-voted idea
| | My simple, inexpensive (“low-hanging fruit”) idea is… | My bold idea is… |
| Group 1 | – Curate, reuse, and convene existing resources and expertise instead of reinventing the wheel. Collaborate and leverage existing programs & experts – including knowledge brokers
– Compliance checklist to report back on knowledge mobilization (KM) activities at the end of grants to ensure accountability | – Build regional hubs of expertise, training, resources, and convene KM and Implementation Science (IS) so that there is space for both researchers and community to come together and have access to each other |
| Group 2 | – Recognition of the knowledge brokers driving the knowledge translation (KT) work – e.g. How do we highlight/spotlight them? | – CIHR to hold folks accountable for implementing KT plans at the end of grants – e.g. a grantee can develop a KT plan, but don’t have to follow through with it or only partially complete it
– Provide support for the knowledge users on the ground to find out what they need |
| Group 3 | – More involvement in the peer review process by professors so that they can (a) promote meritorious research to happen and (b) can learn from their peers on how to make their research easy-to-understand
– More incentives to simplify research into lay language (e.g. can provide training)
– Incentivize the sharing/publishing of the process of stakeholder engagement
– Simplify the process of adding community partners to CIHR grant applications | – AI tools that support assessing the consensus and KM for researchers (e.g. tools that show gaps in research and other applications)
– Lobby to increase the cap on funding for compensation to community partners in research (move beyond the Canada Revenue Agency $500 cap)
– Train folks on how to produce videos and other communication avenues to share knowledge in an accessible way |
| Group 4 | – Promoting the use of the “Partner Linkage Tool” and how it can be improved to create partnerships | – Train-the-trainer workshops for Principle/Primary Investigators (PIs)
– Simplify requirements for non-academics to participate in proposals as team members on new Tri-agency grants management solution (TGMS)
– Funding for early-stage co-production |
| The top-picked idea from each category as voted in the poll is… | – More incentives to simplify research in lay language (training to be provided) – 5 votes
– Reuse and convene existing resources and expertise – 5 votes
– Recognition of the knowledge brokers who drive the KT/KM work – 4 votes
– Partner linkage tool (Using it to support partnership development) – 3 votes | – Accountability from CIHR to ensure KT plans follow through – 6 votes
– Regional Hubs of expertise, training, resources and convening in KM and IS. Space for both researchers and community – 5 votes
– Raising the CRA $500 cap – 4 votes
– Train-the-trainer workshops for PIs – 2 votes |