Student Led Research Grant Announcement from UVic

The UVic Knowledge Mobilization (KM) Unit is pleased to announce an excellent funding opportunity that will allow Graduate and Undergraduate students at UVic to participate in KM.

The “Student Led Research Grants” initiative connects the B.C. Government with university students and their professors to conduct research that addresses public policy issues. It provides students with unique opportunities to apply their research skills to challenges faced by government and society.
To support the implementation and development of the research projects cross government, the BC Government is providing a one time funding grant to the University of Victoria to support student led research. The intent of the grant is to promote partnerships with post secondary institutions and to facilitate student research. The research generated from these grants will be used to aid in decision making and policy formation in various Ministries across the BC Government.

The funding available is up to $1500 per student, and may be used by the student to support new or ongoing research projects. To be eligible, students must receive written support from a supervising faculty member. The UVic KM Unit will be responsible for allocating and administering the student grants. The funding is provided directly to students in the form of honorariums, or in the form of travel and education grants to attend and present research at conferences.

The grant guidelines include a document from the BC Government outlining the current areas of research interest in the various Ministries. Students are encouraged to read through this document to see if their research is eligible for funding.

To view these grant guidelines, application forms, and support forms, go to:

www.researchimpact.ca/localRI/UVic/cgrpp

The deadline for proposals is October 3rd, 2008

meet a mobilizer – Jason Guriel, York University

My name is Jason Guriel, and I’m a Ph.D. Candidate in English at York University, with an interest in contemporary American poetry. I’m a published poet and critic, but for the last few summers, I’ve also helped to craft research summaries for the Knowledge Mobilization (KM) Unit at York University. Some of my professors would probably be scared of the vaguely militaristic term, “Knowledge Mobilization,” but they have nothing to be afraid of! KM is about communication, and this job has been more than just a summer gig that pays the bills between teaching assignments; it certainly has involved more than just summarizing academic research. The KM Unit has given me the chance to not only learn about the very best of York research but to help make some of it more accessible to a wider audience. The KM Unit is also a fun group to work with, and not a bad bunch of bowlers!

ACCELERATE Ontario – Ontario’s Graduate Research Internship Program

ACCELERATE Ontario is a unique program which connects the province’s up-and-coming highly-skilled researchers – grad students and post-doctoral fellows – with Ontario companies through short-term applied research projects.

The formula is simple; a 4-month research project is identified which is of interest to an Ontario company, a graduate student or post-doctoral fellow – the intern – and his/her supervising professor. Over the 4 months, the intern undertakes research on the identified business issue under the supervision of the professor, all the while remaining a student at his/her university

Half of the intern’s time is spent on site with the partner company, researching the identified issue, collecting data and gaining an in-depth understanding of the challenge while the balance of his/her time is spent at the university, further advancing the research under the guidance of a professor and developing an innovative tool, technology or solution to the company’s challenge.

For each four month internship, the partner company contributes $7.5K, which is matched dollar-for-dollar by ACCELERATE Ontario, through the support of the Government of Ontario, the NCE Program and NSERC. The result is a $15K research grant to the intern’s supervising professor with the intern receiving a minimum of $10K for the 4-month period. The remaining $5K can support other costs associated with the internship, such as intern travel, computer equipment, laboratory materials etc. The program is managed by MITACS, a federally-funded research network connecting Canadian researchers with companies, government agencies and other organizations through collaborative research projects.

To facilitate research opportunities, MITACS has an Ontario-based team of business development personnel hosted by York University. With diverse backgrounds in information technology, business, biotechnology and chemistry, the team will work companies to clearly define their research challenges and find the ideal research expertise to tackle the problem. They will also help university-based researchers identify companies which could be interested in their research.

Any faculty is eligible for an ACCELERATE Ontario internship – from nursing to computer science and engineering, to biology to anthropology to social work. For more information, visit www.acceleratecanada.ca and click on “Ontario” or contact Namrata Barai at nbarai@mitacs.ca .

York’s KM Unit Continues to Forge Relationships between Researchers and Community Agencies

On July 24, 2008, York University played host to the first ever Knowledge Mobilization Peer to Peer (P2P) Network meeting. The meeting brought together students, researchers, and community partners engaged in knowledge mobilization (KM) – the active, two-way exchange of information and expertise between knowledge creators and knowledge users.

“This is an extraordinarily innovative undertaking,” said Dr. David Dewitt, Associate Vice-President Research & Innovation, at the start of the P2P Network meeting. “York is not just trying to impart info to the outside world,” he noted. “We are here to work with our colleagues outside the university.”

Knowledge mobilization (KM) is not a new process. Traditionally, tech transfer offices have provided universities with a mechanism for patenting scientific discoveries, like new vaccines, which can then be moved out into the world. But no comparable mechanism exists for research from areas like the social sciences and humanities – research that can have a profound impact on shaping public policy and professional practice. The KM Unit at York, one of two such Units in the country which have received grants from CIHR and SSHRC, provides just that mechanism. Along with the University of Victoria, York’s KM Unit has created ResearchImpact, Canada’s emerging KM network.

“We have an opportunity to complement and redefine scholarship,” said Michael Johnny, Manager of York’s KM Unit. “KM depends on relationships that we need to actively broker.”

Some of the relationships that the KM Unit has brokered were in evidence at the P2P Network Meeting. Attendees included homelessness researcher Dr. Stephen Gaetz, an Associate Dean with the Faculty of Education at York, and numerous graduate students who, through grants made possible by the KM Unit, now work with community agencies throughout the GTA.

Dr. Joanne Cummings, a York researcher, gave a brief talk on the Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet), a project for which she serves as Partnership Manager. The goal of PREVNet is to translate and exchange knowledge about bullying to enhance awareness, to provide assessment and intervention tools, and to promote policy related to the problems of bullying. PREVNet, as Cummings noted, is trying to mobilize knowledge about bullying to the community.

“The importance of creating relationships can’t be overemphasized,” Cummings told the assembled participants.

The meeting ended with a roundtable discussion that set the agenda for the Knowledge Mobilization P2P Network as it continues to encourage new relationships that will help to build and sustain vital research partnerships over time.

Knowledge Mobilization and Community-Based Research at UVic

The UVic Knowledge Mobilization Unit and Office of Community-Based Research have been working closely together under the institutional banner of “Civic Engagement” for a year. It is quickly becoming apparent that the goals of both of these initiatives would be realized more efficiently and thoroughly if there was an official amalgamation. The upcoming merger of the Knowledge Mobilization Unit and the Office of Community Based Research will create greater capacity for impact on all levels.

The coming together of Knowledge Mobilization and Community-Based Research functions at UVic will allow the knowledge brokers to pool resources, exchange expertise, and expand networks, leading to greater capacity to support various research collaborations with community organizations and policy makers. This merger will create one cohesive, organized, and productive office with a civic engagement mandate relating to positive social change.