The Audacity of Knowledge Mobilization

I’m not the only one, let’s be honest. And this is not a confession that my home office has pens from work, no, like countless others I was watching with great interest the historical Inauguration of President Obama. I thought that the wave of change promises to be exciting, but how far reaching will it be? Following up with that, I wondered how President Obama will impact my world as a knowledge broker. Well, even before he took the oath of office he has been hard at work.

One small step which may have gone unnoticed by some is the naming of Dr. John Holdren as his Science Adviser. While this choice is not overly newsworthy to me, who has a social sciences background, it was President Obama’s comments while introducing Dr. Holdren which resonate, “My administration will value science. We will make decisions based on the facts, and we understand that facts demand bold action”.

So, to our friends south of the border, I would like to introduce you to a Canadian network of university-led knowledge mobilization units which supports evidence-informed decision making – ResearchImpact. We value science too, and view science in the broadest possible terms, including natural, social and human sciences.

Day one for President Obama and the spirit of change feels good to me! How about you? Feel free to use our comment feature to respond to this. Comments on evidence-informed decision making are invited, but no need to come clean about your home office.

YorkU KM Expo 2009- Register today!

You are warmly invited to participate in the 2009 KM Expo: It’s About Partnerships. This event has been organized by the Knowledge Mobilization (KM) Unit at York University, which operates in partnership with the Human Services Planning Coalition of York Region and the York Region District School Board.

York’s annual Expo celebrates the successes of KM partnerships between York University and York Region while engaging KM stakeholders in planning future collaborations and discussing current issues. The KM Expo creates a space where community and academic stakeholders can meet and interact. There will be presentations by keynote speakers, concurrent workshops, a chance to meet the 2008 KM Summer Interns and opportunities for discussion and networking. The theme of the KM Expo 2009 is “It’s About Partnerships” where we will focus on new models for community and university engagement in research.

Date: Friday, February 6

Time: 8:00 am to 6:00 pm

Location: Le Parc Conference and Banquet Centre
8432 Leslie St (Highway 7 and Leslie), Richmond Hill Map to Location

Space is limited. Please complete the registration form and return to kmunit@yorku.ca before Monday, February 2, 2009 or register online by clicking here.

ResearchImpact IPM Grant Extension

Since 2005 ResearchImpact has been supported by SSHRC and CIHR through an Intellectual Property Mobilization (IPM) grant awarded to York and UVic. This was the first IPM grant in the 10 year history of the IPM program that funded knowledge mobilization for policy and practice relevant research. In Spring 2008 this tri-council program afforded all active IPM grantees the opportunity to extend their existing grants by 18 months. Recently York and UVic received notice from SSHRC and CIHR that the IPM grant for ResearchImpact was extended to November 30, 2009.

The ResearchImpact partners are committed to working locally and networking nationally to create structures and services that enhance knowledge mobilization to maximize the social, cultural, environmental and economic impacts of university research. ResearchImpact would like to thank SSHRC and CIHR for their continued support of knowledge mobilization. York and UVic’s Knowledge Mobilization Units provides services and funding for faculty, graduate students, and community/government organizations seeking to maximize the impact of academic research and expertise on public policy, social programming, and professional practice. It is supported by SSHRC and CIHR grants, and by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation (York) and Office of the Vice-President Research (UVic), as well as support from local partners.

YorkU’s KM P2P Network Welcomes Angie Hart on February 5

The KM Peer-2-Peer Network at York University is pleased to welcome Angie Hart, Director of the Community University Partnership Program (Cupp), at the University of Brighton, UK on Thursday, February 5, 9:00 am to noon in Room 106, Accolade West, Keele Campus, York University. For more information, please contact us at kmunit@yorku.ca.