YorkU to host David Yetman of the Harris Centre, MUN on May 12

The KM Unit at York is hosting a talk on Tuesday May 12 and all are invited. David Yetman is the Manager of Knowledge Mobilization at the Leslie Harris Centre with Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. Johns. David will speak about Memorial’s experiences with KM and will demonstrate a new research search engine designed to support knowledge co-production in Newfoundland and Labrador. Information on KM activity at Memorial University can be found on their web site.

David has been managing the KM Unit at Memorial since 2004 and is also currently pursuing a Ph.D. within the Faculty of Medicine. His area of study is KM and will provide a rich theoretical background in addition to this operational experience and leadership in this area.

The event is taking place from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. in York Lanes 280. Space is limited and people are requested to RSVP to kejensen@yorku.ca. See the poster below for more details.

ResearchImpact Funds Homelessness Research and Knowledge Mobilization

“At this time, there is a dearth of information on the effectiveness of our responses to homelessness and our service models, including housing programs. That is, there is very little evaluation research of programs in Canada…In an era of increasing solutions to homelessness, it is increasingly important to know what works, why it works and for whom it works.”

Stephen Gaetz

ResearchImpact has a mandate to link researchers and decision makers in Victoria and Toronto but such collaborations need to be seeded in order to develop into full partnerships. ResearchImpact is investing in collaborative research and KM projects that address social challenges that are common to the two cities. Through a competitive process York has made a $30,000 grant to a project lead by Stephen Gaetz (York University), Bernie Pauly (University of Victoria) and their community partners Rachel Gray (Eva’s Initiatives), Kathy Stinson (Victoria Cool Aid Society) and Jill Clements, (Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness). Stephen and Bernie are joined by colleagues at York (Uzo Anucha, Stephanie Baker Collins, Michaela Hynie and Daphne Winland) and at UVic (Jutta Gutberlet, Aleck Ostry, Margo Matwychuk and Darlene Clover).

Their project, Ending Homelessness: “What works and for whom?” will establish a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of programs that address ending homelessness and it has three components:

• Based on a review of the literature and expert consultation, develop indicators for assessing programs and practices aimed at ending homelessness;

Bernie Pauly

• Develop and test an evaluation framework for assessing the effectiveness of programs for ending homelessness

• Using plain language summaries, technology to enhance access to the project and dissemination using the Homeless Hub the project will mobilize knowledge related to best practices in ending homelessness and guidelines for program evaluation in order to enhance community capacity and to allow other communities to use the evaluation methodologies developed.

The project will run jointly in both cities and results made available during Fall 2009. Good luck to the team. Stay tuned to Mobilize This! for more information on this and other investments ResearchImpact is making for social innovation.

GET HONEST: Our Youth Matter Event – April 22nd

The YorkU KM Unit is pleased to announce the following event hosted by our friends the York Region Alliance to End Homelessness and StreetKids International:

UVic Research Partnership Strategies Recognized in Europe

Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator Laura Milne, who works in the UVic Office of Community Based Research, was invited as a guest speaker to the STACS (Science Technology and Civil Society) Policy Meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium to discuss UVic’s innovative approach to collaborating with Community and Government organizations on Research Partnerships.

The various researchers involved in the STACS project have recognized that Canadian Universities, and UVic in particular, have taken a leadership role in engaging stakeholders from multiple sectors in research that relates to social issues and public policy. The Knowledge Mobilization initiative and the Office of Community Based Research are two excellent examples of how UVic supports Civic Engagement and continues to make the connection between the university research and the larger community, and the opportunity to discuss these strategies with researchers and policy makers in an international context is extremely valuable.

ACCELERATE Ontario Internship Workshop – April 27

YorkU’s KM Unit is pleased to be working in partnership with ACCELERATE Ontario and their graduate student internship program. Click here to learn more about the internship opportunities offered by YorkU’s KM Unit in partnership with ACCELERATE Ontario. We are also happy to announce this upcoming workshop hosted by MITACS ACCELERATE.

Build on your skills for success! Join MITACS Skills Enhancement Program for this one-day interactive, workshop and improve your networking skills!

As part of MITACS Skills Enhancement Program, this workshop was developed to provide opportunities for students to build on skill sets necessary to succeed in both the academia and industry setting.

Limited funding is available for student travel and accommodation for participants coming from outside of the Greater Toronto Area. Please contact Amanda Casorso, Events Coordinator, for eligibility.

***Registration is open to all MITACS students and past, present, and prospective MITACS ACCELERATE Interns – including all postdocs and students at the graduate level***

Monday April 27, 2009
Register Here!

or Go To:
http://www.mitacs.ca/conferences/ASPPN/

What: Effective Networking!
When: Monday, April 27, 2009
Where: 89 Chestnut Street, Toronto, ON
Time: 8:30AM-4:30PM (Registration 8:00AM Sharp!)

You’ve all heard the saying “you are only as good as your network”, but have you ever wondered how to get one?

Maximize your conference experience and Join MITACS Skills Enhancement Program to experience firsthand the power of positive networking. From academia to industry to your personal life, these skills will help you succeed!

All students attending MITACS 2009 Annual Conference are eligible to attend this pre-conference workshop and are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to immediately apply advanced learned networking skills in the following conference days.

What you will learn:

Participants encouraged to works on strategies to build relationships with present network as well as cross-network between disciplines.
Confidence, social intelligence skills.
Learn to build extensive, long-lasting connections;
Fuelling and maximizing existing connections.
Making networking a priority, where to locate relevant networking opportunities and events beyond ‘business only events’.
Dealing with networking roadblocks – getting comfortable handing out business cards

Speaker:
Donna Messer, ConnectUs Communications Canada

Donna Messer is an author, speaker and trainer for ConnectUs Communications Canada, her networking training has been added to the curriculum of colleges, universities, boardrooms and government offices around the world. Statistics show effective networking has a significant impact on income; that it’s not the quantity of business cards collected, rather the quality of the relationship built. Messer is a journalist and the lifestyle editor for several Canadian publications. Her expertise in networking is recognized worldwide. Her book “Effective Networking Strategies” is a best seller.
She can be reached through the website – www.connectuscanada.com.

***Please note that there is a $50.00 deposit to attend each workshop. This will be reimbursed to you pending confirmation of your attendance***

What’s included:

workshop materials
lunch and coffee breaks
access to recognized expertise
networking opportunities

***Limited funding is available for travel and accommodation for participants coming from outside of the Greater Toronto Area***

For information and/or to apply for travel & accommodation funding please contact Amanda Casorso, Events Coordinator at acasorso@mitacs.ca.

For more information on the Skills Enhancement Program please contact Kamilla Karoli, Programs Coordinator at kkaroli@mitacs.ca.

Opportunity Description Form

It all begins here, the Opportunity Description Form

In over three years, knowledge brokers at York University and the University of Victoria have supported over 100 collaborative partnerships between researchers and local decision makers. One constant amongst all collaborations is the Opportunity Description Form. This one-page form, found on the ResearchImpact website provides users the chance to state in their own words what they are seeking from a research-based collaboration. The ResearchImpact Brokers then use these, similar to a calling card, to help identify a proper match. It is possible for organizations to produce multiple opportunity description forms each presenting a new request. The range of requests vary considerably; some organizations are seeking expertise in program evaluation, others are looking for capacity to help advance a project, and others are seeking collaborators to jointly develop a proposal.

Give some thought about the research-based needs in your organization then jot them onto the one-page opportunity description form and forward it to a knowledge broker in the ResearchImpact network . It is as simple as that, and the results can be truly transformative!

Stay tuned for new and exciting changes to the ResearchImpact website which will make this process even easier!