A Love Story: Working in KMb / Une histoire d’amour: travailler en MdC

Michael Johnny, RIR- YorkU

I have the best job within the university. I know this because I feel like I am 23 years old again!

J’ai le meilleur emploi de toute l’université. Je le sais parce que je me sens comme si j’avais de nouveau 23 ans!

This is likely not what you’re hoping this blog post to be.  Love stories are seldom about work, they are about people.   This is about my relationship with my work, does that make sense?

I tell people that I have the best job in the university.  Being a knowledge broker is extremely fulfilling; working within a service unit that is respected and appreciated, and has a capacity to help enable research to impact society is important.  I like it.  Check that, I love it.  It was in reflecting with some other brokers about my career path to get to this place of enlightened happiness that made me realize this is an important story.

When I was 23 years old I started my career as Aboriginal Literacy Coordinator within the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, a Friendship Centre which provides diverse social services to the Aboriginal population of the Greater Hamilton area.  It is not an understatement to say the work was transformative for me.  I quickly developed a passion for my work.  Complex service work that is rooted in values of honesty, respect and humility are not only important for my professional happiness, they are essential.  Over a nine-year span I grew within my role and found interests in research (eventually going back to graduate school to research the very work I was responsible for) and community development (working with other skilled professionals to advance issues important to the community).  I loved my work, and the relationship was reciprocal.

Yet as we want to do sometimes, we seek more.  Growth opportunities were no longer readily available for me in Hamilton in my organization and my interests in literacy provided me contract opportunities for many provincial and regional organizations.  The work was important but there was a missing element (or elements).

And sharing my favourite beer in a great pub in Ottawa, I was able to tell my current colleagues how the work I am doing in KMb has brought me back to a place I was more than 20 years ago.  KMb has rekindled my passion for work and at the core of this is that the work provides a complex service base (after all, we are a service unit) and in order to be successful it is critical to operate with values that are completely aligned with my early career work in Hamilton.

This is a love story I embrace every day, along with a deep sense of appreciation from having thought I may have lost it for good many years back.

Meet Jane Wedlock, Knowledge Mobilization Officer at United Way York Region

The following blog story was first published in the United Way of York Region’s blog on November 29, 2011. It is reposted here with permission.

Meet Jane Wedlock – a Knowledge Mobilization Officer who was hired to work for us as part of our partnership with York University to develop research initiatives that will examine how living conditions (the social determinants of health) affect health.

The goal of this initiative, according to Jane, is to support the advancement of UWYR’s Community Impact agenda: “helping youth grow up strong, healthy, caring and responsible; enabling individuals and families to achieve economic independence; and improving the well being of individuals and communities to enhance overall quality of life through this additional partnership with York University’s Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) Unit.”

Jane’s position provides community based knowledge mobilization services, which means building relationships and brokering partnerships between community organizations and faculty/students; enhancing access to academic research to support community policy development and program activities through various media; and creating training and capacity building opportunities in conjunction with Community Leadership Resources staff at UWYR.

All of those involved have the same focus on the Social Determinants of Health – the factors that really shape our health and wellbeing. This includes issues related to poverty and economic independence, housing and homelessness, immigration, education, and food security.

Jane has a good working relationship with the university staff at the KMb Knowledge Mobilization Unit where this work has been going on for the past five years. Having worked with them closely on various projects, Jane adds that with York University, United Way will be hosting a series of five Meeting Houses, entitled, “…more than roads, sewers, stores and schools” (which you can read, here) that will offer opportunities for resident conversations in areas of significant future growth in York Region.

“We will be exploring how research/learning opportunities can support these conversations and the subsequent development of social infrastructure in these communities,” explains Jane.

This one year project is funded through a grant from The Canadian Institute for Health Research and will provide an opportunity to expand the impact of research on the development and implementation of effective community health policy as well as the delivery of services.

Meet Karen Follett, KMb Coordinator at The Harris Centre

The following blog story was first published in The Harris Centre’s newsletter The Regional, Fall 2011. It is reposted here with permission.

When I started with the Harris Centre three years ago, I remember being very confused at my first meeting by the onslaught of acronyms and strange terms. KMb, brokering, knowledge transfer, stakeholder, lay summary, Yaffle. Even my title seemed daunting: Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator.

So, how exactly was I supposed to coordinate the movement of knowledge? When you boil it down, my job is to connect the university with the rest of the province.

Thankfully, I soon got the hang of it, becoming fluent in “community engagement” speak and getting to work on bringing Memorial expertise into Newfoundland and Labrador communities.

The thing I love most about my job is it’s never boring. Some days I help a non-profit group enter their research needs into Yaffle, our online research database, and then help find a match for them at the university. Then there are the days I get to travel with researchers to a remote community in a twin otter airplane.

One of the most exciting ways I connect people is by bringing people together face-to-face through workshops and other events. I could open up my own travel agency with the knowledge I’ve gained in planning logistics with the Harris Centre. We bring Memorial faculty, staff and students into different regions and communities of the province to interact with community leaders and decision makers.

It’s amazing what you learn and experience by leaving the university environment and going into a community to talk with residents about their real-world issues.

The thing that keeps me on my toes is problem solving and learning from others on-the-job. For example, I could never have been taught in school the lessons I learned when I had to get a group back to St. John’s (including myself), and were met with weather delays in Nain, Labrador during one of our workshops.

I’m also thankful for the lesson I learned about sharing knowledge: it sometimes comes from unexpected places. I now know that those inside the university community gain as much knowledge and experience from community-university engagement as do those from outside the university.

Please feel free to contact me with your questions or projects at kfollett@mun.ca – I’m here to help!

Karen

Meet a Mobilizer – Monica Nunes / Faites la connaissance d’un agent de mobilisation – Monica Nunnes

ResearchImpact-RéseauImpactRecherche would like to extend a big KMb welcome to one of our newest knowledge brokers – Monica Nunes. Monica is working out of York University’s knowledge mobilization unit and is supporting researchers, young adults and community partners in Ontario and Manitoba.

ResearchImpact-RéseauImpactRecherche aimerait souhaiter la plus cordiale des bienvenues à une nouvelle venue parmi les courtiers de connaissances, Monica Nunnes. Monica travaille à partir de l’Unité de mobilisation des connaissances de l’Université York et offre un soutien aux chercheurs, aux jeunes adultes ainsi qu’aux partenaires communautaires de l’Ontario et du Manitoba.

Hello! My name is Monica Nunes and I am the current project coordinator for Mobilizing Minds: Pathways to Young Adult Mental Health, a young adult mental health research project led by young adults, community organizations, researchers, and health professionals. Together we are working to develop resources to assist young adults, and those who support them, in making informed decisions about stress, anxiety and depression. The process of knowledge mobilization - getting the right information to the right people (in our case young adults) in the right format and at the right time to inform decisions – directs our work. And, by having young adults inform and guide all stages of our project, youth engagement anchors how we get that work done.

I am happy to be part of the Mobilizing Minds team, filling in for Jenn McPhee who is busy being a mom (again!). Although I am a relatively new member to this project, I feel very fortunate to be a part of the Mobilizing Minds team. Anyone who has interacted with this team has met a group of dedicated, passionate and hardworking people who have accomplished much in the few years of the project’s existence.

However, one aspect of my involvement with Mobilizing Minds that is quite inspiring for me is how I am regularly being connected to a broader societal movement that is emerging across sectors in Canada. Specifically, the movement that I am referring to encompasses the burgeoning involvement of individuals and communities in activities that understand and respond to mental health in new, progressive and ultimately more just ways.

Indeed, recent actions by diverse groups ranging from governments to high school students to corporations are driving positive social change in the area of mental health. By initiating awareness campaigns, drafting policy frameworks, developing community programs, and forming unique partnerships many are creating opportunities to promote better mental health.  And, as Mobilizing Minds conducts research to produce tools to help young adults make decisions around their mental health, I am also able to count myself a participant of this positive movement.

Certainly, there is still work to be done in the areas of mental health & addictions. Many young adults still face barriers to support stemming from stigma and health system gaps. However, the momentum that individuals and communities are spurring to promote this new ‘mental health movement’ holds robust promise for improvements. These possibilities inspire me.

And speaking of inspiration, outside of work, other things that inspire me include: spending time with my Vóvó and Vôvô (Portuguese for Grandma and Grandpa), biking through Toronto, and ice cream.

Faites la connaissance d’un agent de mobilisation/Meet a Mobilizer- Luc Dancause

Récemment engagé par le Service des partenariats et du soutien à l’innovation de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) pour agir comme agent de mobilisation des connaissances, il y a longtemps que Luc Dancause attendait cette occasion… mais sans vraiment le savoir..

Recently hired by the Service des partenariat et du soutien à l’innovation at University of Quebec in Montreal to serve as a knowledge mobilizer, Luc Dancause had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time… unconsciously…

Luc Dancause (RéseauImpactRecherche – UQAM)

Mon parcours académique témoigne d’une quête pour un emploi qui n’existait pas ! J’ai d’abord étudié en Histoire pour satisfaire ma soif de connaissances qui allait dans toutes les directions. J’ai ensuite réalisé une maîtrise en Sociologie pour mieux comprendre l’interaction entre les individus. Enfin, j’ai complété un doctorat en Études urbaines qui m’a permis de constater la pertinence de faire interagir différentes disciplines. Que faire avec ce parcours, comment dire, diversifié? Ce n’est que tout récemment que je me suis finalement rendu compte que ces études m’orientaient vers la mobilisation des connaissances.

Le Réseau québécois en innovation sociale (RQIS) m’a permis d’aborder pleinement le champ de la mobilisation des connaissances. J’ai alors pu développer mes compétences en la matière en plus d’entrer en contact avec des gens des plus intéressants. Cela m’a finalement mené à travailler au Service des partenariats et du soutien à l’innovation de l’UQAM. J’y occupe, depuis septembre dernier, un poste d’agent de recherche et de planification co-responsable de la mobilisation des connaissances et de la mise en place de l’équipe local du Réseau Impact Recherche aux côtés de mon collègue Jérôme Elissalde (Service de la Recherche et de la Création).

Et dans mon autre vie, qu’est-ce que je fais? Les voyages occupent une place importante, ils m’ont ouvert aux autres cultures et m’ont appris à m’adapter. Aussi, mon goût du plein air me permet d’aérer cette tête bien pleine de connaissances en mouvement! Finalement, je voue au baseball un intérêt (le mot est faible, diraient certains…), ce sport incompris qui n’est pas donné à tous de comprendre… Si vous demandez, je vous expliquerai.

Ah oui, vous pouvez aussi me suivre sur Twitter! @eldancos

 

Meet a Mobilizer – Andrey Luzhetskyy

My name is Andrey Luzhetskyy. I am a fourth year York University student pursuing an Honours Double Major in Political Science and Economics. I had the pleasure to join the Knowledge Mobilization Unit at York in the spring of 2010. My good friend Andrei Sedoff has been with the KMb Unit for over two years but I never really understood what it was he did and what KMb was all about. It is only after the opportunity to join the team presented itself and I was exposed to the work knowledge mobilizers do, that I immediately became intrigued. It takes a while for friends and family to understand the concept of knowledge mobilization but the idea is actually quite intuitive. Everyone can agree that we want policy makers to make sound and informed decisions. Only in this way can we address social issues in a meaningful way and achieve socially optimal outcomes. I am proud to be a part of the team that facilitates this process. My work as a Data and Communications Assistant consists of drafting KMb in Action stories, posting blogs, updating event calendars, and creating presentations, just to name a few. Although, I do not personally deal with research, I do embed into my work the principles of knowledge mobilization. When drafting any content for our numerous social media outlets, I take it upon myself to present information in a clear and concise manner so that it is readable and accessible to diverse audiences. This is what makes the KMb Unit so pivotal; usually researchers do not possess the skill set necessary for knowledge mobilization or they just lack interest in it altogether. This is where knowledge mobilizers step in.

I see my work at the KMb Unit as more than just an opportunity to advance a good cause, I see it as a learning experience as well. Besides the many transferable skills that I am gaining, I have learned the importance of collaboration and partnership building. I do not yet know my exact career path, but I am confident that I will continue to apply these central tenets of knowledge mobilization to any employment.

In my spare time, I enjoy reading, watching various documentary films, and traveling. I am passionate about physical fitness and in recent months I resumed learning to play piano. I especially enjoy snowboarding in the winter months and camping in the summer. Close friends and family are very important to me and I take every opportunity to spend as much time with them as possible.



Memorial is missing a mobilizer

The last time we ran into David Yetman he was Manager of Knowledge Mobilization for the Harris Centre which provides KMb services to Memorial and its local communities.  We blogged about him last October as Memorial and York demonstrated KMb leadership at SSHRC’s KIS/Clusters meeting.  David and the Harris Centre are known nationally for yaffle which has also graced this blog. Yaffle is a tool that has profiles and projects of Memorial faculty and local community and seeks to broker relationships between the two… kind of like Lava Life for research (thank you Kathleen Bloom).

Now David has moved to Toronto to become the Director, Programs and Knowledge Transfer for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. CIFAR “incubates ideas that revolutionize the international research community and change the lives of people all over the world. Through its research programs, CIFAR provides leading scholars with the time, direction, freedom and inspiration to pursue fundamental questions concerning society, technology, and the very nature of humanity and the universe.” Watch their video here.  Last year CIFAR started thinking about developing a KMb strategy and recruited David Yetman to be the inaugural Director for this strategy.

While exploring their second home town, David and his wife Corina met with ResearchImpact York’s David Phipps (the other David from the KIS/Cluster meeting) took them out for brunch.  Their visit included the Jersey Boys, The Leafs, the Royal York, St. Lawrence Market and a whole lot of Toronto.

Q. What do you like most about Toronto?
Corina (quoted with permission): “I loves a lots a shoppin’”
David: the entertainment, the quality of shows and sports

Q. What’s the one thing you wish you knew about Toronto
Corina: where the safest places in Toronto are (Corina grew up in a Newfoundland town of 250 people)
David: where are the good neighbourhoods (to live, to visit)

Q. What concerns you most about this change in your life?
Corina: missing David
David: understanding the new culture (of CIFAR); leaving an established track record (at Memorial)

Q. What looking forward to most about this change in your life?
Corina: visiting Toronto and doing some traveling
David: professionally this is a tremendous opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in the world; personally there is access to so much of great quality in Toronto


In David’s absence, The Harris Centre and Memorial continue to be a valued part of ResearchImpact and we welcome Jennifer Adams Warburton (Operations Manager at The Harris Centre) to the national network of ResearchImpact knowledge brokers.  Jennifer, welcome to ResearchImpact.  David, welcome to Toronto.  And CIFAR… let’s talk about ResearchImpact.

Meet a Mobilizer- Jennifer McPhee

My name is Jennifer McPhee. I am the project coordinator of a national KT project that focuses on young adult mental health (Mobilizing Minds: Pathways to Young Adult Mental Health; mobilizingminds.ca). The project is linked to the KM Unit at York University and includes a large team of researchers, health professionals, young adults and community organizations. We are working together to find out what information young adults want about mental health, where they would be most likely to look for it, how they would like to receive it, whom they might contact for information, when it’s best to receive this information, and what kind of barriers might prevent them from getting the information they need. The final product will be evidence-based, youth friendly mental health resources and decision- making aids that will assist young adults in making informed choices about their mental health and treatment options. Most importantly, this project adheres to a youth engagement framework – young adults (mental health consumers and non-consumers) guide and inform all phases of the project.

I am thrilled to be part of such a pivotal project. What interests me most about this project is that it adheres to both a knowledge mobilization (KM) framework and a youth engagement framework. The project deviates from the traditional top down ‘push’ of information and focuses on the bi-directional exchange of information and the co-production of information and resources. We have a young adult team that informs and guides all phases of the project. Traditionally in Canada, youth have not been included in the development of youth mental health and addictions services, programs, policies and resources. Their voices are not heard and consequently their needs are not being met. I am cognizant about this issue since my background is in youth mental health and addictions (Hon.B.A, Psychology; MSc Mental Health Counselling). Before joining the Mobilizing Minds’ project, I worked for several years as a youth (and family) mental health and addictions counsellor. I was then seconded to coordinate multiple youth mental health and addictions research projects at Brock University. I now coordinate York University’s KT mental health project which Brock University is partnered on. For the past nine years I have really enjoyed this line of work because it allows me to collectively use my clinical background, research skills and project management skills. Most importantly, this experience has taught me the significance of KM and youth engagement. It has shifted my way of thinking. For those of you who provide youth services, I ask you to please consider if youth are actively involved in your program and service planning? Engaging youth helps to ensure that your services meet their needs.

Outside of work, I am a mother of an incredible 4 ½ year old boy (Quinn) and the wife of a wonderful husband (14 years together) and father. My family is my main priority in life. A dear friend once said to me, “you will never look back at your life and think – I should have worked more – but you might look back at your life and think – I should have spent more time with my children.” I remember these words of wisdom often and try to enjoy every precious moment with Quinn as he grows-up.

Knowledge Broker Diary: Day 167

The following is a guest blog posting from David Yetman, Manager of Knowledge Mobilization at the Leslie Harris Centre with Memorial University in St. Johns, NL. Visit their web site at www.mun.ca/harriscentre

I am a part-time PhD student and a full-time knowledge broker. And today I feel like Sisyphus. You never heard of him, hey? He was the poor Greek son of a… king who took pleasure in killing and was sentenced to a life’s struggle of pushing a boulder up a hill, only to reach the top with the curse of it falling down the hill again. Never (never!) to reach the top. Sounds a bit like positioning academic research to contribute to society. You think the change is happening… and then… before you know it, you are back to the base of the hill.

The graduate student gives me hope. I have no background in pedagogy or theories of learning. I have no need to fulfill tenure requirements. But I do have an inkling that graduate students could be the most important human resource in our modern society.

What makes graduate students so very different? Their post-modern view of the world? Their affinity for drinking copious amounts of European beer? (OK, different, but not unique) Not at all. Graduate students are unique human beings because they have a passion for knowledge and they want to share that knowledge for the betterment of the world around them. Is that unique you ask? Everyone carries knowledge and wants to change the world (existentialists exit here). But graduate students do it with a special thrilling insight into how knowledge can change society. And they have special knowledge.

I make no apologies for saying that, in my humble opinion, academic knowledge is the peak of the highest learning mountain. It is the supreme athlete of the learning arena.  The peer-to-peer battle over ideas gives knowledge its strength. Peers beat the pulp out of knowledge for a reason; so it can stand on its own merits. And graduate students take that torch with vigour. They are interested, focused and committed. At Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada this year, there is a record number of graduate students. 2758 full and part-timers. 2758. That’s ten times the amount of people than the small community I grew up in. That’s 250 times the size of the average municipal council in Newfoundland and Labrador. That’s a lot of changing power.

I was reading on old University Affairs article the other day and it said only 51% of graduate students will go on to be academics. The other 49% will work in the public sector, not-for-profits, or start their own businesses. I’m not great at math, but that’s half. Half of all graduate students will choose not to be academics. I was shocked at that statistic, and enthused.

Imagine. Half of graduate students will be future academic researchers, half of them policy-makers. For the knowledge broker (able to leap silos in a single bound) it’s a future match made in Heaven. It is an infiltration of like-minded people who believe in the power of research. Who want to change the evidence-free decision-making culture in our system. 2758 (to infinity) pushing the boulder simultaneously, with a passion to push it over the top.

Married to a Mobilizer

As a York University graduate, a volunteer at York’s KM Unit, and the husband of the Director of the Office of Research Services & Knowledge Exchange at York, I have become quite familiar with the world of knowledge mobilization. David and I have been together for over fourteen years, and I’ve seen him grow personally and professionally from a post-doc research fellow to managing the business side of science, innovation and knowledge transfer at the university level.

More importantly, I’m proud and inspired to have witnessed the initiative of my husband in helping build the KM Unit at York (along with a great KM team), developing ResearchImpact – Canada’s knowledge mobilization network. David’s keen interest and involvement has taken KM from an early “pet project” of interest several years ago to participating and contributing today at both the national and international levels of knowledge brokering and policy making.

It was David’s initial, personal conversations we shared about KM that sparked my own interests in the variety of methods in which research and knowledge is exchanged, co-produced and practically applied between researchers and research-users. In fact, before graduating, one of my own research projects focused on the extent to which York University’s Department of Psychology has embodied KM.

I am a graduate of York’s Department of Psychology. After graduation – as a continuation of my own interest in knowledge mobilization – I began providing volunteer support at York’s KM Unit. To avoid any scrutiny of favouritism or conflict of interest, David placed me under the excellent and professional supervision of KM Unit Manager, Michael Johnny (I challenge you to try and find a clear profile headshot of him on the internet anywhere – either not wearing sunglasses or blinking!)

I am exclusively reporting to him as a volunteer. I have helped with the successful development and delivery of the annual KM Expo following the excellent lead of Knowledge Mobilization Officer Krista Jensen.

This is where some of you might remember me from the KM Expo last year, or from attending some of the KTE Communities of Practice meetings. I’ve also provided some support around key areas of data analysis for the ResearchImpact project. It was an enjoyable opportunity to join the KM Unit for a business trip to the University of Victoria earlier this year and present data at a ResearchImpact meeting (read the blog post here).

It’s a great privilege to have met such esteemed international and local mobilizers – from both university and community sectors – such as Angie Hart and Kim Aumann from the University of Brighton’s Community University Partnership Program; Stan Shapson, York’s Vice-President of Research & Innovation; Jane Gibson, Director of Knowledge Transfer and Exchange at the Institute for Work & Health; and Daniele Zanotti, CEO of United Way of York Region.

I’m looking forward to volunteering and participating in KM Expo 2010, hoping to see many of you again while networking with many more people within the KM community.

And remember; keep talking to your husband, wife, partner, girlfriend or boyfriend about KM because – sometimes when you marry a mobilizer, you can become a mobilizer too!