UVic Summer Interns 2009

The interns for UVic’s KM/CBR Sumer Internship program have been selected! Through the ResearchImpact initiative, the UVic Office of Community Based Research is sponsoring ten graduate students to work hands on with a local Community Organizations on a piece of research relating to social policy. The UVic KM Coordinator received 27 outstanding proposals, and an evaluation panel comprised of both academic and community voices narrowed it down to ten projects. The project partners include AIDS Vancouver Island, Our Place Society, Blood Ties Four Directions Center, the Sto:lo Resource Management and Resource Center, to name a few. The students are currently working on their Human Research Ethics proposals, and then the real work begins! The UVic Office of Community Based Research and Knowledge Mobilization Unit are thrilled to be able to provide this opportunity for deserving graduate students to respond to research needs in their community.

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.

RE$EARCH MONEY publishes on Knowledge Mobilization

RE$EARCH MONEY recently published an article by David Phipps. The article provides a brief theoretical framework for KM and illustrates KM activities with examples of how KM can create value for faculty, graduate students and research users. The article makes a distinction between project based KM and institutional KM services such as those supported by York and UVic. In addition the article ends with a call to action.

“To sustain [KM] activities, research funding organizations need to invest in KM through institutional programs such as Intellectual Property Mobilization (IPM) and Knowledge Impact in Society (KIS). Foundations need to look to social innovation as a target area for support and institutions need to invest in institutional KM practices as they currently do for technology transfer.” Read the full article here….

RE$EARCH MONEY is Canada’s premier source of intelligence on research and development, science and technology and innovation. See www.researchmoneyinc.com for more information.

ResearchImpact invited to consult on KM strategies

On October 23rd, 2008, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer’s (CPAC) Knowledge Management Division hosted a one-day forum with experts from across Canada in knowledge management, information management and analytics, and technology and eHealth innovation to obtain advice on: a vision for knowledge management in cancer control; novel and creative approaches to advancing and sustaining knowledge management in the Canadian cancer control community; the essential elements of a focused and innovative, multi-year knowledge management strategy for CPAC; critical success factors for the impact and sustainability of CPAC’s knowledge management strategy. David Phipps (ResearchImpact, York University) was invited to participate in the discussions and provide input into developing a KM strategy for CPAC.

The one day session featured more discussion than presentation and CPAC did more listening than talking. An aside… as a note to all those planning a consultation – this opportunity for 2 way exchange is far more important than creating an opportunity for one way transfer (good KM strategy). Experts in a variety of cancer strategies and KM practices from Canada and the US were present and it is safe to say the invited attendees got as much out of the session as did CPAC. Some of the take home messages included using technology as a tool, keeping people at the centre of KM, understanding your audiences (their needs and wants) and having a robust evaluation strategy. As usual we raised more questions than answers as many of us are struggling with similar issues.

ResearchImpact was pleased to be invited to participate and we look forward to future opportunities to share our experiences.

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) is an independent organization funded by the federal government to accelerate action on cancer control for all Canadians. CPAC’s mission is to bring together cancer experts, charitable organizations, governments, patients and survivors to bring change to the cancer control domain. CPAC works together with its partners to stimulate generation of new knowledge and accelerate the implementation of existing knowledge about cancer control across Canada. Visit them at www.partnershipagainstcancer.ca.

KM Intern secures $130,000 Trillium Grant for Community Outreach/Education at Peterborough Youth Shelter

Naomi Nichols is a PhD Candidate at the York Faculty of Education who was a KM Summer Intern in 2007. Naomi’s placement was with the Youth Emergency Shelter (YES) in Peterborough.   She began her work at YES as a participant observer: helping in the recreation program; and the Children’s Aid Society day program; attending appointments with shelter residents as an advocate; and helping shelter staff. She conducted preliminary case-file analysis, creating a data-base that points to the various agencies/services YES clients are using. She also conducted interviews with shelter staff, other social service professionals and shelter residents. This fieldwork informed her development of a life-skills/transitioning program for shelter users. The KM Unit’s support of Naomi’s work with YES helped her secure a $130,000 grant for YES to develop a Community Outreach and Education program for their clients. The program includes services like Transitioning Life-Skills, where “[a] coordinator leads a team of one-on-one workers who pair up with and mentor individual young people. Each young person and his or her mentor enact a “transitioning plan” based on an individual’s lived experiences and goals” (Nichols, 15). The plan is meant to help the young person develop greater autonomy and gradually transition to independent housing, employment, and health management (Nichols, 15). Thanks to Naomi’s work, the Trillium grant continues to enhance the delivery of social services by YES to marginalized youth who often face difficulties accessing the available resources.

 

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Nichols, Naomi. (2008). Walking the line: Doing community-situated institutional ethnography. A paper presented at the Society for Social Problems Annual Meeting, Boston, USA.

 

Scholarship in action: Knowledge mobilization and the academic process

KM and practice of connecting academic research with the Canadian public was the topic of a recent article in Dialogue, an online publication produced by SSHRC, featuring ResearchImpact’s own David Phipps:

“Knowledge mobilization is not new to researchers,” says David Phipps, who is the director of the office of research services at York University and whose work is funded in part through a SSHRC Knowledge Impact in Society grant. “What’s new is that we’re developing the institutional capacity to support these activities.” Read the full article…

University researchers awarded CIHR grant

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Mental Health Commission have awarded a grant of $1.5 million to a team of researchers, including a contingent from York University. According to a July 22 YFile article, they will be researching “how young adults who suffer from mental health problems, and those who support them, make decisions about their mental health. The project also promises to develop methods to help the mental health care sector better address the needs of Canadian youth by transferring knowledge to them in optimal, timely formats.”

The York researchers involved in the project include Henny Westra, Lynne Angus, John Eastwood, Madalyn Marcus and David Phipps.

KM intern making a difference with West End Heat Registry

Tanya Gulliver, an intern with the Knowledge Mobilization Unit at York University, appeared in the July 18 edition of the Toronto Star, discussing her role as co-ordinator of the West End Heat Registry. The Heat Registry is a project funded by the City of Toronto, designed to ensure the safety of at-risk residents on days when the City issues heat advisories.

The KM at York Internship Program offers summer internships to York graduate students working in partnerships with community organizations, including government, NGOs, labour, private sector and community-based agencies. The community organization must provide the graduate student with the opportunity to apply her/his research and expertise to the benefit of the organization.

You can read the Toronto Star article here, or follow this link to find a video about the Heart Registry’s services (scroll down to “Heat Busters”).

York University Collaborates With The World Green Building Council To Mobilize Knowledge

Earlier this year, York University formed a partnership with the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), via the WorldGBC Universities Pilot Program. In the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between York and the WorldGBC, WorldGBC identifies ResearchImpact as a key factor in choosing to partner with York, stating, “York University is also a national leader in knowledge mobilization leading ResearchImpact, Canada’s emerging national knowledge mobilization network.”

The WorldGBC is a union of national councils whose mission is to accelerate the transformation of the global built environment towards sustainability. The current member Green Building Councils (GBCs) of the WorldGBC represent over 50 percent of global construction activity, and touch more than 10,000 companies and organizations worldwide. GBCs are consensus-based, not-for-profit organizations that are highly effective at engaging leaders across sectors to transform the built environment.

WorldGBC members are leading the movement that is globalizing environmentally and socially responsible building practices. The WorldGBC provides leadership and a global forum to accelerate market transformation from traditional, inefficient building practices to new generation high-performance buildings.

Under the terms of the MOU between York and the WorldGBC, York students and faculty will conduct research on behalf of the WorldGBC, and will develop strategies to effectively disseminate this research. In addition, York will assist the WorldGBC in the development of a Knowledge Mobilization strategy and a WorldGBC online research portal.

For more information about the World Green Building Council, visit www.worldgbc.org.

Aboriginal Policy Research Forum

“An exciting experiment,” is how David Phipps, Director of the Office of Research Services (ORS) at York University, described the Aboriginal Policy Research Forum, on January 14, 2008. The forum, the first of its kind in Canada, used broadband technology to bring together researchers, policymakers, and citizens from across the country to discuss Aboriginal issues. A key focus of the forum was knowledge translation: the sharing of knowledge between diverse audiences, from academics to community decision-makers….Click here to read more.