Background Fuse was established in 2008 as one of five public health research centres of excellencein the UK funded by the UK Clinical Research Centres collaboration. The centre works across fiveuniversities in the North East of England. This is an innovative collaboration and enables the poolingof research expertise. A prime focus of the centre is not just the production of excellent research,but also its translation into usable evidence, a dual focus that remains uncommon.<br /> Aims/objectives This practice paper outlines Fuse’s approach to knowledge exchange (KE) byreflecting on ten years of collaborative research between academics and policy and practice partnersin the North East of England. We will describe the principles and assumption underlying our approachand outline a conceptual model of four steps in Fuse’s KE process to develop collaborative researchand achieve meaningful impact on policy and practice.<br /> Key conclusions Our model describes a fluid and dynamic approach to knowledge exchange brokendown in four steps in the KE process that are concurrent, iterative and vary in intensity over time:awareness raising; knowledge sharing; making evidence fit for purpose; and supporting uptakeand implementation of evidence. These steps support the relational context of KE. Relationshipbuilding and maintenance is essential for all stages of KE to develop trust and explore the meaningand usefulness of evidence in a multi-directional information flow that supports the co-creatingand application of evidence.