Sustaining knowledge exchange and research impact in the social sciences and humanities: investing in knowledge broker roles in UK universities

Lightowler, Claire; Knight, Christine

doi:10.1332/174426413x662644

Cited by 52 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…11 There is, however, a strong focus in the literature on 'knowledge brokers' and other 'mediator' roles, and a growing number of empirical studies [136][137][138][139][140] have investigated these roles. A range of functions has been suggested, including problem definition; research synthesis; facilitating access to research knowledge; developing outputs that are more accessible to users; and developing and brokering networks and other connections.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilising knowledge to improve UK health care: learning from other countries and other sectors – a multimethod mapping study

Davies

Powell

Nutley

2015

Health Services and Delivery Research

107

176

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BackgroundThe past two decades have seen rich conceptual development and a wide variety of practical initiatives around research use or ‘knowledge mobilisation’, but so far there has been little systematic effort to map, conceptualise and learn from these initiatives, or to investigate the degree to which they are underpinned by contemporary thinking as set out in the literature. This gap is particularly apparent when looking at knowledge mobilisation at the ‘macro’ level, that is the strategies and activities of major research funders, major research producers and key research ‘intermediaries’.Aims and objectivesThe study had three key objectives with associated research questions: to map the knowledge mobilisation landscape in health care (in the UK and internationally) and in social care and education within the UK; to understand the models, theories and frameworks that underpin the approaches to knowledge mobilisation; and to learn from the success or otherwise of the strategies and approaches in use.MethodsThe study was multimethod and multiphased, with considerable interactivity between the different strands. Data were collected through a review of 71 published reviews on knowledge mobilisation; website review of the knowledge mobilisation activities of 186 agencies; in-depth interviews (n = 52) with key individuals in agencies; a web survey (response rate 57%;n = 106); and two stakeholder workshops (at months 6 and 16).FindingsWe identified a wide range of models, theories and frameworks used to describe knowledge mobilisation and created a conceptual map that highlights six domains of thinking and debate in the literature. The interview and survey data showed three broad, overlapping roles undertaken by agencies: developing and sharing research-based products; emphasising brokering; and focusing on implementation. The knowledge mobilisation approaches in use had been shaped by many factors but there was only limited use of the models, theories and frameworks from the literature. Participants saw formal evaluation of knowledge mobilisation activities as important but highly challenging. Rich formative experience was described but formal evaluation was relatively rare. Few agencies involved service users or members of the public in knowledge mobilisation activities. Working inductively from the study data we derived eight key archetypes or ‘bundles of knowledge mobilisation activities’ that could be used by agencies to explore their knowledge mobilisation activities, future strategies and stakeholder perspectives.ConclusionsKnowledge mobilisation could be enhanced by providing support to enable cross-sector and interagency learning, reflection on the conceptual basis of approaches and increased evaluation of knowledge mobilisation activities. Further research is needed to evaluate approaches to assessing research use and impact, on systems approaches to knowledge mobilisation, on sustaining and scaling-up approaches, and on applying a wider range of literatures to knowledge mobilisation. Further research would also be useful on the knowledge mobilisation archetypes and how they can work in complementary ways.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilising knowledge to improve UK health care: learning from other countries and other sectors – a multimethod mapping study

Davies

Powell

Nutley

2015

Health Services and Delivery Research

107

176

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“…This diversity of tasks has also been observed in two papers (Lightowler & Knight, 2013;Chew, Armstrong & Martin, 2013) in a special edition of Evidence and Policy (August 2013, volume 9, number 3) focused on knowledge brokers. These two papers highlight the dissatisfaction of project-based knowledge brokers due to lack of long-term employment, lack of training, isolation and role ambiguity.…”

Section: Knowledge-brokering Literaturementioning

confidence: 57%

An Institutional Process for Brokering Community-Campus Research Collaborations

Phipps¹,

Johnny²,

Wedlock³

2015

ESJ

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Knowledge mobilization seeks to identify and support authentic research collaborations between community and university so that benefits of the research accrue to both partners. Knowledge brokering is a key knowledge mobilization mechanism that helps community and university partners connect and build relationships in order to share expertise for mutual opportunity. There remains a need to describe in detail the typical knowledge brokering devices and methodologies. This paper presents a detailed description of York University's knowledge brokering service which is based on eight years of knowledge mobilization practice. The process is broken into 5 broad stages: 1) in progress; 2) no match; 3) match and no activity; 4) match and activity; 5) match and project. Stage 5 includes a step to identify the non-academic impacts of the collaborative research project. This process is illustrated using examples from York University's practice in which a match was brokered for 82% of the 342 knowledge mobilization opportunities

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“…The emergence of individual knowledge brokers (Baruffaldi & Landoni, 2012;Lightowler & Knight, 2013) played an important role in preparation of the political transformation (1989)(1990) in post-socialist countries. Despite anecdotal evidence of the role of knowledge brokers in the political and economic transition of Hungary post-1989, prior research has paid little attention to the role of knowledge brokerage in the spreading of higher education internationalization.…”

Section: Guiding Perspectives Research Questions and Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge Brokers in the Heart of Europe: International Student and Faculty Mobility in Hungarian Higher Education

Pusztai¹,

Fekete²,

Dusa³

et al. 2016

HERJ

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Until the late 1980s a Soviet-type interpretation of internationalization was used in Hungary, which isolated countries of the communist bloc within the Iron Curtain. In 1993, after the democratic transformation, a new Higher Education Act was passed. Although the first democratic government started to replace the old type of higher education policy with a European one, the internationalization process progressed slowly. Hungarian education policy puts a special emphasis on internationalization strategies based mainly on the encouragement of individual mobility. However, the socio-economic disadvantages of Hungarian population compared to Western Europeans reduce the efficiency of these endeavors. This paper describes four aspects of higher education internationalization in Hungary drawing from a review of prior research and analysis of survey data: 1) the political and institutional context of higher education internationalization in Hungary; 2) the mobility of Hungarian faculty and researchers; 3) the outbound mobility of Hungarian students; and 4) incoming student mobility to Hungarian universities. Our paper is a significant contribution to the literature, because (1) we use the actorcentered approach of internationalization (2) we not only analyze national and international statistics, but also we drew our conclusions from original survey data, that is we are able to summarize the individual motives and obstacles as well.

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Sustaining knowledge exchange and research impact in the social sciences and humanities: investing in knowledge broker roles in UK universities

Cited by 52 publications

References 22 publications

Mobilising knowledge to improve UK health care: learning from other countries and other sectors – a multimethod mapping study

Mobilising knowledge to improve UK health care: learning from other countries and other sectors – a multimethod mapping study

An Institutional Process for Brokering Community-Campus Research Collaborations

Knowledge Brokers in the Heart of Europe: International Student and Faculty Mobility in Hungarian Higher Education

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