The Institute has recognized that Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) is an important part of the research process. KMb refers to the movement of research into active use with knowledge users in order to help facilitate the uptake of research findings, partnerships and impacts around practice, policy and behaviour change.
KMb focuses on “getting the right information to the right people in the right format at the right time so as to influence decision-making” (Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, 2005). At the Institute we focus on collaborative and integrative KMb, working with our local, provincial, national and international partners, from a variety of sectors, to co-create research that has true application outside of the university. There are various terms that can be used to describe KMb, including Knowledge Translation, Knowledge Brokering and Knowledge Exchange.
The Lifespan Institute’s KMb work includes the following initiatives:
- Capacity building
- The Lifespan Institute coordinates and runs a 7-week KMb workshop for Lifespan Institute members and their students. This workshop is free of charge for members and provides a high-level introduction to KMb and the associated concepts/practices, while also working in tangible exercises for participants to practice KMb. This workshops runs once per term from the fall to spring semesters at Brock. Any Lifespan Institute members or students interested in learning more can connect with Jayne Morrish at jmorrish@brocku.ca
- Community engagement
- The Lifespan Institute recognizes that individuals should be authentically engaged within research, knowledge mobilization and programming that relates to them – a commonly quoted phrase that reinforces this is “nothing about us without us”. As such, the Lifespan Institute coordinates several community engagement committees that operate as a way for Lifespan members/students to authentically connect with relevant knowledge/next users of their research.
- The current Lifespan Institute community engagement committees include:
- Youth Engagement Committee
- Seniors Advisory Committee
- Parent Advisory Committee
- Teacher Advisory Committee
- Indigenous Advisory Circle
- Other smaller/short term groups as requested and relevant
- Anyone interested in learning more can connect with Jayne Morrish at jmorrish@brocku.ca
- Lifespan Institute Speaker Series
- This speaker series a regular series of presentations designed to connect and engage with the community around research that is going on at Brock University.
- You can find more information about, the current schedule and previous recordings of the Lifespan Institute Speaker Series here
Some previous Lifespan Institute KMb tools and activities are available below:
Research snapshots
The Lifespan Institute Research Snapshots were meant to provide a quick overview of various areas of lifespan development research. The Lifespan Institute is not currently producing new snapshot, but you can click any of the topics below if you’d like to learn more about it!
Want more information on our research and KMb?
Connect with the Institute’s Knowledge Mobilization Officer, Jayne Morrish — jmorrish@brocku.ca
If you are interested in learning more about the faculty members of the Institute please see our list of researchers, labs, current publications, and research interest groups.
