Research & Innovation

Knowledge Mobilization at Dal

Supporting research and innovation

Knowledge mobilization helps make research useful to society by supporting engaged scholarship from inception to impact.

It is a suite of services that connects academic research, researchers and students with individuals and organizations seeking to develop sustainable solutions to social, cultural, economic, environmental, and health challenges. Involving scholarship across all disciplines, knowledge mobilization is concerned with research, scholarship (including teaching & learning) and creative activities that have potential to inform decisions about public policy, business and professional practice and social programs.

Dalhousie's goal is to continuously develop new approaches to knowledge mobilization and to make knowledge mobilization an integral part of every research project plan. There are several resources that support knowledge mobilization, including:

Research Impact Canada is a pan-Canadian network of universities committed to maximizing the impact of academic research for the public good in local and global communities. This collaborative network includes more than 60 professionals dedicated to turning research into action.
The Network for Advancing & Evaluating the Societal Impact of Science is an international, open community for various types of professionals working on stimulating and demonstrating the impact of science on economy, culture and well-being.

Community-Based Research Canada’s (CBRC) mission is to be a national champion and facilitator for community-based research (CBR) and campus-community engagement in Canada. We envision vibrant Canadian communities enabled by CBR. We believe that CBR can create socio-cultural, economic and environmental benefit for Canadians and Indigenous Peoples in Canada. 

CBRC brings together key players of community-campus partnerships. Our network builds capacity for academia and broader communities to collaborate and use research as a tool to mobilize community participation and action.

Examples of KMb

Knowledge push


Documents: case studies, newsletters, educational, fact sheets, FAQs, handbooks, journal articles, magazine articles, press releases, promotional material, reference lists, success stories, reports, briefing notes, books, policy papers

Artistic representations: Films, plays, exhibits, festivals 

Digital media: e-newsletter, social media, video, website, blog

Knowledge exchange


Face to face: meetings, conferences, debates, forums, workshops, lunch and learns, panels, presentations, symposiums, training sessions

Online: webinars, online courses

Co-Creation

  • Interactive small groups
  • Educational outreach
  • Mass media campaign
  • Communities of practice
  • Networks 
  • Chat rooms
  • Social media 
  • Discussion boards


KMb activities at Dal

MEOPAR (Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response Network)

An independent not-for-profit, MEOPAR funds research, trains students, mobilizes knowledge and forms partnerships in the area of marine risk and resilience. Learn more.

SKIP (Solutions for Kids in Pain)

 

SKIP is a newly formed knowledge mobilization network, based at Dalhousie University and co-led by Children's Healthcare Canada, that seeks to bridge the gap between current treatment practices and available evidence-based solutions for children's pain in Canadian health institutions. Learn more.

RRC (Resilience Research Centre)

Led by Dr. Michael Ungar, the Resilience Research Centre collaborates with various local, national and international institutions to carry out innovative research that explores pathways to resilience across cultures with a focus on children and youth while providing resilience measurement tools and training in the form of workshops and conferences. Through its partnerships with researchers, policymakers and clinicians around the globe, the Centre has built a world-renowned resource hub of resilience expertise and tools to support young people, families and communities on their path to psychological, social, cultural and physical well-being. Learn more.

It Doesn't Have to Hurt

The It Doesn't Have to Hurt research team consists of trainees and staff who work together with parents and other stakeholders to tackle the problem of poorly managed pain in children. They collaborate with a wide range of researchers across Canada and around the world who bring complementary expertise and experience.

Our work spans knowledge generation (e.g., lab-based studies, surveys), synthesis (e.g., systematic review), and translation (e.g., policy, practice). Learn more.

Ocean Tracking Network


Headquartered at Dal's Steele Ocean Sciences Building, OTN deploys state-of-the-art ocean monitoring equipment and marine autonomous vehicles (gliders) in key ocean locations and inland waters around the world.

The Network has established partnerships with a global community of telemetry users and stakeholders to document the movements and survival of aquatic animals in the context of changing environments, with the aim of providing better governance and stewardship of the world's marine and freshwater resources. 

Learn more here.

Ocean Frontier Institute

A transnational hub for ocean research, the Ocean Frontier Institute brings together experts from both sides of the North Atlantic to explore the vast potential of the world's ocean.

Learn more here.

MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance

The MacEachen Institute at Dalhousie University looks at progressive ways to tackle public policy and governance issues through open discussion with a variety of informed players and aims to serve as the “go to” place provincially, regionally and nationally for rich, robust public policy debate, discussion and research. The Institute engages scholars, students and community members in the development of policy options, policy research and other outputs of the Institute.

Learn more here. 

The Healthy Populations Institute

The Healthy Populations Institute (HPI) is a multi-faculty research institute at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia that is jointly funded by the Faculties of Health, Medicine, and Dentistry. HPI has evolved from earlier days when it was known as the Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre (AHPRC). Through excellence in research, capacity building, and knowledge translation, HPI has been a leader in population health research in Atlantic Canada and beyond for over 25 years.

Learn more here

Videos:

How to stay healthy during a pandemic (by the Healthy Populations Institute):

We all know that the coronavirus pandemic has profoundly affected the health of our community.

To help us cope with the new environment, HPI has created a series of five whiteboard animation videos focused on ‘Staying Healthy During a Pandemic.’ Scholars associated with HPI have generate key messages from their research to create short, animated, public-friendly videos explaining the impact of the pandemic on health and well-being and offering strategies to better cope in these five videos.

Child physical activity during COVID-19

The relationships between being sedentary behaviours and cardiovascular disease

Virtual mental health options during the pandemic for children and youth

Health disparities among Black Canadians

Developing resilience during the pandemic


Resources

About knowledge mobilization

From Research Impact Canada

Webinars: 

Tools:

 

For researchers

 

For administrators