RIPPLE is a program of research, training, and activities aimed at learning more about improving linkages between research, policy, and practice to accelerate impact in public services.
RIPPLE is a program of research, training, and activities aimed at learning more about improving linkages between research, policy, and practice to accelerate impact in public services.
We use the term Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) to encapsulate the efforts of influencing empirical knowledge, program delivery, government policy and educational practice. Usually the program focuses on increasing research use in education, but sometimes projects extend to other public service sectors such as health and child welfare.
This study explores KMb practices of SSHRC researchers across Canada.
This study used a survey to assess institutional supports for KMb as well as KMb practices of researchers.
Few institutional supports are embedded at the institutional level, and those that are often not heavily accessed by researchers. KMb levels by researchers remain modest.
There is capacity-building efforts needed for researchers and universities to be able to engage with KMb and increase the impact of their work with different stakeholdes.
Journal Articles
Cooper, A., Rodway, J. & Read, R. (2018). Knowledge mobilization practices of educational researchers across Canada. Canadian Journal for Higher Education, 48 (1), 1-21 [70%, 20% Rodway, 10% Read].
Cooper, A. (2017). How are Educational Researchers Interacting with End-users to Increase Impact? Engaged Scholar Journal, 3(2), 99-122.
CITED, funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, creates KMb podcasts by blending the expertise of researchers, journalists, and community members to inform debates on important societal issues. This study investigated the tri-partite model of CITED (research-community-media) as mechanism for science communication with the public.
We conducted 16 semi-structured, 60-minute interviews with three groups involved in CITED: researchers, community members, journalists and the members of the production team using a common interview protocol to answer the following research questions:
1) How do different values of media, community members, and researchers affect co-creative processes of developing KMb products tailored for the public?
2) What are the facilitators and barriers to researcher-community-media partnerships?
Data analysis is currently underway. Check back soon!
Data analysis is currently underway. Check back soon!
Conference Presentations and Papers
Cooper, A. & MacGregor, S. (2017) Leveraging knowledge mobilization efforts in the media: Creating partnerships between researchers and journalists. Paper presented at CSSE, Toronto, ON.
Journal Articles
In progress – check back soon!
Our mission is to explore research use and impact from multiple vantage points and perspectives including research producers (funders, universities, researchers), research brokers (intermediary organizations and initiatives attempting to bridge the gap), and research users (practitioners, policymakers). We also explore how to measure and trace KMb and research impact in complex systems. We call efforts to integrate the use of research evidence in policy and practice knowledge mobilization. We also value the complementary knowledge and experience of practitioners and communities. To us, KMb isn’t only about research-informed practice, it is also about practice-informed and community-informed research. RIPPLE takes a whole system perspective on school improvement. As such, we seek to support capacity-building for different stakeholders around KMb and research impact. We truly believe that it is only through engaged scholarship and working together that we can tackle the complex challenges of the twenty-first century and the rapidly changing demands of our global society.
Amanda and her stellar team of graduate students works out of the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Our expertise includes mixed methods research production, knowledge mobilization and translation, research impact, and working with multi-stakeholder networks to improve public services using research evidence. We want to work with funders, researchers, practitioners, students, knowledge brokers, and policymakers to make the world a better and more equitable place.
Amanda is an Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership. Her passion is chasing the ever-illusive research impact alongside diverse stakeholders to improve classrooms and schools for students, teachers, principals, and communities.
Samantha is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Research Use in Education at the University of Delaware. She is currently working on a project which will expand our understanding of how brokerage influences research use and how to leverage brokerage to better support ties between research and practice.
Dr. Stephen MacGregor will begin a tenure track position at the University of Calgary in July 2022!
Please check out our resources to support your KMb planning and research impact!
Guidebook for Researchers
Guidebook for researchers summarizing over 80 resources to support KMb...
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Taxonomy of Indicators for Social Sciences
A taxonomy of over 400+ research impact indicators!
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Systematic Planning for Knowledge Mobilization
A KMb planning guide using three approaches to build KMb/KT...
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