From “our world” to the “real world”: Exploring the views and behaviour of policy-influential Australian public health researchers

Translating active living research into policy and practice: One important pathway to chronic disease prevention

“…Three key factors appeared to be important: (i) personal contact between researchers and policymakers; (ii) timely relevance of the research; and (iii) provision of research summaries containing policy recommendations. Their findings are consistent with other research 26 and the literature on the diffusion of innovations. 28 Establishing close research-practice relationships can result in a two-way interaction and a flow of information.…”

“…25 Failure to translate research into policy and practice may have less to do with the evidence and more to do with 'policy world' realities that are inherently political and shaped by many inputs, including public opinion. 26 To have any impact, it is important to understand the policy context and the needs of the policymakers and practitioners responsible for the built environment. What influences decision making?…”

“…Researchers become aware of policy-relevant research questions and practitioners are kept up-to-date on recent research findings. 26 Bidirectional communication and its benefits are illustrated in Figure 2.…”

“…They see these relationships as 'critical for advancing researchinformed policy'. 26 Attending policy briefings and built environment conferences is a first step in creating contact and building a network.…”

“…What are the crucial policy-relevant questions that they need answered, and how can researchers align their desire to advance scientific knowledge with these policy imperatives? 20,26 Co-creating the research questions in conjunction with policymakers and practitioners before the research is undertaken is clearly ideal. 18,21 Undertake interdisciplinary collaborative research Transforming the way cities are designed and built has been called a 'wicked problem' -meaning a complex multi-component problem that is difficult to solve, often because of interdependencies.…”