IKT for Research Stage 1: Partnership Building

Abstract

In 2020, the University of Dundee initiated the development of an Open Research strategy. As part of this initiative, in February 2021 the University’s Library and Learning Centre together with Open Research Champions from the Schools of Health Sciences and Dentistry, formed an Open Research Working group. To build on the University’s Open Research policy and infrastructure, the purpose of the group was to facilitate ongoing research and development of best practice approaches for our interdisciplinary environment to make outputs, data and other products of our research publicly available. Through informal consultations with academic staff and students, the Open Research Working Group found that: → access and reach of research findings can be amplified through effective knowledge mobilisation, and stakeholder and patient and public involvement; and → there was a need for guidance and resources on how-to implement knowledge mobilisation activities with and for stakeholders throughout the entire research process – from proposal development to project completion. In June 2021, the Open Research working group, in partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Knowledge Mobilization Hub began the development of an Integrated Knowledge Translation (IKT) Toolkit, with funding support from the University of Dundee’s Doctoral Academy and Organisational Professional Development. IKT is an approach to knowledge translation that emphasises working in an engaged and collaborative partnership with stakeholders throughout the research cycle in order to have positive impact. The aim was to co-produce evidence-informed, best practice learning materials on how-to: → maintain ongoing relationships between researchers, community stakeholders and decisionmakers in research development and implementation; and → facilitate an integrated, participatory way of knowledge production whereby researchers, practitioners and other knowledge users can collaborate to co-generate new and accessible knowledge that can be utilised in contexts ranging from supporting community development to policy guidance for practice. The IKT Toolkit was informed by a focused evidence review and synthesis of published peer-reviewed and grey literature and consists of eight knowledge briefs and a slide deck co-produced for use in any discipline or sector. Each knowledge brief provides practical guidance and resources to support an IKT process in each of eight key research stages: (i) Partnership Building; (ii) Generating Priorities and Ideas; (iii) Proposal development; (iv) Study Design; (v) Data Collection; (vi) Data Analysis; (vii) Reporting and (viii) Dissemination. The current knowledge brief provides IKT guidance on Research Stage 1: Partnership Building.