Turning research into action

There are many definitions and models of knowledge mobilisation, but what does it mean to you?

Chris: Knowledge mobilisation is how we get research and new ideas into practice. But one of the key things about mobilisation is that it isn’t transmission. In other words, knowledge mobilisation does away with the assumption that, just because we have made something available, people will engage with it. Knowledge mobilisation thus involves recognition that change is socially mediated, and that people are more likely to act in response to new knowledge when it is introduced as part of interactive and ideally facilitated processes. For example, such a process might involve practitioners or policymakers being supported to see how the findings from academic research augment, deepen or even challenge what they already know and how they might think or act differently as a result.

Lesley: Knowledge mobilisation is about different communities sharing knowledge to catalyse change. Knowledge mobilisation are the processes that lead to impact, such as networking, educational events, co-production, embedding new procedures.
 

What role does knowledge mobilisation play in getting research into practice?

Chris: A key driver for knowledge mobilisation is closing the research to practice policy gap. Knowledge mobilisation helps practitioners, policymakers and the public engage with knowledge in a variety of ways and supports them to make decisions informed by this knowledge. It means that new approaches to, say teaching and learning, police work, social care or a range of other similar public practices, are likely to be more impactful. This is because when knowledge mobilisation is successful it helps arm decision makers with a better understanding of how new approaches might achieve their desired effect, who they might be effective for and in what circumstances.

Lesley: It’s essential. Without knowledge mobilisation, it’s hard to create impact. Because knowledge is exchanged both ways, it also means that researchers learn about relevant questions and actually design useful research. They learn first-hand what practitioners, policymakers and the public need to know.
 

When should researchers start planning knowledge mobilisation strategies for their research?

Chris: There is a strong argument that, not only should knowledge mobilisation activities be considered at the start of any project, but potential stakeholders for your research should also be included in the research process straight from the get-go. By including policymakers and practitioners at the beginning, we can make sure our project is addressing the main issues these groups face and that we haven’t neglected something crucial. Early inclusion of stakeholders also means we start to generate interest in our work from its inception and can cultivate champions who will promote and discuss our findings with others. Vitally, including stakeholders from the start also means they can help us design knowledge mobilisation processes that are likely to work: both in terms of how knowledge is mobilised, as well as ensuring there is an audience for that knowledge. Stakeholders may also have networks, tool kits and a social media presence that can be tapped into to ensure that findings are propagated widely.

Lesley: Researchers should think about knowledge mobilisation from the very beginning, when their project is just a hazy idea and long before they have any clear research questions. To design relevant research, researchers need to have conversations with those who actually want the knowledge that the researchers are interested in generating. Otherwise researchers will produce knowledge that is of little interest to policymakers, practitioners or the public. Researchers do not need to have clear knowledge mobilisation strategies from the start. They just need to have clarity about what knowledge will be mobilised, for (and by) whom and for what purpose.

Can you share an example of where knowledge mobilisation has been used to enable research to improve practice?

Chris: One key example is set out in my new book for Emerald, ‘The Networked School Leader’. Here I look at Research Learning Networks (RLNs) and how participants of these networks mobilised knowledge within their home schools. In the most successful school I looked at, the school leader had ensured that RLN participants were empowered to be leaders - they had authority to act, they had opportunities to interact with others and they understood what effective leadership entailed. As a result, these participants successfully mobilised knowledge by working with their school colleagues to share what they had learnt in the RLN to ensure this process of sharing involved opportunities to engage with and further develop the insights emerging from the learning network. It has also enabled colleagues to work collaboratively to turn this new knowledge into action (in terms of new approaches to teaching) and to then work together to evaluate the success (or not) of these new ways of working. This approach not only led to new forms of practice, but student outcomes also improved.

Lesley: Yes, look at the ‘examples of our work’ page and the evaluations, especially the third and last one.

What are the next steps for knowledge mobilisation within institutions?

Chris: Mobilisation is not well understood by practitioners, policymakers or academics. It is also relatively complex in the sense that there are many elements to consider. For example, who should mobilise? Which in itself can be better understood if we explore things such as social capital networks. How should we mobilise and what role does the change leadership have here? How can we measure whether our efforts have been successful? And this is just for starters. For me, therefore, what is needed are effective development programmes not only for those undertaking research, but also for those who lead schools or make policies or have to facilitate change processes. I think once we have these and proof that they are leading to better decision making and outcomes, most people will soon be onboard with knowledge mobilisation.

Lesley: If institutions want their research to make a difference, then the first steps are to:

1. Resource knowledge mobilisation properly – institutions need to employ people with knowledge mobilisation expertise to build capacity and capability across the institution. A few people covering faculties of hundreds of researchers is not sufficient.
2. Create levers – change promotion schemes so that conducting knowledge mobilisation activities counts as much in progression as 4* papers and grant funding. They should be rewarded for developing relationships, trying to adapt their research to real-world contexts and carrying out knowledge mobilisation activities. At the moment, this is not incentivised, despite being highly resource intensive.
3. Increase skills – improve researchers’ capacity and capability for knowledge mobilisation by investing in knowledge mobilisation training for all interested researchers, especially those who consider their research ‘applied’.

Dr Lesley Wye specialises in getting healthcare research into practice. Her work focuses on how researchers and healthcare commissioners can work together to inform local policy making about healthcare services.

Lesley manages a multidisciplinary team of commissioners, researchers and a communications officer, known as the Bristol Knowledge Mobilisation Team. They have joint appointments in the University and local commissioning organisations such as Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group and South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit.

Professor Chris Brown is Professor in Education at Durham University’s School of Education. His latest book, The Networked School Leader: How to Improve Teaching and Student Outcomes using Learning Networks, offers practical advice for school leaders on how to harness the benefits of Professional Learning Networks.

Alongside his research into PLNs, Chris also has a long-standing interest in how research evidence can and should, but often doesn’t, aid the development of education policy and practice. Here, Chris has edited/authored five books, including Achieving Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice in Education (Emerald Publishing, 2017).