A gift for pracademics…

Why the UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum 2014 (3-4 Feb) is a gift for pracademics

by Roxanne Persaud, pracademic and doctoral researcher at University of Southampton

Research is nothing without an exchange of information and ideas.

The joy of research is about making meaningful connections between thoughts, people and practices.  Social research feeds organisations with an appetite for well informed decision making.

Armed with academic knowledge and practice expertise we can design more effective programmes, organise ourselves in better ways and make compelling arguments to policy makers.

Pracademics are people who thrive on the exchange of practitioner and academic perspectives in pursuit of solving social problems.  They might be researchers or activists in any organisation or field.

The value of public and voluntary funded research is increasingly judged by its influence on policy and practice.  The impact agenda and emergence of open access journals are driving us closer to the people whose choice and use of our work ultimately dictates our ability to continue working as researchers.

This includes a new generation of researchers who take the chance to engage and participate in good quality debates in any forum, including online, as well as competing for quasi-consulting internship roles or places at traditional ‘sage on the stage’ academic conferences.

And yet…

In social science we are lagging behind.

Ideas are harder to protect than the product and processes of science and technology (we’re not even convinced that we should protect them). The meaning of ideas comes from the reactions of others – which can take years to develop, sometimes in unexpected ways.

We need multidisciplinary perspectives if we are to realise our potential more quickly, and we need people who can facilitate the transmission of knowledge across boundaries.

My ideal knowledge mobilisers want research to be timely and accessible, to be a bridge between thinking and doing, to help us understand the effectiveness of social interventions.

Academic researchers have less invested in policy decisions and so have freedom to explore the underlying forces and wider consequences of social interventions.   Organisations that design and deliver social programmes also want unbiased, big picture information unconstrained by programme evaluation and reporting frameworks.

For all of us, what counts is not just what works but the hows and whys of what works (or what doesn’t). 

For me, the participants at UKKMbF14 will be the vanguard of a new type of knowledge exchange professional, beyond research communications teams in universities or policy officers in social sector orgs.

The approach of knowledge mobilisation goes beyond the slow call and response of broadcast and lobbying. It underpins the full research cycle whereby direct and indirect feedback about research is sought out and fed into new iterations.  It rests on a dynamic, open notion of knowledge brokerage which will attract a diverse learning community of interest and practice.

UKKMbF14 is a chance for pracademics to come together and explore ways to make the most of our shared conviction that social sciences can make a difference to society.

If you think you’re a pracademic, please come.  I’d love to meet you.

Roxanne Persaud is a lifetime pracademic In the third sector and is currently a doctoral researcher at the University of Southampton.  She will be live tweeting throughout #UKKMbF14– join the conversation via the hashtag or follow her @commutiny 

You can register for the UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum here.