A little more than 10 years ago, I completed what was then one of the only certification programs in knowledge translation in North America. I was working for a leading research university in the field of health care communications. Even then, I understood the importance of disseminating research findings in ways that encouraged application and adoption. Every researcher I ever worked with would agree that having research findings sit on a shelf is not the legacy they would want their work to leave.
So, when we were asked this week to think about how we want our research to be disseminated, I appreciated the reminder that thinking of how we might translate knowledge to practice should be part of our overall research planning.
The topic I am interested in exploring is the impact of human-centered design (HCD) principles on employee engagement and innovation outcomes in workplace training programs. Since my topic touches on workplaces, organizational training, and employee engagement, I think there are potential connections here to academic, industry, member associations, government agencies, and calls for conference presentations or workshops.
For example, if I intended to respond to a call for papers for the Journal of Workplace Learning, I need to be familiar with where I can find their call for topics, what their author guidelines are (including manuscript requirements, declaration of conflict of interest), and any article processing charges that may be involved.
If I wanted to share my findings with a professional association, I would seek out the appropriate one(s) and research any conferences that they might be hosting. For example, the Institute for Performance and Learning membership is comprised of professionals working in learning and development in the workplace. They host a national conference, and this year, Dr. Elizabeth Childs is among the speakers who are presenting. If this were an option I was interested in, I’d contact the association to inquire about future conferences, themes they want to explore, timelines for applications, topics that interest their members. I’d then have to tailor a presentation to suit their format (e.g. workshop or keynote presentation), and length of time provided.
This part of the research project process is encouraging and a bit nerve-wracking. It’s encouraging me to want to give my applied research project my best effort to produce something truly helpful and applicable to someone; it is also a bit overwhelming to think of presenting findings to people who are knowledgeable in their fields and have many years of experience. I’m excited to begin!