Knowledge Mobilization In the North American Arctic
A study to identify key principles & challenges of knowledge mobilization (KM) of environmental change in the North American Arctic Melanie Flynn & James Ford. June 2017
Methods Literature review (n72)
Study areas Alaska Yukon Northwest Territories Nunavut Nunavik Nunatsiavut
Telephone interviews (n24) 8 Principal investigators 5 Northern Government employees 4 Indigenous Organizations 4 Research licencing Organizations 3 Funding administrators
Results
Note: These results are preliminary in nature and reflect the work as of June 2017.
Challenges
Principles Reconcile Research
Incorporate All Knowledge Systems
Acknowledge Value of KM
Create Meaningful Relationships
Understand Local Protocol
Adapt Communication Modes
Trust & Respect Time & Resources Skill Set & Capacity Learning & Reflection
Incentivizing Knowledge Mobilization Reconcile Research Acknowledge Value of KM
Research has seen an increased advocacy for better engagement between researchers and Arctic communities and an improved uptake of KM related activities such as knowledge coproduction and community research partnerships. Despite this interviewees believed that we still had a long way to go in creating effective KM. Interviewees and literature highlighted a number of barriers to KM. At the community level, we noted a reluctance to engage in research, partly due to historical legacies of colonialism in Arctic research. At the institutional level, we found that academic reward systems and other research institutions placed limited value on KM thus decreasing the amount of time researchers felt they could dedicate to KM.
Clarifying Expectations Researchers and communities are entering an intimate and unique relationship of trust when they work together. It is important that both parties understand the probable and possible outcomes of this relationship and that is especially the case where those involved in the relationship come from different disciplinary, geographical or cultural backgrounds. A mix of formal (e.g. research licences and ethics reviews) exist in Arctic regions though these vary across regions. These formal arrangements provide some accountability. However, local comunities also have their own research protocols.
Understand Local Protocol Incorporate All Knowledge Systems
Mediating and Facilitating Knowledge Mobilization Create Meaningful Relationships Adapt Communication Modes
Early engagement of the community into the research project can improve KM. Including communities at the research design stage allows for shaping and aligning the project with community interests. However, creating these relationships in remote communities with their own complex internal social hierarchies is difficult. Knowing who to connect with in the community and having the skills to do this in an appropriate and respectful way is challenging for researchers. Additionally, community members struggle to engage in meaningful partnerships alongside their many other time commitments. Modes of communication between researchers and partners is highly contextual and requires a skill and knowledge of the medium as well as an ability to tailor a research message to mixed audiences.
Next steps Further literature searches on usable science, knowledge co-production & bridging organizations Evaluation of knowledge mobilization in an upcoming project
Acknowledgments Special thanks to all interviewees who provided insight, feedback and literature suggestions for this research. Funding for this work was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, International Development Research Centre, ArcticNet, and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Applied Public Health Chair.