Dr Keira O’Kane reflects on PrOPEL Hub’s 2nd Knowledge Exchange (KE) Bootcamp for Early Career Researchers, co-delivered alongside Dr Nicola Murray and Dr Helen Fitzhugh at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow in June 2024.
“I am no longer afraid to do KE”
A particularly heartening piece of feedback from one of our participants on completion of the bootcamp. This is what it is all about!
Our message has sought to be one of encouragement and assurance that anyone can engage in knowledge exchange. You do not need to hold a particular position within your field or have a formalised KE role to build relations and interact outside of academia.
While knowledge exchange is increasingly advocated as a means to achieving research impact, it is often viewed as a new and daunting task across all stages of academia – a task with little guidance on how it should be done. A sentiment that was felt within both our bootcamps. Building on our own experiences and knowledge we have aspired to begin addressing this gap and instilling confidence.
Over the 2 days we aided in kickstarting our cohort’s KE journeys – from exploring their KE mission, to leaving with a personalised roadmap and set of pledges for how they will action that vision going forward. They were equipped with our KE Toolkit; designed to guide KE relations and project management, including tips for building contacts and communicating with non-academics.Practicing what we preach, we brought a mix of both academic understanding and practice.
- Learning about themselves – building self-awareness and mindfulness around what they bring to their KE interactions
- Learning about their stakeholder – valuing their knowledge and experience, and ensuring relevance and sensitivity to context
Lastly, but above all, that KE moves beyond the literal exchange of objective knowledge between academic and stakeholder, to instead embrace a social process of co-participation and interaction, for the purpose of co-learning, relationship building and ultimately co-creation.
Coming from a social-learning background, I personally have taken great pride in the bootcamp’s approach to KE being very much centred around learning at various levels. First, viewing one’s KE interactions as learning experiences in themselves. Appreciating that you may not (probably will not) get it right first time; but rather that engaging in KE requires a continual process of reflection, adaption and refinement over time. The bootcamp aptly flagged the importance of, and guided individuals through a process of;
Our bootcamp plans in dedicated time to discuss the challenges of KE, and I think this is an important point on which to close this reflection. While this included an insight into the position of KE within UK Universities, and an exploration of the difficulties evaluating KE impact, it was particularly marked by Nicola, Helen and I quite openly sharing our personal highs and lows from engaging in this space. This vulnerability has been met with sincere gratitude from our participants who, more often than not, recognise a sense of affinity.
This bootcamp, like the one before, has reinforced my own findings on the need for greater backing for KE; not just by way of training or recognition, but in the need to support and foster a Knowledge Exchange Community where people have the ongoing opportunity to share learning, struggles and support. Unfortunately, fulfilling this in any meaningful capacity in the long-term is equally dependent on backing – particularly of the financial type.
The appetite for this bootcamp speaks for itself; however, – fully booked within 48 hours.
While the bootcamp may have marked the end of PrOPEL – we are hopeful that it cements PrOPEL’s legacy in continuing to usher forward this KE movement.
