Workshop helps grad students use plain language when writing about research

Innovation 91��ɫ’s Knowledge Mobilization unit launched a pilot project with Glendon Campus and two Faculties to engage graduate students in clear language writing about research. Manager Michael Johnny plans to expand this successful pilot across campus in 2019-2010.

Innovation 91��ɫ’s Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) unit is a national and international leader. It has a suite of services that create connections between researchers and community and government organizations to support the development of research partnerships and the dissemination of research results. It has also created training tools for developing and implementing KMb strategies.

This productive and award-winning unit has turned its attention to a much-needed area: lay or plain language writing about research. This past fall, it launched a pilot project, a workshop, with Glendon Campus and the Faculties of Health and Science to train graduate students in this vital area.

“The interest and enthusiasm around this pilot, to date, has been very positive,” says Manager Michael Johnny. “Our goal is to expand this pilot to Faculties across campus, those interested in participating in 2019-2020,” he adds.

This pilot project, facilitated by the KMb unit, was met with much interest and enthusiasm

KMb unit provides vital learning experiences at 91��ɫ

Michael Johnny

The KMb unit has an ambitious portfolio. “From partnerships with community organizations to grad student internships to assessment of research impact, this unit is a wonderful complement to the existing services provided by the Innovation 91��ɫ office,” says Johnny. As manager, he is responsible for all KMb operations and he provides leadership in brokering collaborative projects.

Training is an important part of this. “We provide learning opportunities for 91��ɫ researchers, staff, grad students and external partners to help make research relevant to community programs and policy development. We also deliver customized learning sessions to research teams to provide information, skills and experience in KMb,” Johnny explains.

Some examples of learning sessions that have been offered in the past include:

building a KMb strategy;
impact and accountability in KMb;
social media strategy building for research teams; and
hands-on training in WordPress and Twitter.

It started with research snapshots …

Since 2008, the KMb unit has provided campus-wide service support for the development of lay summaries of research findings, papers or outputs – called “research snapshots.” How was this undertaken? Student writers, trained in plain language writing, produced short, two-page summaries of peer-reviewed research, using a template developed in partnership with Research Impact Canada.

Ten years later, in 2018, the KMb unit took this idea to the next level and piloted a new project, a workshop on the development of research snapshots, working in partnership with three 91��ɫ entities: the Faculties of Health and Science, and Glendon Campus.

The objectives of this pilot project were:

to help grad students become highly qualified personnel;
to optimize KMb service for faculty members; and
to support the mobilization and dissemination of research in Faculties across campus.

Pilot launched last fall

The pilot project launched in November 2018. The Faculty of Health – specifically, the Department of Psychology – went first: 14 grad students attended a free, hands-on workshop on plain language writing and design principles. In early December 2018, the KMb unit next collaborated with the Faculty of Science, where over 20 grad students participated in the workshop.

How did it work? The participating students summarized research undertaken and provided by their supervisors or others in their department; they created research snapshots. In return, the KMb unit provided the student a stipend for their work.

The pilot continues in 2019. Early in the new year, the KMb unit will offer the workshop to grad students at Glendon. This will complete the initial pilot.

Glendon grad students participated in this plain language workshop

Benefits for graduate students and Faculties

The advantages for students are evident: they will receive valuable skills that will complement their scholarly training, as well as modest payment for their contributions.

The benefits for Faculties and, more broadly speaking, for 91��ɫ are also clear: “Faculties across campus will have more control over the development of research snapshots, allowing them greater capacity to support their own KMb objectives,” says Johnny. “Ultimately, this pilot can help 91��ɫ expand its leadership in KMb in Canada,” he adds.

The research snapshot template used in this pilot has been used by nine partner organizations. Collectively, they have developed over 2,000 research summaries in Canada. The KMb unit alone has over 400 summaries. These are stored in the 91��ɫ Library in an Open Access “D Space” repository.

To learn more about Innovation 91��ɫ, visit the . For more on the KMb unit, visit the .

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By Megan Mueller, senior manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91��ɫ, muellerm@yorku.ca

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