In my first meeting with my scientific director and management colleagues, I presented the following objectives:
1. The first objective is to gain an understanding of the issues and concerns of Scientific Directors (SDs) and their institute KT agendas. To achieve this, I plan to meet with all SDs one-on-one, and to attend various Institute Advisory Board (IAB) meetings.
2. The second is to revise and streamline CIHR's KT definition in keeping with current thinking on KT theory and practice to address some of the IRP's concerns. The KT branch will develop a process for updating CIHR's KT strategic plan. We also intend to respond to the observations and KT issues raised by the IRP. This will be achieved through ongoing external and internal consultation.
3. The third is to consolidate the KT, Partnerships and Evaluation staff under one single Portfolio umbrella and at the same time, integrate and develop working relationships with institute-based KT and partnerships experts. This will be achieved by holding a Portfolio retreat.
4. The fourth objective is to nurture and reinforce grants and awards investment in existing and new KT research, training and synthesis activity.
5. The fifth objective is to launch an organization wide KT Casebook.
Your comments are welcome as I move forward to implement these objectives.
CIHR is at an interesting stage in its efforts to operationalize knowledge translation at CIHR and at the same time, continue to fund research into what works and what does not work in knowledge translation for health research. We will work with the research community to optimize our approach, and I look forward to consulting with members of the research community in the coming year.
Ian D. Graham, Ph.D.
Vice-President, Knowledge Translation
